It may not be a big deal to most but I haven’t seen snow in probably around 7 years.

Also my wrist and elbow hurt from splicing in the new cable in the cold. Contractor’s didn’t think to bring splicers with them, and of course the crew left me alone after they finished building the new lines.

👉🏽(snoot)

Thanks to Yakovlev this and other awesome pieces.
derpibooru.org/images/24459...

Why 6.4MHz? Because that is the bandwidth of each of the four upstream channels. Not really sure exactly why the distortion repeats every 6.4 MHz rather than acting more like common path distortion which would be a flat elevation across the whole upstream spectrum.

The pic of the computer is from the upstream spectrum analyzer for the node. This particular issue wasn’t strictly an AC short but also an RF short bridged by the AC path. When that bridge happens we get a RF distortion which repeats every 6.4MHz. This distortion interrupts modem traffic severely.

Sounds like something a chicken would do

After swapping out the power supply BER values decreased down to nothing and also MER (modulation to Error Rate) also increased, which is good. Last time I found one of these issues it was so severe it was causing an actual outage.

The LE’s power supply has a bulged capacitor which you can hear buzzing in the video. This causes harmonic interference which will give major bit error rate (BER) issues. As a customer you may have video breakup on a cable box, or for internet service you may have slow to intermittent connection.

If anyone actually reads this and wonders how hardline coax breaks like that its most likely due to slight damage when the cable was first being built.Then over time from the swinging of the span from the wind to the changes of seasonal temps the outer shield cracks followed by the center conductor.