69 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
69 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
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Climbing Phone Poles- Tips and techniques. By The Mad Phone-man
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At one time or another, all of us have had to climb a phone pole or two in
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the pursuit of our objective, be it a quick cable connection or a tap on an
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enemys phone. These files are meant to help the novice avoid problems and or
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death.
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First, who are the climbers? They can be divided into 2 categorys, the lineman
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and the Ninja.
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1) The lineman- Dresses like a lineman, down to the tool belt and hard hat.
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Climbs in the daytime and at worst has to fix an occasional bad cable drop for
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some stupid housewife. (This is recommended since it won't cause as
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much attention as having the bitch call the company and complain about the
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snotty repairman...I have had to do it.)2) The Ninja- Climbs poles at night,
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dresses in all black, and often is found either fried or impailed on fences.
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The ninja has never used gaffs till the night he tries to climb a pole and
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proceeds to fall into a yard full of nasty doberman pincers. Once up pole,he
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finds he left tools on ground.
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Whats up there.
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---------------
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Starting from the ground up the lines are aranged as follows:
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First and closest to ground- Cable TV, recognized by open connections of coax
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type cable to metal boxes out in open.
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Next up is Phone- Connections are made in plastic or metal boxes. Connections
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are usualy not exposed to enviroment.
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Next up comes the first of the dangerous stuff, 110/220 house service. This is
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the first of POWER and can kill you. You can get zapped by comming in touch
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with any frayed cable and the phone cable, the cable TV line or the ground
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in the triplex service drop, all which are very well grounded for lightning
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protection. A shock of this voltage may or may not kill you, but you will have
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a long time to contemplate your Karma as your broken bones mend after the fall
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to the parking lot below!
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Above this is the first of the guarenteed lethal stuff, Industrial
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distribution, from 208 to 480 volts. They might look like 110/220 but they
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will have 4 wires as opposed to 3 for the lesser voltages.
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Lastly on the top- (where smart folks put the bad stuff) is the "High lines"
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these vary from 4.8 to 13.5 Kilovolts, they are instant DEATH if even casualy
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brushed, you will be SMOKING CHARRED REMAINS, and the fire department will
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probibaly remove your remains in the morning after the power crews turn offthe
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juice. I have seen a kid fried by 110,000 volts and he looked like a blackened
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tortilla chip.
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Some other hazzards up there:
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Kissing the pole- If you have gaffs, practice with them, period! Keep them
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sharp and remember you are trusting your life to those small spikes. If you
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gaff out at say 30' its like kissing a buzz saw sliding down the pole. In case
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you havent looked at a pole lately, every time someone climbs it with gaffs
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they create little splinters pointing up to puncture a faller. Of course theres
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also "free fall", which is nice to think about as the bone doctor removes
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your knees from under your chin. A freefall bellyflop causes all sorts of
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nice internal injurys, providing you are found before the shock of hitting
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the ground kills you.
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Some misc. Injurys-
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I have seen a guys bicep ripped off and dangling from hitting a step peg in a
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free fall. Real impressive cuts can be had from nails, staples, and metal
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signs sticking out of poles. And theres always the pack of doberman pincers you
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didn't see when you went up, but are there licking their chops after you get
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up there. Also consider that a lot of linemen are shot in getto neighborhoods
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as the monkeys think they are there to disconnect their illegal cable hookup!
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So what am I saying? If you got to climb a pole, do it right. Use the proper
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equipment and by all means, practice before you go up alone in the dark at
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3AM. Borrow a belt, get familiar with the use of gaffs, and wear gloves.
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Lets be careful out there!
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TMPM
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