Yes, that's a 911 call for sure!
________________________________
From: RFI <rfi-bounces+w1rfi=arrl.org@contesting.com> on behalf of
k1ttt.dave@gmail.com <k1ttt.dave@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, August 1, 2022 12:33 PM
To: rfi@contesting.com <rfi@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [RFI] Caught in the act!
"Then looking around, I noticed a broken side mounted insulator on the high
voltage line, with that line laying across the service drops to four nearby
houses."
That is a major safety issue and should be reported to fire and utility
emergency lines immediately! If there were a break in the insulation on the hv
line it could result in the houses being energized with the high voltage which
could be deadly to anyone touching any appliance or even plumbing fittings...
it would also likely cause fires in the affected houses as the home wiring
insulation breaks down.
David Robbins K1TTT
e-mail: mailto:k1ttt@arrl.net
web: http://wiki.k1ttt.net
AR-Cluster node: telnet://k1ttt.net:7373
-----Original Message-----
From: RFI <rfi-bounces+k1ttt=arrl.net@contesting.com> On Behalf Of Charles Plunk
Sent: Monday, August 1, 2022 00:42
To: rfi@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [RFI] Caught in the act!
We do not get enough credit for tracking these things down. If you think about
it, we are providing a free preventative maintenance service for the power co.
And possibly life saving issues associated with live wires. Sometimes
convincing management of this is the issue though unfortunately. Over joyed my
util has finally come around in recent years. Good job!
Still relatively 120hz free here.
Chuck
W4NBO
On 7/31/22 22:40, jimk8mr--- via RFI wrote:
> Last Thursday night I sat down at 10:30 pm for my weekly effort in the
> Northern California Contest Club NS Sprint, a half hour contest for CW
> hotshots. Things were going good on 15 meters when at 10:35 pm a strong noise
> suddenly showed up at my usually relatively quiet suburban QTH. It raised my
> noise floor by about 20db from the usual on 15 and 20 meters, perhaps a bit
> less on 40 and 80 where atmospheric noise was more of a factor.
> After the contest ended at 11 pm, I decided to do some quick checking. I
> drove down the street in the direction of the noise holding an HT out the
> window, and found a noisy spot about a quarter mile from my house. I then
> went back with on my bike (well lit, on a very lightly traveled street) with
> the HT and a 432 yagi. I found an area within a pole or two where the noise
> peaked. There was no visible arcing, so I went home for the night.
> In the morning I repeated the trip on the bike, and then drove back with my
> W1TRC ultrasonic detector. I easily found the culprit pole. Then looking
> around, I noticed a broken side mounted insulator on the high voltage line,
> with that line laying across the service drops to four nearby houses.
> I went home and called my RFI contact at First Energy, who was out of the
> office. But his voice mail message gave an 800 number to call in an
> emergency, which I did. Once I got the agent to understand that the problem
> was not at my house, she then wrote up a trouble ticket. By the time I came
> home from doing some projects at 5 pm, the issue had been repaired.
> I don't have good measurements, but it seems that the noise in that direction
> is now somewhat less than it had been before. Had I been hearing low level
> leakage across a cracked insulator? That I may never know for sure.
> I wonder what the chances were that I'd be on the air when that insulator
> broke? And if not for me, whether I caught it immediately or at some later
> time when chasing noise, how long would that high voltage power line been
> laying across those low voltage lines? And what could have happened with that?
> This list does not pass photos, but I'd be happy to send a photo of the bad
> pole to anyone interested.
>
> 73 - Jim K8MR
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