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
>
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