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