John,

I've got a sighted ham friend who had one of those 4 legged 10 foot high 
roof mounts.  He had 4 yagi antennas, 11 elements each, for 2 meter FM.  He 
worked nights so on his off days, he'd work with a flashlight up on his roof 
fiddling with those antennas.  He's almost 69 and had cancer that's in 
remission so he does not fool around on the roof any more.  By the way, you 
are lucky you found that pipe at all, haha.  I saw him, in a manner of 
speaking, working on the roof with antennas when it was snowing, too, and 
that's a sighted guy in the dark.  Crazy.  It is climbing a tower with a 
near by thunder storm that's crazy but I've done it a couple of times.

Phil.
K0NX




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2014 6:07 PM
Subject: Re: One good thing a blind ham can do


> Lol, With my little one running around all day I often do my antenna work 
> at
> night because it's the only time I have though I'm not too fond of roofs. 
> I
> can say I know what can happen when you drop a 5 foot mast on the somewhat
> soft lawn from 25 feet up though. It took me a while to find the foot or 
> so
> that was still sticking out above the ground and pull that one out. Next
> time I put up my ground mounted vertical I'll have to remember that trick.
> The only thing they ask where I live is you not make any noise outside 
> after
> I think 7 PM but usually it's like 8 when people quiet down so as long as 
> I
> can do antenna work quietly I do it at night.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2014 8:09 PM
> Subject: One good thing a blind ham can do
>
>
>> Living in Omaha as a teenager, during the hot summer days, I used to have
>> to
>> wait until midnight for the roof to cool down because the shingles were
>> just
>> burning, even through your shoes, during the day.  I had a little 3
>> element
>> TH3 Junior tri bander on an 8 foot tripod and a 5 foot mast so if I were
>> lucky, the little beam was 28 feet off the ground.  Trees in the yard 
>> were
>> higher but that, I figured, was good for lightning protection, haha.  I
>> was
>> using the A R22 rotor.  I was doing something with the RG8 coax so I
>> disconnected it from the beam after stepping up two step brackets of the
>> tripod.  I sat down on the still, quite warm, roof and began working on
>> the
>> connector.  My coax snaked down over the edge of the roof, passed my
>> mother's bedroom window, and down through a basement window into my 
>> shack.
>> I learned my lesson that night to wrap the coax around my waist, or 
>> around
>> one leg at least once, so the coax wouldn't get away from me.  You know
>> how
>> heavy RG8 gets after 50 feet or 100 feet.  Anyhow, the coax slipped from
>> my
>> hands and went sliding away down the roof and coiled in the grass between
>> houses.  No, I might be blind but I wasn't about to dive head first right
>> after the sliding coax in case I did a header off the roof.  I said, "Oh,
>> shoot," or something like that, haha, because now I would have to find 
>> the
>> ladder, climb down, hunt around for the coax in the grass, thread it back
>> up
>> to the roof, re-climb the ladder, and another hour would  be lost. 
>> Before
>> I
>> could start my trek off the roof, I heard a side window slide up and my
>> mother's voice from within the air conditioned house saying, "Philip!  Is
>> that you on the roof?"  I sighed and said, "Yes, it is me, mom."  "What
>> are
>> you doing at this time of night on the roof?" she wanted to know.  "You
>> are
>> going to wake the neighbors.  Still mad at myself for letting the coax
>> slide
>> away, I calmly said, "I'm trying to fix my coax."  She insisted I get 
>> down
>> and right now.  She didn't care I was on the roof, I did it all the time,
>> but she was trying to go to sleep so she could go to work the next day. 
>> I
>> didn't tell her I had to climb down and climb back up again but I was 
>> much
>> quieter the next time.  So blind guys, if they are young enough and 
>> skinny
>> enough, can work on their towers and antennas in the dark; at least I
>> always
>> did.  Shoot, I remember climbing my 65 foot tower to fix a burned out
>> relay
>> on Christmas day here in Denver when it had just snowed the night before
>> 25
>> inches.  Only time I ever used gloves climbing a tower but I took them 
>> off
>> as I worked on the relay and coax feeding it and it was 3:30 PM and the
>> son
>> was behind the mountains.  Fortunately there was no wind but it was 32
>> degrees so I was careful, tempted maybe, but careful not to touch my
>> tongue
>> to the tower, smile.  My kids were all pretty little so they played in 
>> the
>> snow while old crazy dad was 65 feet in the air freezing his butt off.
>> No,
>> silly.  I made them play a long way off from the base of the tower.  It
>> was
>> a standing safety rule because I was always dropping at least one bolt.
>> You
>> know what a single bolt on the head can do to your skull from 65 feet?
>>
>> Phil.
>> K0NX
>