Tonight at 10 pm EST on the History Channel will be a show on high voltage lineman.

Cool! Hope I can awake!

I saw a video once where a lineman was suspended from a helicopter while wearing some kind of metal suit that caused him to be enveloped in very lively arcs while he worked.
Or was this a dream?

Excellent program. Thanks for the heads-up, Jim.




[This message has been edited by Bjarney (edited 06-24-2003).]

Thanks Jim. Good show, although the thought of actually bonding myself to the 500KV line just really seems wrong, scary, strange?

765kV is the usual upper end in the US and Canada. 525kV way out west.

Redsy,

It's been a topic of conversation before here. Could you have seen something following the links in that thread?
https://www.electrical-contractor.net/ubb/Forum1/HTML/002851.html

Bill

[This message has been edited by Bill Addiss (edited 06-25-2003).]

I taped it last night, those are people who have my utmost respect and admiration.
There is NO-WAY you could get me up there, not even if they held a gun on me.
Does anyone know if they still climp with GAffs ? Around here they all have bucket trucks.

WmColt

Isn't fiberglass handy stuff?

Wocolt,
Yes they still do climb with gaffs. The journeyman don't do it so much when bucket trucks are available but around here the apprentices climb regardless. A good friend of mine was an apprentice lineman and they would make him climb and let the bucket trucks sit idle. It has alot to do with keeping the up and comers trained. They run into situations alot when they cannot use bucket trucks and if no one knows how to climb they have a problem. It also has to do with the fact alot of them are just plain *** *****!
I have gone part way up a 66KV pole on gaffs and it's much harder than it looks!
No thanks.

[This message has been edited by Nick (edited 06-26-2003).]

I've never had to climb a pole wearing Gaffs, as all our HV poles wear climbing studs, just lean a pole ladder up against the pole and extend it and you find access to the pole, you have to be wearing your pole belt and safety strap, otherwise you can't work, just gripping to the pole!.
Besides most of our poles are made of Concrete, for HV applications.
Bill,
Thanks for the link, mate, I'd forgotten about that one!

There was a pic submitted to ECN not long ago, that showed a couple of guys using a ShotGun Hot-stick and Bjarney replied to it, I have been trying to find it, can anyone give us a link?

Trumpy,

Is this it?
https://www.electrical-contractor.net/ubb/Forum17/HTML/000039.html

Bill

No, Bill, I think that it was a discussion on PPE.
I am just drawing at straws, here, mate.

Nick
Thanks for the reply, when I went to Radio school the wiremen were right next door with their gaffs and poles, and remember seeing a couple of guys 'Gaff-out' half-way up,, Ouch.
and since then have never seen anyone use them.

Wm.Colt

Bill — Trumpy may be referring to a image of two guys in arc-blast suits applying a portable ground set in metal-enclosed medium-voltage gear, using a shotgun/gripall stick.

It may have been a training/demonstration photo of a crew at a military base about a year ago.

Bill,
They were using the Shot-gun stick with a Ball-type fitting on the end of it to ground a fitting in an outside panel, against Static Electricity, at least I think that was what they were doing!.
Hope that last sentence, makes some sort of sense!.

Bjarney,
You've nailed it there, mate!.
That's the one, can't find it anywhere,
I thought it was originally posted in the Pictures for Discussion Area?.
I have also been known to be wrong too!