Topband: Support Lines Crossing ABOVE 14KV Lines

[Michael Tope]

> It is not a problem getting everything installed (all I have to do is walk
> to the powerhouse and
> shut it down for a half-hour!) but what really concerns me is the
> possibility of a line snapping
> and dropping a _supposedly_ non-conducting rope across the power-lines.
What
> might have
> been non-conducting during installation could be a problem a year or two
> later.
>
> Any suggestions other than paying for buried lines across the front of my
> property?
>
> 73 Dick - w7wkr  CN98pi
> Stehekin, WA


A friend of mine at work tells a great (but frightening) story of a
guy who he went to meet who was getting out of ham radio and
liquidating everything. This guy had a crank-up in his backyard
with a tribander on top. The antenna actually hung-over the MV
lines running across the back yard. To get the antenna down, he
had to crank the tower down part way, stop before the antenna
contacted the power lines, remove the antenna, and then crank
the tower down the rest of the way. This guy was actually cranking
the tower down with his son riding it down on the side when his
hand slipped off the crank and the whole thing started to free wheel.
Miraculously somehow his son had the presence of mind to jump
off the tower before the antenna hit the power lines. The shack
and the equipment inside were a total loss (the walls caught fire
inside) as was the antenna and power was knocked out to the
neighborhood. Fortunately nobody was killed or injured (a small
miracle). The most amazing part of the story was that when the
power company came out to restore power they noticed a splice
in the down lined and this poor SOB was forced to admit that
this same sort of accident had happened once before when they
were installing the antenna the first time (no I am not making this
up).

Don't be this guy :)

73 de Mike, W4EF.......................................