By: Daniel Brindley Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

Motivation for project Intro to my idea for a cable tracer Problem this will hopefully solve Assumptions of audience Solution to problem Assembly and testing of project Results and conclusion SUMMARY Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

Build a device to help clean up wiring closets Be cost effective Room for future upgrades This is a problem in most work places Motivation Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

Maintaining a good network closet can greatly help troubleshooting problems. Brand name flukes can cost thousands of dollars. A messy and non labled network closet can cause problems for new employees and for vendors A well organized network closet reflects on the technology departments image. Introduction Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

It can be beneficial and fun to build your own network cable tracer. With your own custom made tracer you can incorporate other features. You get to be creative! Introduction Continued Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

Messy Network closets and racks can cause headaches for not only the networking department but for outside vendors as well A high cost is attached to network fluke devices. Often times you must receive a quote, price is not given upfront Problem Statement Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

User knows basic network layouts User has seen a messy network closet User has seen a neat and well organized network closet User knows basics of soldering Assumptions Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

Build your own network cable tracer What type of items could you build them from? Window alarm Self made circuit Walkie talkies Multimeter Proposed Solution Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

I chose the walkie talkies because of its level of customization and user friendliness Also pricing is fairly cheap Acquire a decent set of fairly cheap walkie talkies You will need a CAT 5 or CAT 6 cable you can cut You will need to get a soldering iron, flux, and solder Solution Continued Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

Gather wire strippers Tools to take apart walkie talkie casing Mine required a torx screwdriver Solution Continued Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

Disassemble both walkie talkie cases Cut the antenna off of one of the walkie talkies leaving just about a centimeter Use the soldering iron to completely remove the antenna from the second walkie talkie Assembly Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

Cut a desired length of CAT 5 or CAT 6 cabled to be attached to your walkie talkie I used about 8 inches Strip one of the twisted pair wires down to be attached to the board of the walkie talkie You can use more if you are not going through a switch for better signal Solder the wire to the board of the walkie talkie using your soldering iron, flux, and solder Assembly Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

Reassemble walkie talkie with soldered on CAT cable. Leave other walkie talkie apart for testing and adjusting Locate the tuning pot on the walkie talkie and find out how to adjust it Mine used a small flat head screw driver Test walkie talkie by hitting the send button on the disassembled walkie talkie Assembly Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

If the second walkie talkie can pick up the signal without the wire touching the other walkie talkie you need to tune down the range Continue trial and error until signal is only received when the walkie talkie is touching the CAT cable Tuning pot is EXTREMELY sensitive. Time to test in actual environment Testing Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

For my testing I did not go through a switch as the equipment was not mine and I did not want to break the $6000 equipment Plug walkie talkie with CAT cable into a network drop Have some one press the send button as you take the other walkie talkie into the wiring closet. See if you can locate the cable coming from a patch panel using your homemade network cable tracer Testing Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

First few times mine was not able to pick up signal at all. Some adjusting was required After adjustments every cable I checked was giving off signal, I needed to turn sensitivity back down Was finally able to get the right settings and pin point the cable I was looking for Tested again in a different wiring closet that was farther away to test range. Results were good, I was able to locate the wire in just a few moments Results Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

These results show that you can build your own network cable tracer for around $20 instead of $1000 You can probably get a more advanced walkie talkie for better results This would be a great project if you are on a budget and can not yet afford a fluke. While getting your work done at the same time Conclusion Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

Did not get to test signal with cable actually running through a switch Future expansions include adding a continuous send button to the walkie talkie so you dont require two people Possibly add alligator clips to trace more than just network cables Add an AUX port to send musical tones, using your phone or mp3 player, over the lines Build a housing for it to have a rechargeable battery Adding interchangeable output cables Future work Eastern Kentucky Univeristy

You may contact me at Eastern Kentucky Univeristy Thank You!

(n.d.). messy wiring closet. [Web Photo]. Retrieved from &tbm=isch&tbnid=S2ai0OdT9W36iM:&imgrefurl= ro.com/blog/networking-and-hardware-blog-9/networking/how-messy- is-your-cabling-closet &tbm=isch&tbnid=S2ai0OdT9W36iM:&imgrefurl= ro.com/blog/networking-and-hardware-blog-9/networking/how-messy- is-your-cabling-closet Iectyx3c. Pocket Cable Tracer. Posted on Curiousinventor. (July 25th, 2007). How and WHY to Solder Correctly. Video posted on Rick (2002, August 30th). Fox Hound Sniffer Project, posted on Tony Van Roon (2000, June). Fox and Hound, wire tracer posted on vegmatic1966. (Aug 9, 2009). Make a wire tracer with some radio parts. Video posted to References Eastern Kentucky Univeristy