Praise for Bonding

Lots of praise for Jonathan Kramer’s November article "Give Me your Bond: Electricity, Grounding and Cable" came in to us and to the author. (See below for a sample.)

Thanks for the feedback. It’s nice to know when our authors hit the nail with their heads, or otherwise hit the nerves of our readers. That seems to have been the case here.

Mr. Kramer himself can generate strong responses, given that some in the industry sincerely think he crossed over to the "Dark Side" of working on behalf of franchises. In the case of this article, however, we believe that he has simply shed light on one oft-neglected part of the cable plant.

That part of the plant tends to be overshadowed by general enthusiasm for things advanced and new. We share that enthusiasm, but also appreciate counterpoised concern for weak links in the chain … a concern expressed memorably late one night after dinner (and drinks) at Cable-Tec Expo in Denver in 2006 by an unnamed regional VP for a large MSO in these plaintive words:

"It’s all about the drop!" he said. "We’re not teaching the drop!" A sampling In any case, here’s a sampling of comments (names also withheld to protect the innocent) received in response to Kramer’s discussion of the electricity, grounding and cable:

"I enjoyed your article in this month’s CT magazine. It seems to be such an elementary concept (assuming installers and techs have been trained properly) yet soooo often overlooked. Good job. Now hopefully the right people read this article and pass it on, as a required read, to their techs."

"Read your article in Communications Technology magazine today. "Give Me your Bond" is the best to date …. Maybe you can explain how bonding to the power meter box or house riser is really better than going to the copper plumbing. Here in (my state) there are numerous residences with no ground rod whatsoever."

"Excellent article! I passed it along (with the pictures) to the rest of our sales force and in-house people … very well done."

"Bravo, good article with excellent pictures to go along with it. I’m with you; many of the mistakes I run into are related to cable entry problems, net cables, cable television and now satellite and broadband – the latter two are the worst offenders. Thanks and let us hope that some folks look at the pictures and recognize something they’ve seen or done."

"I’ll be forwarding your bonding article on to the front line here. It’s always a timely and, unfortunately, misunderstood or under-emphasized requirement. Thanks!"

"Just read your article on bonding in the latest Communications Technology issue. It is a subject that is a mystery to many, and I feel very strongly about it. I thoroughly enjoyed this article and hope to see much more on the subject." – Jonathan Tombes