Phone poles with guy wires

[chuck geiger]

In a string of phone poles, how many would have guy wires? This would include 20-40' in rural and 50-60' in town. Are they usually at the end of the poles or in an interaction for extra support? I have also
seen older poles supported with shorter poles. This applies to the right of way.

[dem34]

Usually at the end of a line. Unless there is some external circumstance that necessitates the extra support like a curve in the overall line, poor soil, etc

[wm3798]

What Al said.

Guy wires are used to stabilize the pole against some other force, usually a change in direction of the pole line, or at an intersection of two lines where the loads from one direction would cause undue strain on the other.  Unless conditions dictate, they aren't typically used at regular intervals, only where they're needed.

Lee

[chuck geiger]

Thanks, boys - Next ??? How many transformers are on let's say a string of 12 poles, every 3rd pole? Or it depends on the feeds?

[Narlie]

Are we talking telephone/power poles as we have in a residential area? Looking at my house area a step down transformer seems to be used for around a dozen homes.

[nkalanaga]

In more rural areas there is often a transformer for each customer - but the customers may be anywhere from one to several dozen poles apart!

[peteski]

When I walk my neighborhood I see a transformer for about 4 houses. Actually after few more walks and more careful observations, that number varies between 4 to 10 houses per transformer.

[robert3985]

In a string of phone poles, how many would have guy wires? This would include 20-40' in rural and 50-60' in town. Are they usually at the end of the poles or in an interaction for extra support? I have also
seen older poles supported with shorter poles. This applies to the right of way.

Easy thing to do is take a Saturday and go drive around and see where the guy wires are on the real thing.

Take notes and photos, and just in case, take a tape measure too.

That's what I did when researching telegraph/utility poles by the UP mainlines in Weber & Echo Canyons.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[nkalanaga]

Generally, on straight runs, the utility would try to keep the weight balanced, and there would be no need for guy wires.  As Al said, they're most common at the end of a line; on curves; where a side line branches off; and if there are multiple transformers on the pole, and the weight can't be balanced.

[wm3798]

You have to watch out for those transformers.  Sometimes they're more than meets the eye!

O. Prime