Re: FM DX.

["Dan C." <dcole@ici.net>]

Bill O'Neill wrote:
> 
> How many of us drive around to transmitter sites and
> > hike up hills to towers while carrying radios and frequency counters?
> The wierdest time is visiting your station's farm when tossed off air - an
> eerie stillness to it all without any fans blowing or meters moving...  Oh,
> and the sense of urgency to fix the problem that goes with it.
> 
> Is this urban myth or what?  A tech once said that it's possible to fry a
> rodent  who climbs a 'dark' stick which later becomes hot (pattern change)
> and then climbs down with the misfortune of not hopping off the side of the
> radiator near the bottom....   Any tower painters out there?
> 
> Hmm..  Time for dinner...
> 
> Bill


I don't know about the fried rat theory (usually we send them out on
sales calls) but....

Back in my wild youth I accepted an offer from a station owner for a
couple of hundred bucks to paint a  tower.  It was cheaper than hiring
one of the professional outfits.  
I went to the local hardware store and got the paint and the mitts,
borrowed some safety lines and up I went.
Tower wasn't that high...but it seemed like forever to me.  I got to the
top and worked my way down.  I forgot to jump entirely clear when I was
done.  I still have a scar from the RF burn on my thigh.
Needless to say I never tried that stunt again.


Dan Cole
WTSN / WBYY
Dover, NH

...older and somewhat wiser...

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End of boston-radio-interest-digest V1 #21
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