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FOA Working WIth TIA on 568 Standard Revision

Jim Hayes, President of The FOA, made a presentation to the TIA TR-42.8 committee at the June 8, 2004 meeting in Providence, RI, covering the recommendations of the FOA for revisions in the "C" version of TIA-568 standard for structured cabling. 568 is currently in the "B" revision but work should begin soon on the "C" version.

Until 568B, fiber optics was an afterthought. 568B added a separate section to cover the unique aspects of fiber, enhancing the attractiveness of fiber to many users. However, there are still issues with 568B, including test requirements, that make fiber optics confusing to many potential users.

The FOA board, members of which have over 20 years experience in fiber optics on the average, reviewed the 568B standard and discussed these issues at length, then produced a document with our recommendations. You can read the whole PDF document here.

Jim will continue attending TR-42.8 meetings to work with the committee in developing 568C and representing the interests of our organization and our CFOTs.

 

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Training For Advanced Certification?

Once you have your CFOT, what is the next level of certification? The FOA offers four advanced certifications, called CFOS (Certified Fiber Optic Specialist) in specialties of connectorization, splicing, testing and instructing. In our experience, CFOTs are not sure how to get there. The explanation on our website provides the requirements, but how do you qualify? Consider it to be three steps: 1) Get your CFOT, 2) Get field experience and 3) Get more advanced training.

Where is advanced training available? Ask the school where you got your CFOT training what they recommend. Check the school listing on the FOA website for schools offering advanced courses.

And don't forget manufacturers - they offer specialized training in their products, exactly the kinds of specific training you need for unique products that we expect you to have when you take the CFOS exams. the FOA is developing a list of manufacturer training we recommend for our CFOTs and will have it posted in the near future.

If you think you will aspiire to CFOS, download and print yourself a FOA Logbook to keep track of your experience and training. It will help you qualify for the CFOS certifications.

Ohio Installs America's Most Advanced Fiber Optic Network

A clipping from the CIncinnati Enquirer on April 27, 2004 says that Ohio has installed a 1,600 mile fiber network to link Ohio's colleges and universities, their business partners, hospitals and K-12 schools. The goal is more than just the sharing of information, it involves the sharing of equipment among institutions, reducing costs for capital equipment like MRI machines. The "Ohio Academic Resources Network" has been founded to install and support the network.

 

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"Holey Fibers" Advance Toward Practicality

The so-called "holey fibers," more precisely "photonic bandgap" fibers we have mentioned several times before (Dec '03, Nov '03) are being developed by R&D labs into what appears to be practical devices. The Univ of Bath in the UK has gotten attenuation down to 1.7 dB/km at conventional wavelengths but is working on longer wavelengths - perhaps around 2 microns (2000 nm) where they expect to be able to take advantage of the fiber's lack of rayleigh scattering.

 

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Tech Puzzler

Prepolished/splice connectors have higher losses than epoxy/polish connectors even though they have a factory polished ferrule. Why?

 

Answer below

 

 

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New Tech Topics

New PowerPoint Presentation Introduces Fiber Optics

The FOA has created a short PowerPoint presentation that introduces you to fiber optics and talks about job opportunities in the field. It was intended for instructors to introdcue studnets to the field, but it's a good introduction for anyone. It's about 3 meg file so it takes a while to download and you need PowerPoint to view it. See http://www.thefoa.org/ppt/

Singlemode Fiber Nomenclature

Plastic Optical Fibers (POF)

Wavelength-Division Multiplexing

Fiber Amplifiers

Eric Pearson's Newsletters - with some tests on connectors.

New sections of "Lennie Lightwave's Guide To Fiber Optics" covers loss testing of fiber optic cables and OTDRs.

Your Name, CFOT - It pays to advertise!

The FOA encourages CFOTs to use the logo on their business cards, letterhead, truck or van, etc. and provides logo files on this site for that purpose. But we are also asked about how to use the CFOT or CFOS certifications. Easy, you can refer to yourself as "Your Name, CFOT" or "Your Name, CFOS/T" for example.

Feel free to use the logo and designations to promote your achievements and professionalism!

Remember To Renew Your Certification !

Remember to renew your FOA certification. All current CFOTs have a ID Card with their certification data and we keep a database of current CFOTs to answer inquiries regarding your qualifications if needed. If you forgot to renew, use the online application form or the FOA online store to renew NOW!

Want To Get FOA Email?
We have been asked if we could send the FOA newsletter by email or post it on the website. We are looking into that and will definitely get one started soon. When you renew your certification, you will be asked if you are interested in email newsletters and if so, you will be asked to give your email address for us to use in a mailing list. If you want to get started now, send an email to info@thefoa.org with the subject "eMail List"
Note that The FOA never releases its mailing lists for any use! Your data is always safe with us.

To Contact The FOA:

 

The Fiber Optic Association

1119 S Mission Road, # 355

Fallbrook, CA 92028

 

Office Hours 10AM-5 PM Pacific Time

Telephone: 760-451-3655

Fax: 781-207-2421

info@thefoa.org
info@thefoa.org

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Officers and Board of Directors Jim Hayes, President, Treasurer Eric Pearson, Director of Certification Tom Collins, Gateway Comm. College Van Ewert, AESA Bill Graham Karen Hayes   FOA Staff: Jim Hayes, newsletter, website editor Karen Hayes, Administration Administration: The FOA is managed under contract by: VDV Works LLC 1119 S Mission Road, # 355 Fallbrook, CA 92028 Telephone: 760-451-3655 Fax: 781-207-2421 email: info@vdvworks.com

FOA Board of Advisors Elias Awad, Clerk, Director of Education Tony Beam Dave Chaney F. Douglas Elliot, Past President William H. Graham Jim Hayes, President, Treasurer John Highhouse, Past President Danny S. Lyall Eric Y. Loytty Bob Mason Eric Pearson Paul Rosenberg, Past President Dan Silver Richard James Smith Dominick Tamone Tom Collins Van Ewert Elias Awad

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(C)1999-2004, The Fiber Optic Association, Inc.

Tech Puzzler: They have an internal splice, so the total loss is a combination of the connector loss and the splice loss.