larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) (10/09/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0431m01@vector.dallas.tx.us> ee5391aa%hydra.unm.edu@ ariel.unm.edu (Duke McMullan n5gax) writes: > There is a town called Las Vegas, located in northeastern New Mexico. > A few years back, when the price of copper was rising exponentially, > one of the phone people was driving out to do some routine > maintainence on some lines south of town. From up on a hill, he saw > four turkeys (human variety) in a pickup truck taking down the copper > lines on part of the local distribution net for that rural area. > He "phoned home" on the radio, and the Sheriff was dispatched. > ... > I never heard what happened to those guys, but maybe I don't need to know. Besides being arrested, some telephone "rustlers" who steal open wire lines (still common in the west) are in for another rude surprise: some wire which they laboriously remove that *looks* like copper, is really copper-clad steel - and is worth essentially nothing. I know of one instance where this happened. Copper, even of the "hardened" variety, is simply no where near as strong as steel. Most open wire lines which have been erected or replaced in the past 30 years use copper-clad steel, also known as "copper-weld". Copper-clad steel is used in other outdoor applications, such as 1-pr through 6-pr aerial drop wire, "bridle wire" used to make connection to open-wire lines, etc. <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp. <> UUCP {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> TEL 716/688-1231 | 716/773-1700 {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/ \uniquex!larry <> FAX 716/741-9635 | 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?"
mhw@wittsend.lbp.harris.com (Michael H. Warfield (Mike)) (10/10/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0437m07@vector.dallas.tx.us> kitty!larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) writes: >surprise: some wire which they laboriously remove that *looks* like >copper, is really copper-clad steel - and is worth essentially >nothing. As related in "Broadcast Engineering" several years ago (more than twelve) a radio station had been having a problem with "copper rustlers" stealing their antenna grounding radials. These are conductive lines which radiate outward from the base of AM transmitting antennas to provide a good ground plane. (Note FM and TV do not require them because they are higher in frequecny, the "tower" is not the radiating element, and the antennas are structured differently.) This particular station had a marshly low land near it's antennas where the radials had to be elevated over the ground, thus making them easy prey. This caused frequent and severe distortions to their transmitted field, to say nothing of the frequent cost of replacing long stretches of heavy gauge (#12 or better) copper wire. A bright engineer decided to replace a significant number of the radials with barbed wire. The rustling stopped shortly there after, although evidence did show they tried (remember most of this was done at night and in this case over treacherous ground). Later "proof of performance" tests showed their radiated pattern still remainded well within FCC specs and the barbed wire remains there to this day. (Although some of the blood stains may have washed away :-) ). Michael H. Warfield (The Mad Wizard) | gatech.edu!galbp!wittsend!mhw (404) 270-2123 / 270-2098 | mhw@wittsend.LBP.HARRIS.COM An optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds. A pessimist is sure of it!