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Old 16th Oct 2015, 3:44 pm   #21
G6Tanuki
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Default Re: Pylons

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Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell View Post
Fibre optic communications. Very cheap to make an earth (the top cable) with a bit of fibre in it, I don't think they are allowed to sell the bandwidth bet it saves on the 'phone bill though.
They *are* most definitely allowed to sell the bandwidth of the fibre-included-in-the-static-capture-wire.

[I was closely involved in the procurement of this: https://www.ssetelecoms.com/general-...ebrand-WEB.pdf - many of the points-of-presence are located in electricity substations!]
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Old 16th Oct 2015, 4:03 pm   #22
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Default Re: Pylons

I was surprised to notice on Fylingdales Moor a chain of rather scruffy-looking pylons. It soon occurred to me that they were probably MOD property associated with the RADAR installation, and perhaps not as well maintaindd as the National Grid ones.
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Old 16th Oct 2015, 4:05 pm   #23
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Default Re: Pylons

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Originally Posted by richrussell View Post
Did you see the pylons Iceland has selected to use in certain locations? They do have to replace them frequently as the strong winds and highly abrasive dust tend to degrade the metalwork, as well as seismic and volcanic events to contend with.]
I don't agree with the firm trying to sell the new pylons that regular pylons are bland. I tend to see pylons with vertical isolators as female and the ones that bend the cable around angles with horizontal isolators as male who look rather glum. Although saying that, the Mother pylon I spoke of earlier has horizontal isolators -but perhaps the old girl has been through 'the change'?

Personally I think in trying to make pylons look 'cool' in adopting a human shape might create a more prominent eyesore? ..why human anyway? why not say a cat head shape with whiskery isolators?
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Old 16th Oct 2015, 5:32 pm   #24
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Default Re: Pylons

My recollection is that the original "Freeserve" free (apart from the PAYG phone call cost) internet service made its money by having its users' PAYG calls routed over the National Grid's fibre optic network. It took a proportion of the charges made by the National Grid to BT (or whatever) for use of its network.
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Old 16th Oct 2015, 5:34 pm   #25
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Default Re: Pylons

Quote:
They *are* most definitely allowed to sell the bandwidth of the fibre-included-in-the-static-capture-wire.
I stand corrected, wonder where that thought came from?
 
Old 16th Oct 2015, 5:37 pm   #26
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Default Re: Pylons

Quote:
They *are* most definitely allowed to sell the bandwidth of the fibre-included-in-the-static-capture-wire.
I stand corrected, wonder where that thought came from? And now I know the proper name for the top conductor, all interesting stuff.
 
Old 16th Oct 2015, 6:41 pm   #27
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Default Re: Pylons

I was once in a car that stopped directly under the 400kV lines from Anglesey to the mainland. When I got out of the car I could feel the electric field, a very weird feeling. We soon moved on.

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Old 16th Oct 2015, 6:43 pm   #28
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Default Re: Pylons

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Originally Posted by cheerfulcharlie View Post
Personally I think in trying to make pylons look 'cool' in adopting a human shape might create a more prominent eyesore? ..why human anyway? why not say a cat head shape with whiskery isolators?
There was a proposal some time back to produce Stag-shaped pylons with the wires strung between the antlers:

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/...ctrical-towers

Other designs have been proposed: http://io9.com/these-beautiful-giant...-wi-1630435303

I would suggest that for the SWER system used in some countries, Unicorns could be used with the wire slung between their horns....
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Old 16th Oct 2015, 7:03 pm   #29
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Default Re: Pylons

it must be a tremendous operation replacing a cable over the severn estuary.

i allways remember when my dad put his first long/medium wave car radio in his Cortina, losing Radio 1 when passing underneath power lines near Melksham for a hundred yards either side.
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Old 16th Oct 2015, 7:45 pm   #30
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Pylon of the month! very good
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Old 16th Oct 2015, 8:24 pm   #31
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Default Re: Pylons

I was once involved in a microwave line of sight survey, with a view to installing a link on a pylon. Before we were high enough to be of use, we were getting shocks off the cherry picker rails. It wasn't Super grid, possibly 132KV I can't remember, but it was abandoned.
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Old 16th Oct 2015, 10:16 pm   #32
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Default Re: Pylons

Energis used to run the fibre on pylons and it was used to carry TV and radio programme feeds to (then) BBC transmitter sites. I went on a course at Wood Norton about it. We were told the programme feeds were protected by 'the biggest electric fence in the country'.

It was tapped off at substations and led underground to the transmitters.

Fibre is wrapped around overhead lines today to provide 'in-house' datacomms, telemetry and control between substations, and is implemented by the AFL Skywrap system. Pic is of a north Cumbrian installation on a 33kV pole.
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Old 16th Oct 2015, 10:36 pm   #33
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Just over the hill to where we live are a row of pylons above the village of Fishponds, these regularly appeared on Westward TV news with the reporter holding one end of an illuminated fluorescent tube. There was a lot of talk about harmful radiation but that all seems to have gone quiet now.

A friend of ours had a remote cottage at Dalwood just over the border in Devon and the 400kv line was installed practically over his roof while he was living there. The noise when it was damp was unbelievable, he is long gone now but the house is still there and occupied.

Peter
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Old 17th Oct 2015, 2:03 am   #34
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Default Re: Pylons

To give you a flavour of what used to be available for pylon enthusiasts' viewing, I managed to find a folder containing some of the 1990's "Pylon of the month" photos in the backed-up files of my old Windows 98PC. The originals were fairly low resolution GIF files. For ease of display, I have made two PDFs of them, one for Landscape, the other for Portrait format photos. Unfortunately I did not think to record the original descriptions, but the file names are as follows.

1990s Pylons L [landscape]:
1 Death of a pylon
2 French
3 Harvest
4 Landlights ( from memory, these were for the Stanstead airport runway landing lights)
5 New Forest
6 PGG3NorwichMain

1990s Pylons P [Portrait]
1 AvonMeads
2 Nonumber
3 pinkpylon
4 PKW77Tewksbury
5 StTropez
6 Webmaster3
7 ZX169Shap2
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File Type: pdf 1990s pylons P.pdf (1.00 MB, 125 views)
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Old 17th Oct 2015, 8:43 am   #35
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Default Re: Pylons

Who needs just a lamppost growing out of their head?

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Old 17th Oct 2015, 3:09 pm   #36
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I find pylons (and radio towers) very interesting, people call me 'sad' and then they go on about the latest iThingy app. Ah well it takes all sorts.
 
Old 17th Oct 2015, 5:15 pm   #37
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Default Re: Pylons

The pylons with four conductors separated by an X shaped separator are either 275 or 400 Kv, so please don't get too close!
I have noticed here at Chickerell substation one set of lines has four conductors per phase, the other set has 3 conductors per phase. Not sure why this is, but it was changed a few years ago when they renewed all the wires. I remember when going to Reading in Berkshire, when we passed under a 400Kv line reception would be lost due to a horrendous crackling and buzzing. This affected radio 1 reception, same as someone else said earlier.
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Old 18th Oct 2015, 2:42 pm   #38
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Default Re: Pylons

I saw these in Namibia - carrying 6kV. Not sure how they'd stand up to UK weather. There were no safety notices either.
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Old 18th Oct 2015, 3:36 pm   #39
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Default Re: Pylons

Three phases under *double* static lines.

Would this be a high incidence of lightning area?

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Old 18th Oct 2015, 4:11 pm   #40
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Namibia is said to have "one of the highest lightning ground strike densities in the world"
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