I'm having a problem connecting my laptop to the network at work (100baseT). Up to recently I have used a short (3m) utp cable to connect it to a local hub which is a Netgear FS108.
Due to the need to work further away from the same hub I require a much longer cable - about 35m. I duly purchased the materials necessary to prepare it, from RS. Initially I have made up a 2m sample in order to check that it would work, which it did. I then went on to prepare a 60m length in order to check the longer run would be okay, so as to avoid the embarrassment of my extension not working once our electrician had put the required cable run in place. Unfortunately it doesn't. Two lamps on the hub port flash together. I have checked the cable for continuity and ensured that no short circuits exist between lines.
Cable Type: UTP, Cat 5, rated to TSB36 for speeds up to 100Mps - RS part number: 196-311
Hub: Netgear FS108, IEEE 802.3-LAN, IEEE 802.3U-LAN; Ethernet, Fast Ethernet
I would have thought that 60m was not particularly huge for a network link although I do not have the actual spec' for the max cable length allowed. From an electronics hardware point of view it seems like the data must be being excessively attenuated by the cable length or maybe some sort of impedance mismatch is setting up standing waves, however I thought that by using cat 5 utp cable on the said hub, these worries would have been taken care of.
Please help me
Fujiflyer