Guides and reference charts
Reference charts and plain explanations for the questions that come up on the job.
- 144 fiber color code chartEvery fiber 1 to 144 with tube and fiber color. Prints on one page.
- 288 fiber color code chartEvery fiber 1 to 288 with tube and fiber color. Prints on one page.
- How to fusion splice fiberPrep, strip, clean, cleave, splice and protect, and how to fix a bad splice.
- How to read an OTDR traceSlope, events, gainers, dead zones and ghosts, and the settings behind them.
- How to test fiber with a light source and power meterSetting the reference, reference methods, and the mistakes behind bad readings.
- How to clean fiber optic connectorsInspect, clean, inspect: dry, wet-to-dry, bulkheads, and what not to do.
- Fiber loss per km, and how much loss is acceptableAttenuation by fiber type and wavelength, and what an acceptable link loss looks like.
- Single-mode vs multimode fiberCore size, wavelengths, reach and jacket colors, plus OM1 to OM5 compared.
- Fiber optic cable typesLoose tube, tight buffered, ribbon, ADSS, figure-8, armored and drop cable.
- Fiber optic connector typesSC, LC, ST, FC and MPO by shape, ferrule and color code.
- APC vs UPC connectorsThe 8° angle, return loss, and why green never meets blue.
Calculators
- Fiber optic color code chart and lookupTube and fiber color for any fiber number, with the full TIA-598 chart.
- Fiber loss budget calculatorLink loss from length, connectors and splices, checked against the optic's power budget.
- PON splitter loss calculatorODN loss with cascaded splitters, checked against GPON and XGS-PON classes.
- Bidirectional splice loss calculatorAverage A→B and B→A OTDR shots and flag every splice over spec.
- dBm to mW converterTwo-way optical power conversion, plus the loss between two meter readings.
- dB loss to percent calculatorHow much light is left after a loss in dB, and what 3, 10 or 20 dB really mean.
- Fiber bend radius calculatorMinimum bend radius from cable OD, pulling and at rest, plus G.657 fiber limits.
- Fiber optic conduit fill calculatorPercent fill for PVC, HDPE and EMT, and when NEC limits apply to fiber.