Phone drop wire as radio antenna?

[bingster]

Here's a question for those knowledgeable about things "up the pole."  I've been putting up a small, outside long wire radio aerial, as I'm a radio fan as well as a phone nut.  While I was outside running a short length of wire, I spied the disused telephone co. drop wire overhead, and thought what a brilliant aerial it would make.  But when POTS service is discontinued (as in my case) does the phone company disconnect the drop wire from the house protector to end service, or do they disconnect it on the pole?  If it's still connected to the phone system at the pole, I'd obviously not be able to use it for an aerial, but if it's disconnected at the pole, and isn't tied to the system, the drop wire would make a perfect aerial.  Any ideas?

[Russ Kirk]

More and more often,  the phone company just disconnects the line in the central office. So when a new tenant moves in they just have to do a software connection.  Sometimes,  the lines are disconnected at the local B-Box.

Russ

[twocvbloke]

Just buy yourself a telegraph pole and stick it in your garden and put up your own dropwire...

Over here in the UK, they call a cut-off-but-still-powered line a "stopped line", so all they have to do is a few clicks of a mouse and it's active again, it's only if they need the pair to the exchange, due to a fault for example (like they did with our line) that they physically disconnect a line...

But either way, I'm sure it'd be considered unlawful to use their property for a radio set, it would here... 

[bingster]

Just buy yourself a telegraph pole and stick it in your garden and put up your own dropwire...

Actually... there's a pole lying in the back that I could use for that!  There are power lines at the back, and at some point the electric company replaced a pole, and apparently left the old one there.  I don't think I could stand it up, though.

More and more often,  the phone company just disconnects the line in the central office. So when a new tenant moves in they just have to do a software connection.  Sometimes,  the lines are disconnected at the local B-Box.

I guess that lets me out.  I thought it might be an easy way to get a high aerial, but with all those question marks, I'll try something else.  The little aerial I put up today is getting me more stations than before, but I'd like something higher and longer.

[twocvbloke]

Actually... there's a pole lying in the back that I could use for that!  There are power lines at the back, and at some point the electric company replaced a pole, and apparently left the old one there.  I don't think I could stand it up, though.

Just take a few friends, a spade, some concrete mix, some rope and a 2-4 of beer (for afterwards), and you'd get your pole up in no time....

[dsk]

F the length to the next pole is ideal, I would have put up an isolator, and my own antenna wire.

Its reversible, and when they are spending as little money as possible on the network, they will probably never notice, and if they do, not spending money on research. 

dsk

[Bill]

I would not do it, unless I first confirmed that the line is not live in any way (use a voltmeter and a butt set), and then put an isolator in the line - and probably not even then. An isolator, I suppose, could be as simple as a small capacitor in series with the line. Shoot for something like 1 to 10 ohms of reactance at the lowest radio frequency you plan to receive.

In my neighborhood, the utilities are underground, and the "drop wires" converge on a telephone equipment cabinet on a concrete pad down the street. When I switched my POTS service over to cable/Internet service, the POTS supplier disconnected the feed at the box on the house. He also disconnected "something" in the cabinet down the street, since I can no longer get a dial tone at my end of the line. But the line is still somehow energized, since a butt set makes all kinds of clicks and pops when I clip it on.

Bottom line, I suppose, is that the telco still owns the line all the way to your house, and they can do anything they want with that line, without telling you. And the thing that they do may be no more than a momentary accidental connection as they are working on somebody else's line in the cabinet or at the connection block at the top of the pole.

Just my thoughts - but in the world of old radios, front end antenna coils are hard to replace. And in solid state radios, the front end transistor is vulnerable. You don't want to pop either.

Bill

[AE_Collector]

When a line is diconnected by the Telco they simply program it ou of service. In most CO switches this leaves "battery" on the line to your house (48VDC) for as long as the circuit remains intact. Eventually they will reuse one of the cable pairs or the line equipment for something else so the battery to your house will go away. If anything was disconnected at the house it was likely your new provider lifting off the Telco feed from the house wiring so they could connect their feed to the house wiring. I have seen them leave the old Telco feed connected and consequently they are sending your "new" dial tone down the street to the CO.

Terry