Great video on terminating Fiber Optic cable ready for Direct Burial

This video walks through tips on preparing direct-burial cables for installation. It was produced by the Fiber Optic Association — the same standards body behind the CFOT certification — so the techniques apply equally to direct-burial fiber-optic and armored copper runs. Direct-burial armored cables are well suited to underground installations without conduit. The trade-off is the armor itself, which can be tricky to strip cleanly. The walkthrough below shows a couple of time-saving techniques. Two extra tips beyond what the video covers:

• Run a tracer wire alongside any non-metallic direct-burial run — a 12 or 14 AWG copper conductor (insulated, color-coded per local utility convention) terminated at both ends to a marker post. Makes the cable findable years later when no one remembers where it went.
• Bed the run in clean sand or fine soil. Sharp rock against the jacket is the slow-failure mode that nobody plans for. NEC Article 300.5 covers minimum burial depths (18 inches for direct-burial UF, 24 inches under driveways) — verify the local AHJ requirement before backfill.

The full fiber-optic catalog at Ramcorp, including direct-burial-rated runs, is here. Tracer wire and direct-burial copper are available through Ramcorp Wire & Cable.