[TowerTalk] 2 HAMS died in Kansas City

[AD5VJ Bob]

I just moved from an older house with exactly what you described.

I examined the lines coming to the house visually with binoculars upon move in.

At which point I called 911 and told them there was a fire hazard and an electrical hazard in my backyard. Described to them what I
had seen and within mins the fire department was on the scene, along with the police and the electric company who owned the lines.

The Fire Department pretty much directed the show and Bucket trucks were in the air within 10 mins of arrival, you see a tree limb
had begun rubbing on the wires and the wire had begun cutting into it. You could see where the tree was starting to loose it's bark.

About a week later because of the condition of the line itself, it was totally replaced with a new drop and a new insulator at the
corner of the house since that one had been there from the beginning of time. 

No my electric bill did not go up and I did not have any unexplained outages afterwards Hi Hi

I was also told that these drops are supposed to be examined often and that someone had dropped the ball and the situation would be
taken care of, thanked for my forwardness by the Fire Department and the Policeman gave me his card saying if there was anything
else he could do to please call him.

I was glad I called and will do it again if need arises.
The line could have broke into completely if a Texas Thunderstorm had arisen in the next week or so, which is not unusual  ' round
these here parts'.

I write this to tell you if you have called the electric company alone and they are hesitant or just 'gutter trash ignorant', once
the fire department is informed and it is on official record, they WILL LISTEN :0)

My wife said at the time that if I called the electric company they probably would not listen to me or it would take months for them
to do anything based on her experience with their lack of co-operation on other things.

I didn't know if my electric company was or not, I just didn't want to hassle with it, so I cut to the chase.

Bob AD5VJ 


> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com 
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Blake Bowers
> Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 10:03 PM
> To: Michael Baker
> Cc: TOWERTALK at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] 2 HAMS died in Kansas City
> 
> Most HAMS do live near 7.6 lines - they are the distribution 
> lines feeding the pole pigs.  Some are often even a higher power.
> 
> 
> Don't take your organs to heaven,
> heaven knows we need them down here!
> Be an organ donor, sign your donor card today.
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Michael Baker" <k7ddmjb at qwest.net>
> To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
> Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 9:42 PM
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] 2 HAMS died in Kansas City
> 
> 
> > Hi gang,
> >
> > I just got through reading about this tragedy and a couple of
> > thoughts crossed my mind.  I share them will all of you and 
> please, don't
> > shoot the messenger here. I am not pointing any fingers; 
> that would be a 
> > bit
> > moot at this point.
> >
> > First thought.
> > Why would any Ham live that close to a 7.6KV line?  Power line
> 
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