Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Marin Headlands
Perfectly clear, warm, a very slight breeze. An absolutely stunning view of the Golden Gate, bridge and city. It's always fun showing off that view to visiting friends. Quote from a New York City 13-year-old: "That's not such a big bridge."
Networking down the house
When we remodeled in 2005, I had the electrician install CAT5 cabling connecting the downstairs and upstairs to the water heater closet, and also one phone line to the same spot. My idea was to put the wireless router in there, because it's central and higher than where the computer sits. I wanted the electrician to connect everything up (put in jacks) but he said "I'm not a network guy" and left the ends dangling, which is how it sat ever since.
Now, 4 years later, we started having too many wireless connection problems probably because all our neighbors now also have routers, so I decided it was time to finish the job. Task 1 was to terminate the cables. Rather than put in a jack, I decided to just add connectors to the two cables I needed - one ethernet, one phone. I had to open up the jack at the other end of the ethernet line to check which of two possible cable configs the electrician had used. That done, it only took two tries to wire the other end - I did it mirror reversed the first time. Thank you ACE Hardware cheapo crimping tool. You worked just great!
Task 2 was to get the phone line working. We have 2 lines into the house. The electrician had only wired the first one into most of the connections, including the one to the water heater closet, but our DSL is on the second. So, under the house I went to where the junction box connects to the house cabling, armed with wire strippers, headlamp and a walkie-talkie, with Anna at the other end looking at an ohmmeter to tell me when I'd found the right cable. It didn't work because I'd turned the meter off, which Anna cleverly noticed. But with that resolved, we figured out the right cable, and I connected the second line and wired the jack so that would feed into the DSL modem. Thanks again, crimping tool!
All done! A nice strong signal throughout the house now.
Now, 4 years later, we started having too many wireless connection problems probably because all our neighbors now also have routers, so I decided it was time to finish the job. Task 1 was to terminate the cables. Rather than put in a jack, I decided to just add connectors to the two cables I needed - one ethernet, one phone. I had to open up the jack at the other end of the ethernet line to check which of two possible cable configs the electrician had used. That done, it only took two tries to wire the other end - I did it mirror reversed the first time. Thank you ACE Hardware cheapo crimping tool. You worked just great!
Task 2 was to get the phone line working. We have 2 lines into the house. The electrician had only wired the first one into most of the connections, including the one to the water heater closet, but our DSL is on the second. So, under the house I went to where the junction box connects to the house cabling, armed with wire strippers, headlamp and a walkie-talkie, with Anna at the other end looking at an ohmmeter to tell me when I'd found the right cable. It didn't work because I'd turned the meter off, which Anna cleverly noticed. But with that resolved, we figured out the right cable, and I connected the second line and wired the jack so that would feed into the DSL modem. Thanks again, crimping tool!
All done! A nice strong signal throughout the house now.
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