Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway
From: kitty!larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Telephone Cable "Rustling" in the Wild West :-)
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Date: 3 Oct 89 03:59:29 GMT
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X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 425, message 1 of 6

In article  roy%phri@uunet.uu.net
(Roy Smith) writes:
> 	Then again, maybe it had nothing to do with the strike --
> Metro North (Amtrack commuter service into Grand Central Terminal)
> reports continuing problems with people stealing the copper cables
> used for their low-voltage signal lines (there is a big black market
> in stolen copper, be it stolen cables or copper plumbing stripped from
> abandoned buildings).

	During the 1970's there was a particular problem with thefts of
telephone cable in the southwestern U.S., especially Arizona, New Mexico
and Texas.  The target was aerial lead-sheathed toll cable in remote
areas of these states.  AT&T Long Lines was a particular victim.

	The modus operandi was for the perpetrators, under cover of
darkness, to first cut the suspension strands and remove the lashing wire
from a mile or so of cable, allowing the cable to drop to the ground.
This portion of the act, being the most time-consuming, did not break
electrical continuity and therefore set off any carrier loss-of-pilot
alarms.  The next step was to cut one end, and then begin cutting the
cable into lengths to be loaded into a truck.  With several perpetrators,
a mile of cable could be cut up and loaded onto a truck LONG BEFORE anyone
could localize the fault and dispatch a repair crew.

	I can just imagine the expression on the faces of a Long Lines crew
when they find a mile or so of cable has simply *vanished*!

	The profit from this enterprise was tempting.  A typical lead sheath
toll cable, like a type S-54 27-pr 19 AWG, yields about 1/2 pound of copper
and 2 pounds of lead per lineal foot.  Using late 1970's prices, a 5,000 ft
section of cable would yield around 2,500 pounds of copper and 10,000 pounds
of lead, with a total metal scrap price of at least $ 3,500.00.  Not bad for
an evening's work with little risk of apprehension.

	The combination of some arrests, burying of cable, and declining
lead and copper prices caused this activity to diminish, although the
problem does reappear from time to time.

<> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp.
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