There were persistent rumors that some of our lineman intentionally left a few of the hot line clamps loose, to enhance the overtime pay when the wind blew hard, like last night in western Washington!
73, Rick K7MW On Nov 22, 2011, at 10:45 AM, Milt -- N5IA wrote: > Poor connection in hot line clamps used for taps off a main line or > for equipment connections, etc. are notorious for causing RF noise > as well as creating fires and shock hazards in situations like Tom > mentions. > > Hot line clamps are used where it is not cost effective to install > disconnect switches. > > The older hot line clamps did not have spring loading, and in time, > with wind vibration, the clamps had a tendency to loosen. > > Three things have been done to mitigate this problem of burning a > tensioned conductor in two. > > 1. Hot line clamps now have spring loading. > > 2. Hot line clamps typically have a dab of oxide inhibitor in the > mouth of the clamp as it comes from the factory. > > 3. Most utilities crimp install a "Saddle" loop on the conductor, > and then connect the hot line clamp to the saddle. Then, if the hot > line clamp connection fails it only burns the saddle loop, and not > the tensioned conductor. ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
