On Sun, 14 Mar 2004 19:47:26 GMT, "Paul_Morphy"
wrote:


"Ron G" wrote in message
...
Woops-----

Looks like the age old advice of banging poles is dangerous---

My apologies---

I once had an intermittent problem the power company wouldn't fix. I tried
banging the pole with my car (metal bumper!) a few times (it was a ham radio
contest weekend, after all!), but the noise wouldn't go away. In the days
before you could track phone callers so easily, I called the power company
emergency line and told them I 'd been out for a walk and observed fire
coming from a crackling insulator. I said I had called my local fire
department about it and they'd given me the emergency number to call. I was
to call the fire department back and tell them what the power company said.
The problem was fixed in less than an hour.

"PM"



Guys, I'm going to repost my note from a few days ago. This note was
intended to caution anyone who intends to hit poles with hammers
(doing it with a car is stupid, dangerous, and illegal) that the
potential for a power outage and danger to yourself is a reason for
concern. I know how frustrating it can be when you have to deal with
an uncooperative power company. Been there myself. I've been doing
interference investigations for almost 25 years for the power company
I work for. We have technicians who have equipment to track down the
troubles and then instruct the line crews (who do not know much about
tracing noise) on what repairs are needed.

I can recall several hams and shortwave listeners who have traced
problems down to the exact pole for us. These guys were and still are
a big help to us, and their investigating techniques deserve a pat on
the back. I admire and respect these guys. And some have become
long-term personal friends.

I can also recall some "regulars" who make false reports of arcing and
burning poles just to get some action. At times, this has caused
costly call-outs of line personnel and needless response from local
fire departments. And many times, the source of the interference was
not power company related. Unfortunately, after a few calls like
this, the people who make these calls usually end up on the "bottom of
the pile".

Flame me if you want. I'm not trying to be a wise guy. I'm trying to
stop that 1 in a 1000 chance of anyone getting hurt or killed. It's
not worth it for a ham radio contest (and yes, I have been a ham for
35 years).

I certainly don't have all of the answers, but at times, when I read
posts from people having noise troubles, I try to email them with
suggestions. Always glad to help if I can.



Here's my post from a few days ago:


Bad advice!! Do NOT hit a power pole with a sledge hammer. Never!

If something is loose or broken on the pole, it could fall on you,
injuring or killing you. I once had a lineman replace a defective
transformer switch which was causing interference. All he did was
touch it with his hot stick, there was a blue flash and about 5 or 6
people lost power. Fragments of the defective switch fell to the
ground. Same thing could happen with cracked insulators or defective
lightning arrestors. And banging on poles will usually prove nothing
if a lightning arrestor is bad.

If a connection is ready to come apart, hitting the pole could cause a
power outage to one or several customers. Some older type bolt-on
bails are hanging on by a thread after years of rusting away.

Some power companies (including the one I work for) will prosecute if
you are caught hitting their equipment. If you suspect a problem on a
pole, write down any identifying numbers on the pole and call the
local power company.