You asked for success stories.
Several years ago I was increasingly troubled by power line
interference. I located a particularly bad case on a lightning
interrupter at the corner of my lot, and filed a complaint. When the
guys from Allegheny Power came out, they did what they do well (worked
on their stuff), and discovered a loose mounting bolt. I thanked them,
and they went away - I made sure I got the name of the engineer in
charge (in the field), and his phone number.
The next time I discovered a noise-maker, I did the following:
1. Narrowed it down to a single pole, and took down the pole number.
2. Called the guy and gave him the information, asking if it was OK to
short-circuit the system.
3. Went out with him and demonstrated the noise was indeed coming from
that pole.
4. Stayed out there while they worked, meanwhile chatting with the
engineer.
5. Thanked them profusely when things were fixed.
And the next time, and the next, and the next. We got to be quite
comfortable working together, and I learned a lot -- for instance that
their field engineering office had no noise locating gear, and that they
had to dicker with HQ and schedule even minimal gear far in advance.
I think the key lessons from all this were:
1. Always do your best to identify the source of the noise to a pole or
two.
2. Be flexible about scheduling the work - they have to put maintaining
power delivery first.
3. Make an effort to work with the guys who come out, treating them
like human beings trying to do a good job.
4. Recognize their limitations and, as necessary, tactfully use your
technical knowledge to supplement theirs.
5. DON'T assume an adversarial posture, particularly with the guys
doing the work. They can either help or hinder you.
This won't work for everyone - another nearby ham had to get the FCC to
write Allegheny a letter to get his problem dealt with. A lot depends
on the individuals involved, but it can work.
73, Pete N4ZR
Visit the Contesting Compendium at http://wiki.contesting.com
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On 2/10/2010 7:46 PM, Jon D. Garner wrote:
> unknown wrote:
>
> You may want to get your Tech license (it is a somewhat trivial exercise in
> short-term memory).
>
> Once you have that then join at least one of the disaster response groups
> e.g. ARES, RACES, Red Cross, CERT, Skywarn, etc.
>
> -------------------------------------
>
> could and still can pass the AE class license exam but I have no
> interest in it.
>
>
> What you say perfercly illustrated my initial use of the word
> _privledged_. And I use that in its original meaning.
> Private Law.
>
> Thanks to all for any input given.
>
>
>
> how about some success stories?
>
> Or even better yet........ there's gotta be a better yet somewhere in all this
> morass of hoop-jumping.
>
>
>
> No? Yes?
>
>
>
> All this reminds me of a biblical quote that i will now mis-quote.
>
> It is easier to stuff a camel thru the eye or needle than it is to
> get results from big monopoly utility business.
>
>
> -------------------------------------
>
> Jon-FL StarChat IRC Network channels #wunclub and #monitor
> (2x Icom IC-R75, IC-R8500, Racal RA6790/GM, WJ-8716, Collins HF-2050,
> BCD996T, HAL ST-8000a, M-8000, t2fd, D130NJ discone)
>
>
> PS. Why not visit the IRC channel and socialize a bit.
> We are about listening to Shortwave utility stations.
>
> 3 receivers on live streaming audio 24/7.
> and 4 more soon.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> RFI@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
>
>
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