"biggastractor" wrote:

Nice pics. Thanks. Those are not cables they are plowing in but flexible conduit. The cable will be placed in the conduit(some may have several interior sections called innerduct). With the rock you have there, the conduit is good protection for fiber cable. Once the conduit is is in place that crew can probably blow 10-15,000 feet of cable through the conduit with a air compressor in a short time. If all the innerducts are not used then there is a path for future cables without diggin again.
Good luck
Biggastractor

You are so right Biggastractor (love that handle!)One of the guys on the Skyview Construction crew was explaining that to me. The crew seen above is
laying in the conduit....another crew will come in and install vaults...as you describe so well, then the actual fiber cable will be blown in, I assume from vault to vault....a seperate crew is responsible for getting the service from
the main cable into the house or business. One thing I can tell you for
sure, this bunch was not letting any grass grow under their feet....the rigs
were running by shortly after 6 and they put in a long day. Here is a different look at their set up to shank in the conduit that will eventually hold the cable:

"Darrol wrote:

98j: Nice pictures. How is wheat looking. We are doing fine so far. Darrol

Hey Darrol.....hope things are getting back to normal in your weather battered
part of the country....man those tornado's you had around there looked terrible.
The wheat looks OK.....sure could use a rain ( the squirrel's are starting to
pack canteens)....the deep soils still look pretty good....the shallow stuff is pretty much gone...if it stays cool the yeild should still be fair....here is a look
at one of my own fields from earlier in the month...laying down a late hit on some weeds......Mt Hood in the background....a perfect day to fly:



As you can see, pretty deep soil here....get on the other side of this field
where it is shallow and the wheat is turning blue now. I was chiseling right
next to this field when they showed up to fix my weeds for me. Didn't take
him too long.....here he is starting to clean up the borders:



In nice & tight.....fried the weeds in a couple of days:



All the best from Oregon

98J,
Good and interesting story and pics. on equipment. catskinner

DarrelD8,
How you doing? Haven't talked to you in quite awhile. Your wheat is looking prettyy good you say? Quite abit around here got bit by the frost it looks like. Don't know what kind if any harvest there will be. catskinner

98J,
Thanks for taking the time & trouble to post the pictures.
I've heard about these cable plow cat's, but I've never since one in action before.

David

Catskinner: Good to hear from you. Yes I think we missed abullet here. Got down to 25 degrees one night so I am told. If nothing else happens, should have a good crop. I heard the north east and east central got hit pretty bad. East of Dodge City, KS, they were swathing wheat. It may have been hailed. The town of Greensburg is a mess, as some of farmsteads south of town were destroyed. Later, Darrol.

Cats keep getting better and better. That crawler and vibrating plow replaces the old style plow train I started with: A pair of old D8's connected with a heavy tow cable and both of them together were pulling a "Ryan" brand pull type cable plow. Before that (late 1960's)we used a pair of Military M-5 high speed tank retrievers. One man's full time job was to grease the machinery and keep the crawlers fueled up! They were gas engines, waukesha, I think.
Good Luck
Biggastractor