telecom, DSL Steel or Copper

Does anyone know if you can use steel communication wire to run a DSL
line? The cable is Belden LL7874/E108998/9504. I've got a brand new
500' spool of the stuff and DSL being installed in the area (finally!)


Thanks.

In TELECOM Digest V23 #338, XXXX@XXXXX.COM (rud) wrote (in part):


Not likely it's steel. About the only places you'll find steel wire in
communication, control, or electronic cables are as a messenger
(supporting) wire or cable, or as a copper-clad center conductor in
some coaxial constructions.

The Belden part number appears to be 9504. That's a 4-pair computer
communications cable with tinned copper conductors. Could you be
mistaking the tinned, stranded copper conductors for steel wires?

If it is Belden 9504, it would probably serve your purpose for inside
wiring. It's vinyl insulated and jacketed, so I wouldn't use it
outside, either above ground or buried. The jacket won't stand up to
ultraviolet exposure or underground moisture.

The conductors are stranded, so you may not get consistent and
reliable results in insulation displacement connections [IDC], such as
66 or 110 type IDC terminations.

If you're going to be using standard telecommunications wiring
components with IDC terminations, you may save yourself some problems
down the line by using compatible cable. You can get 500 feet of CAT
5E 4-pair at Home Depot or Lowes for about $40. You really only need
CAT 3 for DSL -- that should be even cheaper.


Paul A Lee Sr Telecom Engineer < XXXX@XXXXX.COM >
Rite Aid Corporation HL-IS-COM (Telecomm) V: +1 717 730-8355
30 Hunter Lane, Camp Hill, PA 17011-2410 F: +1 717 975-3789
P.O. Box 3165, Harrisburg, PA 17105-3165 W: +1 717 805-6208

Actually, Army field wire is copper-clad steel, in order to make it
much more mechanically strong than a copper cable. Big deal if you
are running it on the ground beside a road in an improvised install.
And it is just fine for DSL.

--scott

"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."