If frost depth is 36-48” in the region wouldn’t an 18” deep conduit still 
heave?  We see sidewalk blocks lifted out of place on cold days, and if someone 
doesn’t put the sliding junction on a riser you’ll see conduit shove through a 
box like a spear.

It’s wet here if that makes a difference.  NY would be a rain forest if it was 
warmer.

 

….and yeah replace every pole sounds like they want you to upgrade their plant 
for them.  I don’t know if they think you have infinite pockets, or maybe they 
just don’t really want you there.  In NY the PSC rules say that the Elco & LEC 
are required to share pole access with us, but they have to use a prescribed 
cost recovery formula for pole rental cost, and they’re not allowed to earn 
profit on the applications, engineering, or make-ready.  It’s crossed my mind 
that if they’re not allowed to make money on us then we only offer them hassles 
and liabilities.  In which case, anything they do to make joint use of plant 
more difficult and expensive would deter people who don’t have the time and 
money to deal with it, and therefore reduce those hassles and liabilities.  
Pure speculation on my part, but I think it’s a perspective that makes some of 
their policies suddenly make sense. 

 

-Adam

 

 

From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of ch...@go-mtc.com
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2024 11:11 AM
To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' <af@af.afmug.com>
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] ?ADSS?

 

I had one small town owned power company want me to replace every pole for make 
ready.  

 

The Kentucky microtrench was really nanotrench.  Now-a-days microtrench puts 
the conduit 6”+ below the bottom of the asphalt.  Trenches are typically 12-16” 
deep with flowfill on top.  They don’t heave.  

 

 

 

From: dmmoff...@gmail.com <mailto:dmmoff...@gmail.com>  

Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2024 6:30 AM

To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' 

Subject: Re: [AFMUG] ?ADSS?

 

It all depends.  The wildcard on aerial is the make-ready.  Installing aerial 
cable is nearly always cheaper than underground, but the make-ready work can 
easily flip that around.  You can’t attach in violation of NESC clearances 
(–well you *can*, but you’re not *allowed*.  I don’t want to get into it, but 
having seen it happen enough times I can say there are many circumstances where 
it would benefit you to install in violation now and fix it later (or never)).  
If they just need to trim a drip loop on the transformer to give you more 
clearance then it might be only a few hundred dollars, but a pole replacement 
starts at 10 grand.  I have seen six figure quotes to replace one pole.  I 
recall a deployment where the elco’s engineering contractor called for 800 
poles out of 1000 to be replaced.  Sometimes it’s their own problem and the 
make ready is at the Elco’s or Telco’s expense, but if the pole is otherwise 
perfectly fine and just needs more room for your cable then you’re paying for 
it.  Even if it’s someone else’s expense it still costs you time.

 

When going into a new market now you have to assess the poles and generalize or 
guess at how much make-ready you’ll have to do.  You’re probably not going to 
take measurements on every pole, but you do a visual drive-by inspection and a 
take measurements on a statistical sample.  Or you might know HDD is reliably 
$x/foot and therefore easier to make plans around, so maybe you just do that so 
you don’t have so many surprises.  If you’re in conditions where you can 
microtrench or vibratory plow then you’ll probably be happy with the price of 
that.  You just have to make sure you’re getting an accurate assessment.  We 
had an engineer from down south claim he could plow most of our deployment, but 
he was talking about 18” depth.  Some of the managers got really excited about 
the cost savings, and I had to burst their bubble by asking the guy about frost 
heave.  He responded, “Frost….Heave?” Apparently he’d never heard of it.  I’m 
sure people have heard about Google’s microtrenching in Kentucky some years 
back.  Apparently they should have used an epoxy backfill to keep the cable in 
its groove, and they used normal flowable fill instead and the frost pushed all 
their cables out of the road.  

 

Short answer is underground might or might not be cheaper in any given 
situation.  For reliability of aerial I’ll take strand & lash any day of the 
week.  A tree branch won’t break the strand.  If something does get broken it’s 
relatively easy to find it and fix it.  Underground may be less likely to get 
hit by something, but you may be excavating whenever you have to fix something. 
 With either one you have to make sure you have the resources available to 
maintain it.  If you paid a contractor to bury facilities then make sure you 
have the ability to redo what they did so you can make a repair, or that you 
have a contractor you can summon on short order.

 

-Adam

 

From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com <mailto:af-boun...@af.afmug.com> > On Behalf 
Of Ken Hohhof
Sent: Monday, October 21, 2024 3:14 PM
To: af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> 
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] ?ADSS?

 

Maybe it's because I'm in the midwest and we have actual dirt. But other than 
maybe crossing a river, I've only seen the big companies trench or bore their 
backbone fiber, no aerial except some FTTH.

Is it because they have more money than brains, or do they know something?

I look at the number of power outages caused by vehicles taking out utility 
poles. Add the windstorms and ice storms. Seems like aerial might be cheaper 
upfront but more expensive over the long term, and less reliable. I mean, maybe 
it's quicker to splice. Or maybe not if you have to wait for the power company 
to say it's safe and if they have to set a new pole. We've never done fiber so 
I don't know.

---- Original Message ----
From: dmmoff...@gmail.com <mailto:dmmoff...@gmail.com> 
Sent: 10/21/2024 1:53:50 PM
To: "'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group'" 
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] ?ADSS?

Truth be told, I’ve never actually done ADSS.  I’ve been told by a couple of 
different people that it wasn’t worth the trouble.  They cited it being more 
expensive and more difficult to work with. 

We can do strand and lash pretty fast.

 

At the end of the day I guess it doesn’t matter.  By the time you get through 
pole licensing, permits, and make-ready installing the cable is practically 
free by comparison.

 

-Adam

 

 

 

From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com <mailto:af-boun...@af.afmug.com> > On Behalf 
Of Jason McKemie
Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2024 11:20 PM
To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> >
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] “ADSS”

 

I exclusively use ADSS for my aerial plant. Much easier to put up, and you 
don't have to deal with strand or lashing. The option for having it in the 
power space can be nice as well. The attachment hardware is similar to what you 
use for guy wire dead ends, along with what you show above for straighter spans 
where you don't need fiber access, it is pretty specific to the cable size. The 
hardware is a bit pricey, not too bad though.

On Saturday, October 19, 2024, Adam Moffett <dmmoff...@gmail.com 
<mailto:dmmoff...@gmail.com> > wrote:
> When I search for ADSS cable I get this type:
> </mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=192a7b655b7dd5fd&attid=0.0.1&disp=emb&zw&atsh=1>
>
> They attach with hangers that grip a wide area around the cable like this one:
> </mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=192a7b655b7dd5fd&attid=0.0.2&disp=emb&zw&atsh=1>
>
> When you say ADSS that’s what I’m picturing.
> That attachment hardware is expensive.  The cable itself is expensive.  I’ve 
> never worked with it but everyone says it’s more difficult.  You use it 
> because you can get the fiber count of an OSP cable without having a strand.  
> Some Elco’s will allow it in the power space.  You need installers qualified 
> to work in the power space, but sometimes people find that preferable to make 
> ready to make room in the comm space.
> So in my mind ADSS is a specific thing with a specific purpose.  I suspect 
> drop cable predates that stuff and people are applying the term to drop cable 
> retroactively because most aerial drop cable meets the literal definition of 
> the words. Usually being the important word there because you can order 
> service drop cable which isn’t all dielectric and self supporting. 
>
> Get Outlook for iOS
> ________________________________
> From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com <mailto:af-boun...@af.afmug.com> > on 
> behalf of Jan-GAMs <j.vank...@grnacres.net <mailto:j.vank...@grnacres.net> >
> Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2024 4:31:04 PM
> To: af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com>  <af@af.afmug.com 
> <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> >
> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] “ADSS”
>  
> What does the manufacturer have to say?
>
> On 10/19/24 08:48, Adam Moffett wrote:
>> There’s something driving me nuts lately.
>>
>> In your minds, does the term ADSS apply to *any* non-conducting, self
>> supporting cable?  Or does it apply more specifically to an OSP cable
>> a central strength member and a concentric layer of aramid under the
>> jacket?
>>
>> There’s an entire department at our company which keeps referring to
>> 12F loose tube service drop cable as “ADSS”.  I tried explaining that
>> it’s not the same thing, and they’ve argued that it is.  My position
>> is that if I order an aerial service drop cable without any metallic
>> components then it meets the literal meaning of “All Dielectric Self
>> Supporting”, but that ADSS refers more narrowly to a specific cable
>> which has different attachment hardware and different installation
>> methods.  I’ve further suggested that calling drop cable “ADSS” is
>> going to cause confusion among vendors and contractors if it hasn’t
>> already.
>>
>> Am I the crazy one?
>>
>
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