[AT] OT: Thank you Farmer

[HaliganBar at aol.com]

Farmer, thank you for all your help while I was troubleshooting a phone 
problem in the house yesterday. Perhaps you are a little confused since this is the 
first you've heard of any of this.

Well, it all started when I tried to get online to check my ATIS mail. For 
some reason the 'puter had no dial tone. After a brief investigation I found 
that the kitchen and upstairs phone had an open line and no dial tone but the 
living room phone worked fine. But, if I had one of the "dead" phones off the 
hook and picked up the living room phone then both phones would work. Well, I 
checked all the wires in the basement, reseated all the connections at the 
network interface, and still hadn't fixed the problem. I managed to get online and 
was chatting with fellow ATIS member Mike Maynard who jokingly reminded me of 
Farmer's mantra "check the grounds."

Knowing good advice when I hear it, I ran outside and inspected the telephone 
ground connection...boy, what a disaster! The telephone ground was attached 
to the aluminum ground from the meter box to the ground post and the connection 
was VERY corroded. Further investigation revealed the aluminum ground wire 
was completely corroded through where it came in contact with the earth. I 
trimmed back the aluminum wire, cleaned all the connections and reattached 
everything. I also called an electrician friend to come and replace the FOOLISH 
aluminum ground wire from the meter box. Interestingly, I will now need 2 separate 
grounds at least 6' apart to meet the new code.

After all of this my phone problem still persisted. A call to the phone 
company revealed that there is a problem somewhere in the line between my house and 
the local office. I'm still amazed that they can diagnose a line problem from 
their computer. Thankfully everything was repaired today.

So, a big thank you to Farmer..if it weren't for your consistent advice I 
never would have found the potentially dangerous condition of my house ground.

Regards,
Karl