TO: ALL ARES OPERATORS IN DISTRICT 3 (OFFICIAL)
ALL AMATEURS IN WEST VIRGINIA (INFORMATION)
FROM: WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS INCORPORATED AND WOOD
COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY SERVICES (ARES)
ARES DISTRICT 3 BULLETIN NR 07.19 DATE: May 13, 2007
SUBJECT: POWER AND TELEPHONE OUTAGE
A resent power outage, reminded me that in some cases the telephone service will also be affected. This happens more in rural areas then it does in the main cities. In areas that have a telephone office within ales, the loss of power rarely causes the loss of telephone service. The main telephone office buildings have a couple of sources of power, if the main commercial power goes off. They have a large bank of batteries that are supposed to last about eight hours without commercial power, and most of them have a back-up generator that will start automatically when the power fails. The power for the telephone is provided over a pair of wires, called a cable pair, which comes directly from the telephone office. In rural areas the power and telephone service are not provided directly from the telephone office over a pair of telephone wires. They are provided by a remote telephone system called SLC, which stands for Subscriber Line Carrier. The SLC system combines 96 customers onto 8 cable pairs, which has several advantages. One advantage is the reduction of length of the cable pair from the main telephone office and the telephone, thus reducing the cost of installing new cable to provide new telephone service in areas of growing population. The shorter cable pairs also keep the voices on the line at a reliable volume. One disadvantage of a SLC system is the loss of commercial power. The SLC systems also have a bank of batteries in them. They are also supposed to last for about eight hours, but there is no back-up generator, which is usually enough time for the commercial power to be repaired. If the batteries have not been properly maintained, there may not last for eight hours. With the resent commercial power outage, the batteries in the SLC system providing telephone service in this area, only lasted about 30 minutes. In severe weather where commercial power is interrupted in a large area, it may be more than eight hours; it could be days before the power is back on. It's possible to be without commercial power, and telephone service for a long time. Be sure that you have enough battery or generator power to last an extended period of time. You may be the only communications in your community or neighborhood. As I was starting bulletin, the commercial power went off again, about the same time as yesterday. I'm finishing this bulletin with emergency lights, and battery power. The telephone is also dead; it stayed on about 25 minutes after the power went off.
Ken Harris WA8LLM
Wood County WV
WV ARES Assistant Section Coordinator
WV ARES District 3 Emergency Coordinator