An overhead cable is a cable for the transmission of information, laid on

utility pole A utility pole, commonly referred to as a transmission pole, telephone pole, telecommunication pole, power pole, hydro pole, telegraph pole, or telegraph post, is a column or post used to support overhead power lines and various other public util ...

s. Overhead

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

and

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television broadcast programming, programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This ...

lines are common in North America. These poles sometimes carry

overhead power line An overhead power line is a structure used in electric power transmission and distribution to transmit electrical energy along large distances. It consists of one or more conductors (commonly multiples of three) suspended by towers or poles. ...

s for the supply of

electric power Electric power is the rate of transfer of electrical energy within a electric circuit, circuit. Its SI unit is the watt, the general unit of power (physics), power, defined as one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with oth ...

. Power supply companies may also use them for an in-house

communication network A telecommunications network is a group of nodes interconnected by telecommunications links that are used to exchange messages between the nodes. The links may use a variety of technologies based on the methodologies of circuit switching, messa ...

. Sometimes these cables are integrated in the ground or power conductor. Otherwise an additional line is strung on the pylons, usually on the body of the pylon in the height of a crossbar. At several lines built by the former power supply company EVS (now part of EnBW) in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, such cables are attached like a garland on the ground conductor or on an auxiliary rope. Although many of these cables were replaced by ground conductors with integrated communication cable or free-spun communication cables many of these cables are still in use. File:Anlage207_Mast8A_13102023.png, Garland-like communication cable on the ground conductor of a 110 kV-line File:Evsl1.jpg, Suspension towers with garland-like communication cable on the ground conductor File:Hochspannungsleitung_Magstadt_03112014_1.png, Strainer with garland-like communication cable on the ground conductor File:Anlage207 Mast25 22032025.png, Suspension tower of a 110 kV-line with garland-like communication cable on the ground conductor File:Anlage207 Mast13 27032025.png, Strainer of a 110 kV-line with garland-like communication cable on the ground conductor File:Anlage620 Mast13 15102023.png, Suspension tower of a 110 kV-line with anchorage of garland-like communication cable on the ground conductor and its conduction downward in the body of the tower File:Anlage614_Mast14_25112015.JPG, Branch pylon of a 110 kV-line with garland-like communication cables File:Anlage318 Mast64 21022025.png, 380 kV/110 kV-line with two garland-like communication cables one on the ground conductor and one on an auxiliary rope File:Spitze Anlage318 Mast64 21022025.png, Detail view of a pinnacle of a pylon equipped with two garland-like communication cables File:Anlage617_Mast3_11042025.PNG, 110 kV-line with two garland-like communication cables one on the ground conductor and one on an auxiliary rope File:Leitung_Herrenberg_17072013_2.JPG , 110 kV-line north of

Herrenberg Herrenberg (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Härrabärg'' or ''Haerebärg'') is a town in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 30 km south of Stuttgart and 20 km from Tübingen. After Sindelfingen, Böblingen, and Leonberg, it ...

with two garland-like communication cables on the lowest crossbar File:Leitung Eberdingen Riet 15112011.JPG, Medium voltage line with garland-like communication cable on a conductor Cables are arranged on poles with the most dangerous cables, that is, those carrying power, strung highest. Overhead cable systems also include a number of different components for managing signal cables. These include splicing systems that allow multi-conductor cables for distributing telephone signals and

snowshoe Snowshoes are specialized outdoor gear for walking over snow. Their large footprint spreads the user's weight out and allows them to travel largely on top of rather than through snow. Adjustable bindings attach them to appropriate winter footw ...

-shaped devices for reversing the direction of cables. When metal-based telephone wires are strung on the same utility poles as the power lines, they can pick up

noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...

from the power line. Modern

fiber optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

telephone cable has the advantage that it can be strung next to power lines without interference. In heavily populated regions of the UK, the only overhead cable that would be visible is the telephone line. Power cables and fiber-optic cables that deliver television and broadband services are buried underground. The lesser populated regions of the UK, the countryside for example, will have overhead power cables. Although it is safer to keep the cables underground, it would be difficult to repair a line if a fault were to develop.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Overhead Cable Signal cables Telecommunications infrastructure

See also

References