But, one thing I couldn't help but notice, may it is my bad eyesight, but is there a link between the centre and the RH phases on that pole?
This is the arrangement I was referring to, rather than the fact that the lines go off at an angle.
There's an insulator mounted vertically on top of the cross-arm which supports a link connecting the incoming center-phase over to the right. Then there's another insulator lower down at a funny angle on the right-hand pole which supports the link connecting the incoming right-hand phase onto the center wire down into the sub-station.
If you look closely at the left-hand phase, you can see a straight link hanging down just connecting straight through.
The second feeder on the pole that's just clipped off the right side of that same photo has the identical arrangement: LH phase linked straight across, RH and center phases transposed.
Even the co-axial cable that the guys were using looked strange, it was about 35mm diameter and the centre of the inner conductor was hollow.
That's thanks to "skin effect." At these sorts of frequencies RF current tends to travel mostly along the outside of a conductor, so they can economize on materials and save weight by using a hollow center conductor.
[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 06-16-2004).]
