# Telephone Pole Question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telephone-pole-question/627035>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 2, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telephone-pole-question/627035 "2012-07-02T21:47:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telephone-pole-question/627035/21 "2015-07-31T20:11:41Z")

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> [@obbn](#):
>
> Former BellSouth tech here. The 10% + 2 feet is generally the rule. The one thing I wanted to comment on was the statement that the poles look Extranet stable, for the most part they are, but they do trend to move side to side quite a bit when climbing them. Also, when climbing a pole one of the most important things to check prior to mounting is the base for rot, either due to termites or general decay. The wrong time to discover the pole is rotted away 4 inches below the ground is when you twenty feet up on it. This is usually done by taking a long screwdriver and prodding the base of the pole below the surface. If you screwdriver penetrates the pole it isn’t a good idea to climb it. One of my coworkers didn’t and the pole broke off. He laid with a pole on top of him for a few hours until he was discovered.
> 
> As for me, my pole climbing days ended in 2003 when I cut out at 20 foot. The fall want bad, but that landing was a real bitch!

Ah, burning the pole isn’t what they’d think it is. A lineman’s worst nightmare.

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**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telephone-pole-question/627035/22 "2015-07-31T20:13:48Z")

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Re: the second part of the OP’s question. The power poles and their kin that you see in your neighborhood are usually set in earth. Long steel tamping bars are used to compact the earth around them, which is added in short lifts until done. This allows easy replacement when needed; a cherry picker can usually pull the pole out of the ground without a lot of trouble. Or at least that’s how we always set them. Guy wires come into play when you have to hang gear on a pole, if it’s a pole at the end of a line, or if the lines turn a corner. There are various ways one can anchor a guy wire (deadman, etc.), but it’s usually with an expansion anchor.

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