Boy can I relate to that!! It's hard enough working on a tower or roof
as it is, but even more so when you know full well there are a bunch of
eyes watching you and you have no idea just which ones they are.
Don w6smb
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fred Adams" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 2:52 PM
Subject: Re: Most Memorable Experiences
> Phil, that was very funny, I have done a little night work myself.
> The
> biggest reason I hate to climb my tower is neighbors coming outside to
> watch.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 4:31 PM
> Subject: Most Memorable Experiences
>
>
>> Summers were too hot to climb on to the roof during the day time.
>> So, naturally, since I didn't need the light anyway, I would
>> wait till the roof was cool enough to climb on. This was
>> normally about midnight to 1 o'clock in the morning. During
>> summers, I spent most nights on the air until 4 and 5 o'clock
>> each morning anyhow. I had an 8 foot tripod with a TH3 junior
>> tri band beam on the roof and my 80 and 40 meter dipoles tied to
>> the sides of the tripod as they crossed over the roof to a tree
>> right on the curb of the street in the front yard. You use what
>> you got. Yes, it was high enough not to clothes line some poor
>> passerby. Anyhow, I can't recall what was wrong but something
>> was wrong with the coax to one antenna. So, without my mother's
>> awares, I pulled out the 6 foot step latter, stood it on top of
>> the steps to the side door, and climbed the latter on to the roof.
>> You had to literally stand on the very top of the ladder, not
>> on the top rung mind you, but on the very top of the ladder just
>> to get to the hot roof. I'm not very tall so it was more than a
>> stretch. Dad blamed right down dangerous now that I think of it
>> but I was just a kid so what they hay. It was still warm but not
>> hot. Disconnecting the coax, I was sitting next to my tripod
>> and fiddling with the end of the RG8 coax. Suddenly, it
>> slipped out of my hands and like a long slithering snake, slid
>> off the roof and on to the ground. I had a few choice words I
>> whispered, and then I prayed that mom wouldn't hear what had
>> happened. Her bedroom window was on the side of the house,
>> wouldn't you know, where the coax slid off. You can't imagine
>> how much noise RG8 coax makes sliding off a roof and landing in
>> a big pile right under somebody's window. I was more worried
>> about the neighbors hearing it and complaining until I heard my
>> mom's voice. Mom never went to bed before midnight and always
>> watch Johnny Carson before turning in. She was watching her
>> little TV in the bedroom when the snake jumped off the roof. I
>> sat quietly, the heat of the roof under my bottom, almost
>> burning the hide right off my butt, and praying nobody heard
>> what I did, and then I heard mom's window slide open, we had
>> central air so that's why I figured she wouldn't have heard me
>> on the roof, and out the window, my mother yells, "Philip? Are
>> you on that roof?" "Yes, mother. I'm on the roof," I replied,
>> but somewhat quieter than she was speaking. "What are you doing
>> up there this time of night?" she insisted. "You get down from
>> there right now. Are you crazy?" I said, "Mother. I. Am.
>> Fixing My. Antennas." I accented each word as if this was
>> really important and she shouldn't be asking me such stupid
>> questions in the middle of the night. That's when she said,
>> "You get off that roof right now. Are you crazy." I sat up
>> there and laughed to myself and later she thought it was funny,
>> too, but my neighbors never thought it was funny when they saw me
>> climbing around on the roof of our house. They always were
>> calling mom and saying, Noreen? Did you know your blind son is
>> climbing around on the roof, or in the trees, again?" That's
>> another reason why I climbed at night instead of the day time. By
>> the way, from then on, when I went on the roof at night, I wrapped
>> the coax around my leg, or waist, a couple of time in case I
>> dropped the end I was working on.
>>
>> Phil. K0NX
>
> __________ NOD32 3682 (20081210) Information __________
>
> This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
> http://www.eset.com
>
>
|