[Elecraft] OT - 30-foot Telescoping Fiberglas Poles

[Richard Kent]

Thanks for the Idea. This might Help at Jamboree on the Air setups.

Richard Kent

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Tom Hammond
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 10:25 AM
To: Dan KB6NU; elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] OT - 30-foot Telescoping Fiberglas Poles

Hi Dan:

I'm posting my reply to your query to the Elecraft reflector as well, 
in the hope that it might assist others in procuring "failed" hot 
poles as well.

You wrote:
>Can you describe what you mean by "hot poles"? And any idea how I
>could get hold of some from the local electric company here? When
>they fail the test, are they sold as surplus or just destroyed?

Generally, most electric utilities will destroy hot poles which fail 
their Hi-Pot tests. They don't want to risk that someone might get 
hold of one and then try to 'work' on their local wires with it...!

HOWEVER... if you can develop a relationship with someone at your 
local utility, especially if you can convince them that their failed 
hot poles would be the best thing since sliced bread for local hams 
to use as EMERGENCY ANTENNA SUPPORTS, you might be able to get them 
to allocate some of their failed poles to your use.

It happened that one of our club members worked at an electric co-op 
which was tossing several poles and he (basically) just went out and 
scarfed them out of the trash bin before the trash collectors got to 
them. I think we managed to get hold of about 6-8 that way.

Then, a couple years ago, when the State of MO held an emergency 
comms exercise in the St Louis area, with emergency services reps 
from many city / county / private groups present, the comms rep from 
Missouri's largest electric utility was present and he saw is using a 
couple of the hot poles for supporting our HF dipoles and a couple 
VHF verticals. He mentioned the fact to one of our comms guys who 
immediately put the 'arm' on him for their company to make their 
failed poles available for the same usage, rather than destroying 
them. It worked, and we came away with a dozen or so poles, most of 
which have been distributed to ARES and emergency preparedness groups 
throughout the state. A VERY worthwhile project.

There are also companies (www.tmascto.com, for example) which sell 
NEW hot poles. But the price is fairly significant.

Good luck,

Tom Hammond    N0SS

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