Remember when we had to carry those big spools of RG-6 up three flights of stairs?

Last week, I was running a new drop to a third-floor apartment in Tacoma and just pulled a small box of pre-terminated cable from the van. Three years ago, that job meant hauling a full 500-foot spool up there, fighting with a crimper in the hallway. Last month, I did a whole block with those new push-on connectors, and my hands didn't hurt at all at the end of the day. It's wild how much lighter the gear has gotten. Do you guys still keep the old tools around, or have you fully switched over?

3 comments

3 Comments

sagew501mo ago

Wait, you used to carry a full 500-foot spool UP the stairs? That's insane, man. I remember just a 100-foot coil being a total pain. You'd get to the top and the whole thing would be trying to unwind down the stairwell. How did you even turn corners with that? My back hurts just thinking about it.

the_kevin1mo ago

Ever try the over-the-shoulder method? I'd sling the spool on a broom handle and carry it like a yoke. That kept it from banging into walls and let it spin freely when you needed to pay out line. Turning corners was still a two-man job, one to guide the front and one to keep the back from whipping around. You had to move slow and communicate or you'd take out a door frame.

blake_bell291mo ago

The yoke method works alright for smaller spools, but a full 500-footer of number 9 wire is a different beast. That broom handle would snap before you got halfway up the first flight.