Robert Swinney wrote:

Lew sez:


Robert, One thing I'm absolutely certain of is when they finally ran the
phone line up the two mile road to the little comunity of Marrysville in
PA, where we lived at the time, in the 1940s (late, after the war) they
used steel wire plated with copper. I collected some of the scraps
hoping to use it.


True. But I was describing long haul transmission lines on cross arms of
wood poles. The only ones I was familiar with from AT&T and RR experience
were #9 hard drawn copper. I think that was used most all over the U.S. for
open wire.

I think you are referring to what was generally called "parallel". Parallel
consisted of 2 copper plated steel conductors of 17 - 18 AWG, laying
side-by-side (not twisted) thus the name parallel; covered with a heavy
rubber insulation. Parallel was flat and typically held in reuseable "P"
clamps, although it could be "served up", or wrapped with soft copper to
form a hook for hanging as well. P clamps were easy and fast to hang on
poles in "J" hooks as I remember. Parallel was typically used only for
short haul stuff such as house drops. Being flat, it lacked the cross-talk
rejection characteristics of transposed open wire, or twisted pair.

Bob Swinney

No this was a two mile run of open wire with one on each side of the
pole. To about 4 or 5 people party line. Some other rememberances:
A budy and I had a short pair of climbers (only up to the ankles OUCH)
and a pair of earphones which we taped into the line ocaisonally. :-)
...lew...