Homemade remote mount cable using Telco 25PR

[dxon2m]

Did anyone have experience with those? I am planning to make a MA-COM Orion dual radio cable (which uses all 37 pins with a DB-37 on each end). I have the connectors, but I need some idea on which type of cable to get. The Telco 25 PR cable seems to fit the budget quite nicely.

Thanks
Dennis

[theplague]

Did anyone have experience with those? I am planning to make a MA-COM Orion dual radio cable (which uses all 37 pins with a DB-37 on each end). I have the connectors, but I need some idea on which type of cable to get. The Telco 25 PR cable seems to fit the budget quite nicely.

If you do decide to use telco 25pr cable I would HIGHLY recommend you use switchboard/central office cable. It is a little easier to solder too & is generally better made than regular 25pr cable for office buildings etc. Also 25pr cable is fairly brittle as it is intended for central office wire wrap connections or to be smashed into a 25pr ampenthol connector. (read 99% solid conductor) If you want/need more info about 25 pair phone cable feel free to PM me.
Edited to add solid conductor

[Will]

Locate some printer cable with the 37 pin connector. It should have enough conductors, as some pins are not used..

[techie]

FYI: the 37 pin D-sub connector is a DC-37..

Second letter is shell size.. with standard pin configuration, the sizes are DA-15, DB-25, DC-37, DD-50, and DE-9, but there are lots of variations in pin configurations.

Just like RJ-45 (which isn't a connector type, but rather a wiring spec for a specific telco service), everybody gets these wrong..

[dxon2m]

I stand corrected. Funny I told people to call 8P8C instead of RJ45, but I made the same mistake myself

Anyway here's the verdict, I was able to recycle a printer cable and a spare CAT5 cable, stripped out all the wires and crimped pins and all of them. It took me two nights, 2 busted DC-37 connectors because I can't read colors at 12AM, and a lot of frustration to get pins inserted, but in the end, it worked! Not the prettiest cable but I think I did a decent job for my first homemade cable.