The straight talk on staking electric lines

The Great Plains is known for its wide open spaces, views that can stretch for miles and lines of electrical poles that seem to run straight into the horizon. But before these poles and wires go up, the lines must first be designed and staked – a process that demands fast, accurate and easy-to-use positioning in remote locations.

Solution

• Trimble® CenterPoint® RTX

• Trimble Access™ field software

• Trimble R2 GNSS receiver

• Trimble TSC3 and TSC7 controllers

Trimble CenterPoint RTX has significantly simplified our staking process. On a good day, when everything is clicking, we can easily stake 12 or even 15 miles a day. — J.P. Metzler, PE, RMA Engineering

Thanks to the precise real-time high-accuracy GNSS positioning Trimble RTX® provides, crews can design and stake electric lines while in the field.

For RMA Engineering LLC, a Kansas-based company specializing in the design and staking of electrical lines for rural electric cooperatives, the goal of every project is the same: straight lines.

“At the end of the job, we want the poles so straight that when you line up and look down the row, all you see is the first pole,” says J.P. Metzler, PE, a civil engineer with RMA Engineering.

But having a straight line of poles is about more than aesthetics, it’s also critical to the structural stability of the entire utility system. “The straighter the poles, the stronger the line will be, which makes the whole system more resistant to strong winds or ice and snow deposits,” explains Metzler.

To get that critical straight line of poles, RMA Engineering depends on Trimble RTX.

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