Getting back to the possible open pairs, my opinion is that basic wiring installation seems to be a lost art.

You need to understand the metallic characteristics of twisted copper pairs. Has anyone ever taught you these things? You would not be expected to know them unless you were taught.

Do you own an open meter? A Dynatel loop tester of any type? Even a kick meter? Any of them would have allowed you to find suitable pairs. Did you have a helper with you? I would say that trying to find two good pairs would be much less of a fool's errand were you to have had help doing so.

Here's how to do it alone:

Test all pairs for battery, ground, shorts, unbalance, and opens.

Strap (short circuit) and cross to ground all available spares that look like they make it all the way to the other end.

Go to the other end and start looking for good conductors (half-pairs, to be precise).

Your meter will indicate a ground on all good conductors.

Select two good pairs that are as far away from each other in the cable lay-up as possible.

Go back and make all the other pairs normal.

End of lesson.




Arthur P. Bloom
"30 years of faithful service...15 years on hold"