JB Hunter: Optic Fibre Endorsement

Date: June 2024
Location: Melbourne
Course: Optical Fibre Endorsement + nbn Skill 33 & 9

I have recently moved back into a field role and while I was not active in our task/ticket system, I thought I would take the opportunity to get my Fibre Endorsement on my cabling license.

The plan is to increase the chances of me getting fibre work within the communications industry. I dipped into my pocket and booked the course, which was ran in Melbourne by JB Hunter.

The Trip to Melbourne

With no accommodation plans made in Melbourne, I chucked my swag into the car with my backpack and away I went down the road. The 740km trip took me through Murray Bridge, Bordertown, Horsham and landing in Ballarat for the night.

I worked out I should have about an hours drive in morning to get to day one of the course. As it was already dark on arrival and the cold settling in, I grab a pizza and found a spot to roll out the swag in the outskirts of Ballarat.

This was easiest one of the coldest nights that I have spent in the swag, I could hear frogs in a puddle near my swag while I was trying to get to sleep, in the morning that puddle was a block of ice. With little sleep, I woke an hour before my alarm to a crispy canvas full of frost. I spent 10 seconds trying to roll the swag but lost feeling and strength in my fingers. It is safe to say that the swag was skull dragged to the boot and kicked in the back.

It took sometime to defrost the front windscreen so I could get back on the road. I arrived outside of the course, still dark out and about 2 hours early. This gave me the opportunity for a nap in the warm car.

Course: Day One

JB Hunter have an industrial style building in the industrial suburbs of Melbourne, train track nearby and some abandoned building near silos. The building has a number of classrooms and warehouse style area with mock up carriage networks, MDF's, internal cabling runs and server cabinets etc.

I jumped into my classroom which was a mix of sparkys, nbn, and contractors. Majority was Ventia new starters that are going through their Open Cablers Registration.

Day one was spent by everyone introducing each other, learning about the lecturer, and then cracking into the theory.

Theory Topics:

• Regulations & Standards
• Safety when Working with Fibre Optic Cables
• Carrier Networks
• Customer Networks
• Fibre Optic Characteristics
• Light Propagation & Bandwidth Performance
• Inspection & Cleaning Connectors

We then got the opportunity to practice stripping back fibre cables, using the clever and fusion splicer.

After knocking off, I tried to get into a nearby Discovery Park, but that was booked out. I then went to a nearby "cheap looking" park to ask for pricing and availability. On arrival, the car-park was full of Australian Border Force agents detaining some people, this put me off the place instantly.

Another trip to the bush for the night.

Course: Day Two

The last day was spent running through the last bits of theory and then the practical assessment & exam.

Theory Topics:

• Fibre Optic Symbols
• Patch Cords & Pigtails
• Splices
• Tools & Equipment
• Optical Fibre Testing
• Reporting

We then all cracked into the exam and fixed up any shortfalls the class had. The last part of the course was the Practical Assessment. This involved terminating a Manual Connector at one end of the cable and splicing a pigtail to the other end.

Went then shot some light down the fibre to confirm the path was good. We were then assessed on power reading and performance of the cable.

With the course completed, I got my fibre endorsement and shot back to Ballarat for another pizza dinner and powered on home.

Whats Next?

I have been issued my fibre test equipment and ready to fault find during my daily duties. I plan to set up a splicing area in one of our local exchanges so we can get more practice splicing and jointing fibre.