From: whit3rd@gmail.com   
      
   On Sunday, April 8, 2018 at 5:05:42 AM UTC-7, kristoff wrote:   
      
   > I want to learn a more and experiment with optical fibre, especially for   
   > communication.   
   >   
   > Does somebody here have any experience with this (at a hobbyist level)?   
   > There seams to exist a kit called FO-30K, that just uses LEDs,   
      
   A friend did instruction on this, and the support for plastic fiber and   
   LEDs is very poor (and laser coupled to single-mode fiber is both   
   commonly available, and higher performance in every respect).   
      
   > What would be a good thickness of fibre to start with? I found   
   > references starting from epef-1 (1 mm core, 2.2 mm in total) to epef-18   
   > (18 mm core).   
   > Anybody any idea on what is easy to handle?   
      
   Choose a wavelength, and a connector, and you can get transmitters and/or   
   receivers, or SFP transceiver modules, ready to connect.   
   A variety of suppliers stock cables, and semicustom build-to-order   
   cables, with the length and connectors you specify.   
      
   If you want to 'handle' making fiber connections, it takes a field splice kit   
   to cut and polish a fiber, and cement/crimp  it into a suitable connector   
   ferrule.   
   These exist, but are not much of a 'learning' experience for a communication   
   project.   A few-miles reel of multifiber cable is how the real world   
   handles these fibers, and that's not gonna fit a student workbench.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)