Tired of seeing coax connectors not tightened with the right tool

I've been doing residential installs for about 12 years now, and I keep running into service calls where a previous installer just hand-tightened the F-connectors on the outside of the house. Last week I was at a job in a older neighborhood where the customer said their internet kept dropping out every time it rained. I got up on the ladder and found the connector at the ground block was barely snug. After a few rainstorms, water had seeped right in and corroded the center conductor. I had to replace about 15 feet of cable because the damage had traveled inside the jacket. A simple 7/16 wrench or a proper compression tool would have prevented this whole mess. I see this at least twice a month, especially on newer installs where guys are rushing. Has anyone else noticed an uptick in these kinds of callbacks?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylor30512d ago

Is it really that hard to carry a 7/16 wrench in your tool bag? I swear half these guys treat outdoor fittings like they're plugging in a lamp. I found one last month where the connector was so loose the cable just fell off when I touched it. The previous guy didn't even bother to tighten it at all, just left it dangling.

black.amy11d ago

Honestly @taylor305 I've seen way worse, at least the cable was still there to fall off.