Where do you guys buy the extention sticks for reaching into telephone manholes?

[FailedSafetyAudit]

Hey dudes. Where do you guys buy the extention sticks for reaching into telephone manholes? You know, you pop open a telephone manhole with the purposes of reaching down to clamp onto one of the telephone cables to locate the duct structure. How much do they cost and where do you buy them? What website? What company manufactures them?

Lol, thanks for any help. This was one piece of equipment I've taken for granted being that I didn't use it that often and just plain forgot to consider buying them in the future.

[Locator in NY]

The Company you work for doesn't supply them? Are you locating phone know without one?
Last i remember seeing was Pollard was selling Hot Sticks for the Ring Clamps.

[Wingfoot]

Hey FailedSafetyAudit - The best way to obtain an extension stick (aka Hot Stick) is to build your own. The sticks are simple to make. Buy the paint extension at any hardware store:

While you're at the hardware store, get the necessary bolt to screw the induction clamp to the end of the stick. It's a little tricky to get the set-up right, but it can be done easily. Good Luck!

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[paintitnow]

Well if you are locating AT&T they do not want you using them, either does USIC. They want you to drain the manhole and account for every cable in case there is a lateral. you can get an extension paint stick at any home improvement store. i also bought one of those swivel pieces to go on top of it. the i took the clamp into my local ACE Hardware and found the proper machine screw size for it. I can not remember the proper name of the bolt but on one end it had the machine threads I needed and the other was a wood screw that i screwed into the swivel after i drill a small hole in it. Cost will be around $20

[Doctor Locator]

Radiodetection supply an extension rod specifically to screw into their locator and transmitter clamps. It is about half a metre long with a male thread on the end so that it can be screwed into the clamp. On the opposite end of the rod there is a female insert that allows you to screw more than one extension rod together to increase the length.
If you want more specifics I will supply them to you such as thread size, material or pictures etc.

[Mke]

Depending on who you are working for and more importantly who is watching you work, you might actually need a certified "hot stick" wich is a electricly certified stick that can withstand certian voltage....yada yada.. (see example.... http://www.mitchellinstrument.com/8-...ource=googleps ) the wing nut on the end can be loosened and you can replace the disconnect hook with a eye bolt with the corresponding threads to the ringclamp on it. And presto chango....... you can get the safty clowns off your back untill they realize that the ring clamp is connected to the transmitter by a wire that is only certified to 600v and making you pay a hundred bucks for a telescoping stick was about as useful as hitting jell-o with a tennis racquet.

On a seperate note, some government institutions required your equipment to be designed and certified when used to access electrical equipment, so a home made extension stick (even though it works, and is cheaper) would not be allowed to be used.

Just sayin

Mke

[rgregg]

Jamesonllc.com don't know the last cost but they are ready to use

[The Big-E]

Well if you are locating AT&T they do not want you using them, either does USIC. They want you to drain the manhole and account for every cable in case there is a lateral.

Verizon won't let you access their manholes... they dont have ladders anyway...and my USIC supe uses a hotstick ...

[paintitnow]

certified for electrical? All the electric companies I have located for we are not allowed in their vaults. even with an opened transformer we have to have them hook up for us we have to remain 10' away. i can not remember if I was allowed in verizin manholes. As for your supervisor he doesn't have to be bound by the same rules us locators have to follow. I know for AT&T we were not allowed to use them and required to pump out the manhole to ensure we accounted for every cable or duct run in it. You know if you use one and get a damage on a high profile it is an instant out for usic in terminating you.

[Wingfoot]

I know for AT&T, [locators] are not allowed to use [hot sticks]. [USICers] are required to pump out the manhole to account for every cable, [lateral] and duct. If [locators] use [a hot stick] and get a damage on a high profile, it's a [possible] termination.

Hey paintitnow - Touché! I don't know if a firing is issued on every HP "at fault," but the offending locator goes through hell just to keep his/her job after an "at fault" HP hit. Only the foolhardy locator would pop open an unfamiliar manhole and clamp onto the closest cable/fiber and mark it out.

I am in manholes daily. I use a 3' to 6' extension pole and a '6' to 12' extension pole with my clamp. I use my "shorty" most often.

Very seldom, if ever, do I get in a manhole that is dry. I ain't got the time to pump the water out of every manhole I enter. Instead, I hang onto the ladder above the water line and use my hot stick to reach those submerged cables and hard to reach laterals. Last week I was standing on a ladder in water just inches from my sack just to make sure I knew what I was clamping with my hot stick. I made four trips down that ladder! It took three days to dry out those boots! (That's why I have two pairs of work boots.)

My last high profile "at fault" was at least 2,215 days ago in my 7- to 11-way area and I aim to keep the trend going. Luv Ya Man!

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[sprayandpray]

I had a Custom made hot stick - but it broke so I've had to improvise. Someone had posted a picture of one on here previously. As to Verizon not letting you acces their manholes, that doesn't apply in Texas. Also, our new hh hooks do not work on the Vz hh,s - we have to use the old ones and they are backbreakers.

[Doctor Locator]

Here is the link for the Radiodetection extension rod. The plastic handle can be removed so that more extension rods can be added to increase the length of the rod.

http://www.radiodetection.com/produc...69&sec_id=2793

[homebrued]

I say you just ask a surveyor where his storage area is and get his old grade rod and some duct tape and call it done. 8>)

[Goldenboy]

Just what Wingfoot said. Any paint roller extension. Take the end off and drill a 1/4 inch hole and insert a 1/4 x 20 bolt through the inside and then the nut on the outside and reattatch the end. Don't forget to add a string onto the other end of the ring clamp so you can release it after you are done.

[Goldenboy]

I am in manholes daily. I use a 3' to 6' extension pole and a '6' to 12' extension pole with my clamp. I use my "shorty" most often.

I have noticed this alot. Even when pumping the manhole and being in there you can't reach all the cables without the help of an extension. Alot of these large manholes only have one ladder and unless you want to "play spiderman" as we call it you'll need an extension to reach some of them.