Copper Cabling
25%of exam
Optical Fiber
25%of exam
Termination and Connectors
10%of exam
RJ45 pinout110/Krone/BIX blocksLC/SC/ST/MTPPolish typesCable prep
Testing and Certification
10%of exam
OTDR tracesTDR copperNVPLoss budgetsCertification scanners
Codes and Standards
5%of exam
TIA-568TIA-607 bondingTIA-562NEC/NFPATSB bulletins
Grounding, Bonding, Firestopping
15%of exam
TBB #6 AWGTMGB/TGBF/T/L/W ratingsPenetration sealsNEC compliance
Pathways and Spaces
5%of exam
Conduit fillCable traysSleevesTR/TEF spacesBend radius
Safety
5%of exam
PPELockout/tagoutLadder safetyFiber shardsLaser eye safety
Project and Documentation
5%of exam
As-built drawingsTest reportsWarrantyCoordinationBlueprint reading
Quick Facts
- Exam
- BICSI TECH
- Questions
- 100 MCQ
- Time
- 2 hours
- Pass
- Scaled score
- Hands-On
- 12 tasks
- Task Time
- 20 min each
- Fee
- $200+
- Validity
- 3 years
- Retake
- 30 days
T568A Color Order
WGrn Grn WOrg Blu WBlu Org WBrn Brn
Pin1 WGrnPin3 WOrgPin6 Org
T568A vs T568B
T568A
- WGrn first
- Residential
- US gov
T568B
- Worg first
- Commercial
- Most common
Orange/green swap
Copper Category Picker
- Up to 1GbE→Cat 5e(100 MHz)
- Up to 5GbE→Cat 6(250 MHz)
- 10GbE 55m→Cat 6(37-55m)
- 10GbE 100m→Cat 6A(500 MHz)
- 25/40GbE 30m→Cat 8(2000 MHz)
- Noisy environment→S/FTP Cat 6A(Shielded)
Copper Categories
- Cat 5e
- 100 MHz, 1GbE100MHz
- Cat 6
- 250 MHz, 5GbE250MHz
- Cat 6A
- 500 MHz, 10GbE500MHz
- Cat 8
- 2000 MHz, 25/40GbE2GHz
- UTP
- Unshielded twisted pair
- F/UTP
- Foil over twisted pairs
- S/FTP
- Braid + foil pairs
- AWG 22-24
- Typical conductor gauge
Cat 6 vs Cat 6A
Cat 6
- 250 MHz
- 10GbE 55m
- UTP common
Cat 6A
- 500 MHz
- 10GbE 100m
- Alien crosstalk
Freq and distance
Copper Distance Limits
- Channel
- 100 m max100m
- Permanent Link
- 90 m max90m
- Equipment Cord
- 5 m each end5m
- Work Area Cord
- 5 m max5m
- CP Cord
- 5 m max5m
- Total Cords
- 10 m combined
Permanent Link vs Channel
Permanent Link
- 90 m
- Excludes cords
- Tester adapter
Channel
- 100 m
- Includes cords
- Full end-to-end
Tester setup
T568A/B Color Order
- T568A Pin 1
- White/Green
- T568A Pin 2
- Green
- T568A Pin 3
- White/Orange
- T568A Pin 4
- Blue
- T568A Pin 5
- White/Blue
- T568A Pin 6
- Orange
- T568A Pin 7
- White/Brown
- T568A Pin 8
- Brown
- T568B
- Swap orange/green pairs
OM Fiber 10GbE Distance
OM1 33m OM2 82m OM3 300m OM4 400m
OM1 62.5um 33mOM3 laser 300mOM4 400m
Singlemode vs Multimode
Singlemode
- 9um core
- One path
- Long haul km
Multimode
- 50/62.5um core
- Multiple paths
- Short m
Distance vs cost
Fiber Type Picker
- Long haul >10km→OS2(9um 1310/1550)
- 10GbE 33m→OM1(62.5um)
- 10GbE 82m→OM2(50um)
- 10GbE 300m→OM3(laser optimized)
- 10GbE 400m→OM4(VCSEL)
- 40/100GbE short→OM4/OM5(MTP parallel)
Fiber Types
- OS1
- Singlemode indoor, 1310/15509um
- OS2
- Singlemode low-water, 1310/15509um
- OM1
- 62.5 um, 10GbE 33m62.5um
- OM2
- 50 um, 10GbE 82m50um
- OM3
- 50um laser, 10GbE 300m50um
- OM4
- 50um, 10GbE 400m50um
- OM5
- WBMMF, 4x WDM50um
- Core/Clad
- 9/125, 50/125, 62.5/125
Fusion vs Mechanical
Fusion
- Arc weld
- ~0.05 dB loss
- Permanent
Mechanical
- Adhesive sleeve
- 0.1-0.3 dB
- Field quick
Low loss vs speed
Splice Picker
- Min loss→Fusion(~0.05 dB)
- Field quick→Mechanical(0.1-0.3 dB)
- Permanent OSP→Fusion(Long term)
- Emergency restore→Mechanical(No arc)
- High count ribbon→Fusion mass(12 at once)
Fiber Wavelengths
- 850 nm
- Multimode shortMM
- 1310 nm
- Singlemode/OM zeroSM
- 1550 nm
- Singlemode longSM
- 1490 nm
- PON downlink
- 1625 nm
- OTDR test port
- Loss Budget
- Max allowable attenuation
- Macrobend
- Bend loss > spec
- Microbend
- Small fiber stress loss
Splicing Methods
- Fusion
- Arc weld, ~0.05 dB0.05dB
- Mechanical
- Adhesive sleeve, 0.1-0.3 dB0.3dB
- Cleaver
- Score/break clean end
- Splice Tray
- Holds splice in closure
- OSP Closure
- Aerial/buried splice case
- Splice Box
- Rack mounted splice
Termination Blocks
- 110 Block
- Insulation displacement, Cat 5e/6
- Krone
- IDC, European telecom
- BIX
- Nortel IDC block
- 66 Block
- Legacy voice, M-block
- RJ45
- 8P8C modular plug
- RJ11
- 6P2C/6P4C voice
- Modular Plug
- Terminates patch cord
- Jack
- Female workstation outlet
Fiber Connectors
- LC
- Small form factor, snap
- SC
- Push-pull, 2.5mm
- ST
- Bayonet, 2.5mm
- MTP
- 12/24 fiber multifiber
- MPO
- Multifiber, ribbon
- UPC
- Ultra physical contact, blue
- APC
- Angled 8 deg, green
- Polish
- PC/UPC/APC return loss
OTDR vs Certification Scanner
OTDR
- Fiber length
- Fault location
- Backscatter trace
Scanner
- Cat 6 cert
- NEXT/RL
- Pass/fail report
Fiber vs copper
Tester Picker
- Fiber length/fault→OTDR(Backscatter)
- Copper length/fault→TDR(Impedance)
- Cat 6A cert→Certification Scanner(TIA pass/fail)
- End-to-end loss→OLTS(Source + meter)
- Broken fiber→VFL(Red light)
- Pair tracing→Tone Generator(Probe amp)
Test Equipment
- OTDR
- Optical time domain reflectometer
- TDR
- Copper fault distance
- Certification Scanner
- Validates Cat 6/6A
- OLTS
- Optical loss test set
- OPM
- Optical power meter
- VFL
- Visual fault locator
- Tone Generator
- Copper pair trace
- NVP
- Nominal velocity propagation
Copper Test Parameters
- NEXT
- Near-end crosstalk
- PSNEXT
- Power sum NEXT
- ACRF
- Attenuation crosstalk ratio
- Return Loss
- Impedance mismatch
- Insertion Loss
- Attenuation, dB
- Delay Skew
- Pair timing diff
- Length
- TDR distance check
Codes and Standards
- TIA-568
- Commercial cabling standard
- TIA-569
- Pathways and spaces
- TIA-607
- Bonding/grounding standard
- TIA-570
- Residential cabling
- NEC Article 770
- Optical fiber cables
- NEC Article 800
- Premises comms wiring
- NFPA 70
- National Electrical Code
- TSB-95
- Cat 5e performance
Firestop Ratings
F fire T temp L leak W water
F hours enduranceL cfm leakageW water resistance
Bonding and Grounding
- TBB
- Telecom bonding backbone, #6 AWG
- TMGB
- Telecom main grounding busbar
- TGB
- Telecom grounding busbar
- BCBB
- Bonding conductor backbone
- Riser
- Vertical bonding per floor
- #6 AWG
- Min TBB conductor
- #3 AWG
- Bonding for multi-floor
Bonding Chain
TMGB -> TGB -> TBB -> Equipment
TMGB main busbarTBB #6 AWGTGB per room
Firestop Systems
- F Rating
- Fire endurance, hours
- T Rating
- Temperature rise, hours
- L Rating
- Air leakage, cfm
- W Rating
- Water resistance
- Through Penetration
- Cable through wall
- Membrane Penetration
- One side breach
- Firestop Putty
- Retrofittable seal
- Intumescent
- Expands with heat
Pathways and Spaces
- Conduit
- Rigid raceway, fill 40%
- Cable Tray
- Open support, ladder
- Sleeve
- Wall/floor penetration
- TR
- Telecom room, equipment
- TEF
- Telecom equipment field
- ER
- Equipment room, main
- Bend Radius
- Min 10x diameter UTP
Safety
- PPE
- Gloves, glasses, hard hat
- Lockout/Tagout
- Energy isolation
- Fiber Shard
- Sharps container dispose
- Laser Class
- 1/1M/2/3R fiber safety
- Ladder
- 3-point contact
- Fall Arrest
- Above 6 ft harness
- MSDS
- Solvent/adhesive sheets
Project and Documentation
- As-Built
- Final installed drawings
- Test Reports
- Certification records
- Warranty
- Manufacturer 25 yr system
- Blueprint
- Read plan/elevation
- RFP
- Request for proposal
- CEC
- Continuing ed credits
Common Traps
Channel vs permanent
Channel includes cords ≠ PL is 90m
T568A vs B
A residential WGrn ≠ B commercial WOrg
OM core size
OM1 62.5um ≠ OM2-OM5 50um
Splice loss
Fusion 0.05 dB ≠ Mechanical up to 0.3
Wavelength use
850 MM short ≠ 1310/1550 SM
Bonding size
TBB #6 AWG min ≠ Multi-floor #3 AWG
Hands-on first
Hands-on required first ≠ Then written exam
Last Minute
- 1.100m channel / 90m permanent link
- 2.T568A WGrn,Grn,WOrg,Blu,WBlu,Org,WBrn,Brn
- 3.Cat5e 100MHz,Cat6 250MHz,Cat6A 500MHz
- 4.OM1 33m,OM3 300m,OM4 400m at 10GbE
- 5.Singlemode 9um,1310/1550nm
- 6.Fusion ~0.05 dB,mechanical 0.1-0.3 dB
- 7.TBB #6AWG TMGB TGB/room
- 8.Firestop F T L W ratings
- 9.OTDR fiber TDR copper scanner cert
- 10.Hands-on 12 tasks,20 min each,first
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