[FRIAM] Fiber optic cabling

[Gary Schiltz]

Does anyone here have experience in working with fiber optic cable?
There is a ton of information out there, but I still haven't been able
to answer my basic question: without spending thousands of dollars on
equipment and training, can I "do it myself", especially in the field?
Theoretically, I think I can, but I'd like to hear others' stories
before buying equipment. So, your experience and/or anecdotal evidence
is very welcome.

Background: as somewhat of a hobby, I've been providing wireless
internet services to people in remote rural areas, and often "the last
mile" is between a tower I set up high on a hilltop (to have line of
sight with another tower tens of miles away) and a house in the
valley. The sites are usually heavily wooded, making wireless
transmission of the signal difficult. The distance is way too far to
use Cat5/Cat6 cable. So, fiber is ideal, except it may need repair.
It's a lot of work stringing cable through steep wooded mountainsides,
so it has to be repairable in the field.

The problem is in doing good splices (joining two pieces of cable
together) and terminations (putting a plug on an end) while I'm out in
the field. There are two primary types of fiber: multimode, which has
lower transmission rate and shorter maximum workable length, but which
is larger diameter and easier to work with; and single mode, which is
faster and longer, but is smaller and much harder to work with.