Strand Placement

Use the Place Strand tool to lay the foundation for your RF network. Unlike the Strand tool, which loads the strand map for the entire viewable network, you can use the Place Strand tool to strand a targeted area or a single point. You can click an existing strand point if you want to begin extending the connected strand.

Place Strand Tool

Click the Place Strand tool. The map cursor becomes a crosshair.

Click the map to place a structure.

The structure type uses the Default Structure Type in the Backstage > Settings.
Hotkeys can speed up your work. For example, press and hold a number key when placing a structure to set the house count on the structure. Or, press and hold Shift to temporarily change to the opposite structure type. See the Place Strand Tool Hotkeys topic for all available shortcuts.

Regarding house counts, the map symbology varies whether or not commercial counts are included:

Symbol	Description
	If there are only residential counts and no commercial counts, the residential count (in this image it is 3) is shown in a circle. The commercial triangle symbol is not shown.
	If there are only commercial counts and no residential counts, the commercial count (in this image it is 4) is shown in a triangle, and the residential count of 0 is shown in a circle.
	If there are both residential and commercial counts, both appear in separate symbols. The circle is the residential count, and the triangle is the commercial count.

Each subsequent click on the map creates a point stranded to the previous point.
Press Esc to stop stranding.

TIP: When you place overhead or underground structures in the map, they are automatically optimized. If the optimized structure is not appropriate, you can change the spec by right-clicking a structure to access the Context Wheel.

Move Strand

You can move existing stranding, whether you imported it or previously sketched it. This is helpful for making modifications to the placement of structures and the stranding between structures.

You can move stranding by itself or with RF network components. If you have already placed RF network components along the stranding, they move with the stranding. However, you will likely have to re-draw or edit the cable lines to run parallel with the new position of the stranding.

TIP: If possible, we recommend moving the stranding first, then adding the RF network components. If you have the stranding in position first, the RF network follows the contours and position of the stranding network in an optimized way with no further editing. If you move the stranding after adding the RF network, there is likely some clean up editing to perform to re-align the RF network cables. Both scenarios are covered below.

When using the Move Strand tool, keep the following in mind:

Structures and components cannot be moved outside of a multi-dwelling unit (MDU).
Address points cannot be moved with this tool.
Moving structures across node boundaries and do not build boundaries is not supported.
Strand lengths and cable lengths adjust to the new lengths once moved.

Move Strand without RF Network

Right-click an existing overhead or underground structure, then choose Move Strand.
Click and drag the structure to its new position. You can move it multiple times.
To accept the new position, press Enter. Notice the stranding now moves with the structure.

TIP: Press Esc to cancel the move.

Move Strand with RF Network

The Move Strand tool works the same with or without the RF network. But, as seen in the steps below, there is likely clean-up editing to perform to re-position the RF network.

Right-click an existing overhead or underground structure, then choose Move Strand.
Click and drag the structure to its new position. You can move it multiple times.
To accept the new position, press Enter. Notice the stranding now moves with the structure. Further, notice the RF network components moved too, but their geometric positioning might not be ideal.

TIP: Press Esc to cancel the move.
Use the Inspect tool to right-click the RF cable, then choose Edit.
Edit the contours of the RF cable to follow the new stranding position. An example is provided below, but your contours differ from the images. Follow your editing best practices as needed.
1. Click once to determine where the middle segment of the cable should begin.
2. Move the cursor along one of the guide lines or along the cable.
3. Click again to determine where the cable segment should end.
4. Press Enter. Examine the new position of the cable. Continue to make edits, if necessary.

Cable Lengths

When a cable is placed, its length is determined by a few factors:

It is determined by the length of the associated strands. For example, if a cable has a single related stand that is 100 feet, the base length of the cable is also 100 feet. If a cable stretches across multiple strand spans (for example, when running an express or if the house count is 0 for all the structures crossed), the base length is the sum of the strand spans. In other words, if a cable spanned across three strand spans that were 100, 200 and 175 feet in length, the base cable length would be 475 feet.
When the endpoint of the cable stops at a pedestal/underground structure, 5 feet is added to the base cable length. If both ends of a cable end at a pedestal/underground structure, a total of 10 feet is added to the base cable length.
When the endpoint of a cable stops at an overhead/underground transition (for example, a pole that has an underground span/trench on the cable side), 20 feet is added to the base cable length to account for a riser.