Newsgroups: rec.audio.tech
Subject: Re: Terminating Fiber with Toslink Connectors
References: <[email protected]>
Jose Sifontes  writes:

> Any experience out there terminating fiber cablewith Toslink
> connectors?  are special tools needed?

I haven't terminated fiber optic to the Toslink connectors,
but I have terminated the same cable type to some other connector
types. In that I needed a suitable knife/cutter, the cripmers
for the connector and polishing paper for a fiber (like very fine
sand paper..). 
 
> I have a lot of spare fiber lengths avaiable to me and need to position
> the DVD player about 25 feet from the preamp.  Rather than using the
> coax connection I thought I'd try to run it via fiber which is robust
> over longer runs.

Check first that this distance is attaiable with that particular
connector. If I remeber right, the maximum distances available
with Toslink interface are in that range. The reason for
that are the characteristics of the thick plastic fiber optic
cable used in the interface. It has very much attenuation
(0.2-0.5 dB/meter), which means that the signal attenuates
to unusable low levels in that cable much quicker than in coaxial
cable. For any long distance transmission a proper 75 ohm
coaxial cable is better transmission medium than Toslink fiber optic
link. 

Fiber optics can be used for long distance communications, but
those fiber optics are different type and use different wavelength.
The single mode fiber optic cables used in telecommunications
have less than 0.3-1 dB of attenuation in one kilometer
for infrared laser light put into them (nearly thousand
times less attenuation than the plastic cable used in Toslink).

-- 
Tomi Engdahl (http://www.iki.fi/then/)
Take a look at my electronics web links and documents at 
http://www.epanorama.net/