{"id":205,"date":"2025-07-07T13:21:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T13:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/k0xm.net\/?page_id=205"},"modified":"2025-07-07T21:05:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T21:05:24","slug":"power-line-safety-always-look-up","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/k0xm.net\/?page_id=205","title":{"rendered":"Power Line Safety….always look UP!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"Here is an article I wrote a few years back (circa 2007\/2008)…It still holds true today\r\n\r\n\r\n
\r\n“I just saw this one on the news, and had to write a bit for you guys\r\nto pass on to the ham community, especially the newer hams.\r\n\r\nPlease forward this in its entirety, as I am using my professional\r\nback ground to back up my statements.
\r\n\r\n><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
\r\n\r\nWe lost another ham today, and it is a very sad event. The parties\r\ninvolved, were installing a Comet FIBERGLASS antenna, that came in\r\ncontact with a single 7620V power line. Now how do I know what the\r\nexact voltage is? I built and maintained the substation that fed this\r\ncircuit. I spent 27 years as a substation technician for the Board of\r\nPublic Utilities. I am still in this field. So, I feel I have some\r\nexperience in what I am passing along.
\r\n\r\nIn a nutshell, the location of the accident was a few blocks from the\r\nsubstation. The wires you see going thru the residential areas are AT\r\nMINIMUM 7200 volts from each wire to ground, and between any two of\r\nthem is 13,800 volts. This is nothing to play with at any time. I have\r\nseen a fault TOTALLY vaporize 1″ copper buss (which is solid). Imagine\r\nwhat it can do to a human.\r\n\r\nEach wire is fed from what is called a 3 phase line. From there, it\r\ncan be broken off and sent down a property line as a single wire.\r\nThose are called “laterals” Yes, you will see a device at the break\r\nout point, and this is a fuse. BUT the caution needs to be conveyed.\r\nThese fuses are in the 60-100 amp range. This is at 7200 volts.\r\n
\r\nOn top of that, anytime a tree falls across a line, or a pole gets hit, there\r\nis a circuit on the “feeder” at the substation that AUTOMATICALLY\r\ncloses the feeder back in, and TRIES to restore the power to the area.\r\nSome of these “reclosers” can operate 2-5 times, depending on how they\r\nare set.
Now from the substation end, the protective device is set for\r\nthe full fault capabilities of the line. In the case of BPU, this can\r\nbe set at 600 AMPS, and multiples of that value. The protective\r\ndevices are set for what is called a “time” or and “instantaneous”\r\noperation. Picture a slow blow fuse and a fast blow, and you will\r\nunderstand the difference in the settings. These setting are at\r\nmultiples of the 600 amp value. So, if there is a direct short, then it\r\nwill not trip until it reaches a value at, oh lets say, 8 times that\r\nvalue. This value is so the Lateral fuse can do its job. So we are looking at 4800 amps. and this is at 7200 volts and\r\nlower.
So, it trips, then it energizes it AGAIN.\r\nThe possibility of survival if you are tied up in the wiring is slim and none.\r\n<\/span>
\r\nNow remember how I said they were installing a FIBERGLASS antenna?
\r\nWell guess what. It is metal inside. Yes, fiberglass does not radiate\r\nas we all know. Hence the metal. That is what caused the accident.\r\nThey got too close to the line (remember your ‘magnetic lines of flux’\r\ntheory? If not, look it up on the web).<\/strong>\r\nThere is a minimum approach area that MUST be followed.\r\nThis changes for ALL voltages. This distance must NOT be broken.\r\nIf it is….. a flashover will happen, and it is not pretty.
\r\nElectricity will find the shortest path to ground.\r\nIn this case it was a couple of men.\r\n<\/span>
\r\nFolks, this is nothing to take chances with. In my almost 30 yrs as a\r\nham, and 27 yrs in the power utility field, I have seen way too many\r\n“accidents.” Stop, look and if it is close or SEEMS that way- DON’T.<\/strong>
\r\n\r\nFind another place. High voltage lines are NOT forgiving. Your life\r\ndepends on it. You always hear “it is the amps not the volts”, well I\r\ncan tell you when you get at these levels, who is going to argue what\r\nkilled the person who had the accident. PLEASE ,PLEASE follow the\r\nwarnings. ANYWHERE close is too close.\r\n\r\nStay safe, and I hope we can enjoy many more years of hamming.<\/strong>
\r\n\r\nThanks Guys,
\r\n\r\nChuck Kraly, K0XM”","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here is an article I wrote a few years back (circa 2007\/2008)…It still holds true today “I just saw this one on the news, and had to write a bit for you guys to pass on to the ham community, especially the newer hams. Please forward this in its entirety, as I am using my … Continue reading “Power Line Safety….always look UP!!!”<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-205","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/k0xm.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/k0xm.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/k0xm.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/k0xm.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/k0xm.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=205"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/k0xm.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222,"href":"https:\/\/k0xm.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/205\/revisions\/222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/k0xm.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}