On Friday, November 10, 2017 at 8:29:08 AM UTC-5, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Thu, 9 Nov 2017 18:47:38 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"rangerssuck" wrote in message
...
On Thursday, November 9, 2017 at 7:21:23 AM UTC-5, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"rangerssuck" wrote in message
...
On Wednesday, November 8, 2017 at 12:28:33 PM UTC-5, Larry Jaques
wrote:


But still, it seems to me that there could be (at the cost of a few
bucks each) a transponder in, say, each transformer that would let
them know it's got power. Much easier than driving around with a
flashlight to look at the poles & wires.
=======================

The easiest and cheapest solution is to see who calls to complain.

Ayup. That gives them the range and the range gives them what lines
are involved. That's how they initially determine what teams to send
out with what replacement equipment.

--
America rose from abnormal origins. The nation didn't grow organ-
ically or gradually from indigenous tribes--like, say, the French
or the Poles--but emerged out of courageous, conscious acts of
will by Pilgrims and Patriots. --Michael Medved, Right Turns

Cheapest, but hardly efficient. Again, transponders would be cheap and could provide otherwise useful telemetry (voltage, load, etc). Our local utility (PSE&G) has installed 200W solar panels on many poles. Lots of poles - 40MW total. Some of these units have antennas on them. I don't know whether they are in constant communication to a central computer, but if they are, they could provide some useful information about outages. But I don't think they use that information. They just wait for enough people to call and then send out a car.