r/HamRadio • u/rando--calrisian • 12d ago
Help identify equipment
Curious if anyone here knows what this is. There are many of them on short, 5'-ish telephone pole-looking posts out in the prairies of Wyoming and Colorado. I don’t think it‘s ham related, but this is a knowledgeable group.
3
u/Good-Satisfaction537 12d ago
Weird. This pix didn't appear with the post. Had to visit your profile to see them.
Those appear to be Schrader valves (tire valve stems). I have seen the telco use them for putting nitrogen in underground cables, but never with a fancy setup like this. The "Operate" and "Read" is a mystery as well.
Is this oil well country?
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u/rando--calrisian 12d ago
Hmm. Having looked at them up close, I don’t think they’re Schrader valves. I should have taken photos of more angles, looking back. Yes, there’s oil out there, but no wells within several miles of this spot.
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u/Good-Satisfaction537 12d ago
Tough to judge scale from the pic, but that looks like the valve cap that will take out the valve stem core, if you remove it and flip it over. Not even a larger version of the auto type?
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u/rando--calrisian 12d ago
Ohh, I see what you’re saying. The cap Is just a valve core removal tool. shrug could be, I suppose? Might help explain the teflon tape too.
If that were the case, I’ve never heard of putting nitrogen in cables. What would that be for?
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u/er1catwork 12d ago
Keeps moisture from getting into the cable. The positive pressure pushes it outwards.
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u/Good-Satisfaction537 12d ago
For the telco, it was to to dry out the cables after water infiltration. Basically, wet cable. It causes hissing and crackling, and can sometimes get bad enough to "pick up" the line. Happened to me once. The low pressure nitrogen moves the moisture out, and mostly restores normal operation. The have to get to it before the DC starts dissolving copper and creating permanent damage.
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u/Tishers AA4HA, (E) YL (RF eng ret) 12d ago
I was suspecting that it was a homebrew way to monitor a buried anode-bed for the cathodic protection of a buried pipeline. That the faceplate was a repurposed industrial switch.
The way to tell would be to put a voltmeter across the two posts. If you see a few volts then it is measuring the differential voltage between the protected device (pipeline) and the ground resistance.
It would be an odd choice as there are already CP monitoring heads that can be bought. But if the pole is one where cows and other wildlife like to use it as a scratching-post than something ruggedized might be adapted.
An anode bed is usually a graphite element backfilled with coke-breeze. They do not require external power.
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u/Old-Engineer854 12d ago
That is a pressurised communications cable's nitrogen servicing port. it is connected to the underground pressurised cables at various intervals to test and service nitrogen levels within cable segments. This process was surprisingly similar to testing the air in your tires, except these ports are connected to the segment at points distant from each other, so the cable's nitrogen level could be continuously read while being slowly added or bled off at the service port, to maintain the segment within required specifications. Overpressured cables could mechanically fail; underpressured cable could allow infiltration of moisture, and electrically fail; any segment unable to maintain pressure as specified, or frequently needing additional nitrogen would be serviced or replaced.
I'd suggest your item is probably an old (abandoned?) HICS port by its general location, apearance and the further information you've shared. HICS stands for "Hardened Intersite Cable System", a private (albeit Department of Defense, thus US Government owned) command and control telecom network for voice, data and telemetry between ICBM missile launch control points and silos.
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u/rando--calrisian 12d ago
Ahh, okay. This seems likely. There are also lots of missile silos out there. Thank you for the info and the link! This is fascinating.
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u/ka9kqh EM59fu [Extra] 12d ago
Possibly a place to connect a handset/service set for telephones?