Our local power company, Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation made
national news recently over a line noise problem experienced by a ham in
Springfield, TN. He had no success getting them to fix the problem so he
complained to the FCC after several years of complaints to CEMC. They were
ordered by the FCC to clear it up. The ARRL sent someone down to help, and
they found and corrected the malfunction.
I suspect this news has circulated to utility companies throughout the
country, so they might take the problem mere seriously than before. In the
past, I have had good luck with CEMC when I have located the problem and
managed to tell the lineman exactly where it was. Once I located a sparking
clamp on a pole, where the high voltage wire connects to the transformer.
It was at night and I called the emergency number at 10 PM and told them
what I had found. I told them it wasn't a real emergency, that they could
wait till the next day and it didn't matter to me if they didn't come right
out, as long as they fixed it in a reasonable time. The lineman told me
no, he would come right out, that it WAS an emergency. They call that
problem a "hot clamp" and he said that if left unattended it could burn the
high voltage wire in two and cause it to fall, resulting in a widespread
power outage and a safety hazard to people on the ground. He thanked me for
calling it to his attention.
The secret is to get to the lineman who actually fixes the problem. I once
called in a problem located about a quarter mile away from my house. I had
located the pole and described exactly where it was. For several weeks I
repeatedly called them and they kept saying they had come and checked it out
several times and found nothing wrong. I happened to get home early from
work one day and saw the power company truck leaving my driveway. I asked
if he was checking for radio noise, and he said yes. I had him follow me
and I drove to the pole, and they had it fixed in less than 20 minutes. I
asked why it took so long and they didn't follow my directions, and they
told me t hat the office has a policy of not giving specific information to
the lineman. They would only give them my name and address and the nature
of the problem (that I was experiencing radio noise). So they kept coming
out and checking the transformer in front of my house, and of course, found
nothing wrong.
I have found the nighttime/weekend emergency number a better bet, because
the office personnel are all at home and you usually talk directly to the
line crew.
Don K4KYV
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