For estimating the vortex excited vibrations of overhead transmission lines, the Energy Balance Principle (EBP) is well established for spans damped near the ends. Although it involves radical simplifications, the method is known to give useful estimates of the maximum vibration levels. For very long spans, there often is the need for a large number of in-span fittings, such as in-span Stockbridge dampers, aircraft warning spheres etc. This adds complexity to the problem and makes the energy balance principle in its original form unsuitable. In this paper, a modified version of EBP is described taking into account in-span damping and in particular also aircraft warning spheres. In the first step the complex transcendental eigenvalue problem is solved for the conductor with in-span fittings. With the thus determined complex eigenvalues and eigenfunctions a modified energy balance principle is then used for scaling the amplitudes of vibrations at each resonance frequency. Bending strains are then estimated at the critical points of the conductor. The approach has been used by the authors for studying the influence of in-span Stockbridge dampers and aircraft warning spheres; and for optimizing their positions in the span. The modeling of the aircraft warning sphere is also described in some detail.