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

This is the Cat6 for wet ground when you don't want to deal with gel. A dry water-blocking tape wraps the core; if the jacket is ever nicked and groundwater gets in, the tape swells and seals the breach instead of letting water wick along the cable to your jacks. There's no flooding compound, so terminating it is as clean as terminating indoor cable. Over the tape, 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.

Features

• Swellable water-blocking tape. It expands on contact with moisture to seal the cable core, with no gel to clean off at termination.
• 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.
• 1000 ft wooden spool. Standard TIA-568 pair colors inside.

Where It Fits

It suits underground runs between buildings on a campus, farm, or industrial site where the ground stays damp, buried feeds to security cameras and gate controllers, remote access points and wireless bridges, parking lot and perimeter surveillance, and any trench that shares a route with power.

Good to Know

Outdoor cable brings lightning and surge risk into the building with it. 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. Swellable tape seals a breach after water reaches it; for a trench that sits in standing water or a conduit that stays flooded, the gel-filled version of this cable blocks water before it gets in. For a run beside high-voltage feeders or heavy machinery, the dual-shielded version adds a braid. 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