Before cell phones, we used two-way radios to communicate.
One crew was known to call in to the dispatcher about three or four times a year for a wrecker to come get their digger derrick out of a field. The boys would talk the foreman into driving in a field that was too wet, so they did not have to do the job by hand. Of course, the two-wheel drive truck would get buried in mud.
The only four wheel drives we had back then were pickups. We winched a LOT. Once, they ran into a big rock hidden by tall grass and tore up the front end of the pickup.
One day we heard the foreman, Joe, call the dispatcher. He wanted the fire department to come help put out a field that was set on fire. One of the boys had jacked the copper leg of primary way too tight. The phase broke and set the field on fire.
After about ten minutes Joe was back on the radio, so out of breath he could barely talk. He said, "that's okay Mary Lou, we got the fire out".
The supervisor was not too happy.
Dick Weaver – Retired Lineman