B737-700 captain reported confusion complying with his clearance departing oak on a 'climb via' proc...

Narrative:

Departed and checked in with norcal approach at 1500 ft stating; 'company flight number; passing 1500 ft for 2000 ft restriction.' the reply was; 'company flight number; roger.' we were then vectored toward sfo and remained at 2000 ft. Once over the city; we were vectored to a heading of 090 and a climb to 15;000 ft. As we turned; I visually saw a large tower just below our altitude (1800 ft) and I asked the first officer to expedite the climb since the 090 heading put us close to the tower location. ATC then asked; 'what altitude did the tower give you?' I stated they didn't. The issue becomes; what are we required to do once we meet the 2000 ft restriction at 4 DME with no further climb assigned by the tower? Our clearance before departure was climb via the SID except maintain 10;000 ft. The departure information on the SID needs to be more precise in its wording and the 4 DME 2000 ft restriction needs to be made a specific navigation fix like roppr on the las departures.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-700 Captain reported confusion complying with his clearance departing OAK on a 'climb via' procedure. Reporter stated he was concerned about obstacle clearance and unclear on when he could resume climb to his cleared altitude of 10;000 FT after meeting the 2;000 FT restriction at 4 DME.

Narrative: Departed and checked in with NorCal Approach at 1500 FT stating; 'Company Flight Number; passing 1500 FT for 2000 FT restriction.' The reply was; 'Company Flight Number; roger.' We were then vectored toward SFO and remained at 2000 FT. Once over the city; we were vectored to a heading of 090 and a climb to 15;000 FT. As we turned; I visually saw a large tower just below our altitude (1800 FT) and I asked the First Officer to expedite the climb since the 090 heading put us close to the tower location. ATC then asked; 'What altitude did the Tower give you?' I stated they didn't. The issue becomes; what are we required to do once we meet the 2000 FT restriction at 4 DME with no further climb assigned by the Tower? Our clearance before departure was Climb Via the SID except maintain 10;000 FT. The departure information on the SID needs to be more precise in its wording and the 4 DME 2000 FT restriction needs to be made a specific NAV fix like ROPPR on the LAS departures.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1208196
Time
Date	201410
Place
Locale Reference	OAK.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-700
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 228
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

B737-700 captain reported confusion complying with his clearance departing oak on a 'climb via' procedure. Reporter stated he was concerned about obstacle clearance and unclear on when he could resume climb to his cleared altitude of 10;000 ft after meeting the 2;000 ft restriction at 4 DME.