CAT6 Direct Burial Cable 1000ft - Shielded Gel-Filled, 23AWG Solid Copper

This is the Cat6 for the wettest ground you'll bury cable in. The core is filled with a water-blocking gel that occupies every gap between the pairs, so even if the jacket is cut, water has nowhere to go; it can't wick along the cable to your jacks the way it can through an air-cored cable. That's what you want for a high water table, a trench that floods, or a conduit that's going to sit full of water for years. Over the core, an aluminum-mylar foil with a tinned copper drain wire blocks interference from power sharing the trench, and the UV-stable polyethylene jacket is rated CMX for direct burial and outdoor use across a -40 °C to 60 °C range.

Underneath are 23 AWG solid bare copper conductors with HDPE insulation, a size up from Cat5e, which is where Cat6 gets its lower loss and its headroom for 2.5G and 5G links. It comes on a 1000 ft wooden spool with a rip cord and footage markings on the jacket.

Features

• Gel-filled core. A flooding compound fills the cable interior, so water can't enter or travel along it. This is the most thorough water blocking available in a Cat6 burial cable.
• F/UTP overall foil shield with tinned copper drain wire. It blocks EMI and RFI from buried power lines and nearby equipment, and the tinned drain resists corrosion in damp conditions.
• UV-stable LDPE jacket, CMX rated. Polyethylene resists moisture, soil chemicals, and sunlight, and is rated for direct burial, conduit, and exposed outdoor runs.
• 23 AWG solid bare copper. Heavier than Cat5e's 24 AWG, for lower resistance over a full 100 m channel and less voltage drop on PoE runs. No copper-clad aluminum.
• Gigabit and multi-gig rated. It runs 10/100/1000 Mbps, 2.5G, and 5G links over a full channel, and 10GBase-T over short runs.
• HDPE insulation. Moisture-resistant, with tight pair twists for crosstalk control.
• -40 °C to 60 °C operating range. It works through frozen ground and summer heat.
• Rip cord. Strip the jacket without nicking the foil or the conductors.
• Sequential footage markings. Measure trench runs and track what's left on the spool.
• 1000 ft wooden spool. Standard TIA-568 pair colors inside.

Where It Fits

It suits burial in wet or low-lying ground, runs under lawns with irrigation, conduits that flood, docks, marinas, and waterfront sites, farms and ranches with buried runs to barns and pumps, and any underground multi-gig link that would be expensive to dig up and replace.

Good to Know

Gel is messy. Before terminating, wipe the gel off the pairs with a citrus-based cable cleaner or isopropyl alcohol and a lint-free rag, or the punch-down won't seat cleanly; budget a few extra minutes per end. Outdoor cable brings lightning and surge risk into the building with it, so put a gas-discharge Ethernet surge protector at each entry point, bonded to the building ground, and ground the shield's drain wire at one end. CMX cable is limited to 50 feet inside a building by the NEC, so transition to CM, CMR, or CMP cable at the entry. Bury it at least 18 to 24 inches deep, or per local code. Cat6 carries 10G over short distances only; for 10G on a full channel, use Cat6A. A shield only works when it's grounded, so terminate on shielded Cat6 jacks. Solid conductors are for permanent runs; terminate on jacks and patch panels, not crimped plugs.

Specifications