Another Nashville Burnout

It's taken me quite some time to edit the video from this job. We have a great demand for our work and we're two people short, mostly from the two-way radio side of the business. Four of us are doing the work of six. I'm making a lot of raw video but have very little time to get to the editing. This afternoon I locked the shop-cat out of my office and finished this one I've been working on occasionally. I hope everyone likes Part 1

[@lewiemcneely9143]

I don't care what channel you're on. Yall have my UTMOST respect! Good to see yall back, John!

[@jhettish]

Thanks Lewie. John

[@wakcedout]

@@jhettish im with him. Im getting squemish just watching the video. I struggle on a 6ft ladder.....this....fack no, not enough money could get me up there. Hell zombie Apocalypse i wont go

[@marksnider8914]

You gots to be high to do this job 👊🤠🤙 🐓

[@lewiemcneely9143]

@@marksnider8914 If you ain't, you WILL be!

[@swarfrat311]

It's great to see another video from you guys! I know what a pain video editing can be when you have lots of other irons in the fire! It's too bad that someone else can't do the editing; but then, they don't know how you want the video to look like when it's finished. Thanks a million for the video, John! Kudos to the guys on the tower for their great work! Thanks again!

[@jhettish]

All I can say is it's good that I am not an editing perfectionist. I almost fit that description but I know that I'd never get finished. Editing is time consuming and tough often requiring a fix of a scene that can only be accomplished by going back to the raw video. Two hours of video condensed into five to fifteen minutes takes time, and apparently someone actually knows that. Thanks for the comment. John

[@darthnael]

Thanks for the great video. I know it must be tough with all of the work you guys have, but I for one appreciate the videos!

[@jhettish]

And I appreciate the fact that you (in particular) like the videos. Here's hoping I can get part II up within the next couple of weeks. John

[@GENOBURRITO1]

Man, I couldn't do it. I don't like heights and even getting up on the roof of my house I practically crawl. Heart rate rises, hands start sweating and feel dizzy just watching this. I wish it were different with me but its just the way it is. Much respect for you folks. Stay safe.

[@benchedthatpiece]

Very interesting stuff, great video as usual!

[@jhettish]

The ERI rototiller © is a very popular FM broadcaster's antenna. I've worked with quite a few during the last 40 years. John

[@glennidalski6833]

John you and your team do a very good keeping those towers working and stls,wireless equipment bravo

[@anwallace90]

every time I pass these exact towers i think to myself "dang those are friggin high" this video really confirms that.

[@47fireguy16]

Thanks for taking the time to put up the videos. Understand "work" comes first and you have to have your down time to rest. Still find your profession interesting to observe from my laptop !

[@jhettish]

Thanks, I'm hoping to get some drone videos going. They should require less editing. I enjoy sharing what my crew and I do for a living. I also like the ability to demonstrate that the work may have hazards but isn't all that dangerous. Safety has a lot more to do with ones mindset than it does with 20 pounds of safety gear. I personally think that the most dangerous thing that tower workers do is driving on a public highway between jobs. John

[@makeitrightb6550]

Thanks Jon for another great video

[@Ithinkiwill66]

I can't even look off a second story floor without feeling dizzy....God bless you guys to keep the towers ALIVE!

[@rockstarJDP]

Never have I seen a video that could simultaneously make me laugh my arse off and sh*t my pants - the innuendos are brilliant 😅

[@jhettish]

brilliant? Maybe just lucky. I took a class in typing in 1962, contued to use the skill for many years and when computers became a very large part of my life I was often able to seem very intelligent by my typing but often could not remember what I had typed. Probably a brain to fingertip combination with no memory attached. That's why I've often said I would not trust a club that would consider having someone like me for a member. John

[@jhettish]

BTW: I was 17 when I took the typing class in 1962 but haven't climbed any higher than 310 feet since October 17, 2022. OK, You can do the math. :-)

[@rockstarJDP]

@@jhettish Haha I just meant all of the jokes, maybe I just need to get my head out of the gutter 😅 there's so many questions I have about this line of work, like mostly how do you keep a cool head at that altitude? I literally gasped when you let go of the rungs, I know you were harnessed in but still!

[@DougPaulley]

My goodness you guys must have a great head for heights and resistance against exposure! I couldn't do this for all the tea in China. Great respect to you.

[@jhettish]

I like Tea. Thanks for the comment. There are those who do and there are those who don't. It takes all of us. John

[@lackeydehackey405]

good to see you back

[@TCB-1]

Glad to see you guys back in action, John. You guys have been on this tower several times in the last few years, no?

[@RY-rm4ve]

I've always been fascinated watching the climbers on the towers where I grew up (Parma, Ohio). I remember watching towers being built and others being worked on. Whenever I'm back in that neck of the woods I always check out the towers to see what, if anything, has changed. Every once in awhile I'll see a gin pole or some other work being done on them. Now that I can see what you guys do up there via KZbin, I am amazed how dangerous this job is. I am amazed that you can remove tiny little nut and bolt combinations without shaking or dropping them. I know I would be dropping tools and hardware not to mention probably shaking like a leaf and possibly vomiting from the height. I guess I've always been fascinated by the engineering and bravery of the workers that do this work. So from an ill informed guy who just watches from a distance from the safety of the ground, thank you guys for what you do and risking your lives doing this job. Someday I'm hoping I can maybe climb one of these towers.....but only up like 50 feet just to see how the towers are constructed and to get a feel of the awesomeness of them.

[@jhettish]

Once used to the tools and safety gear there's not much difference between 1000 and 100 feet. The biggest difference is the physical stamina required to climb 1000 feet. The first time I climbed to 1220 feet I remember wondering how long the climb would take once I got to 600 feet. I remember looking up and thinking something like, "I'm at 600 feet and tired and I still have 620 more feet to climb, more than I've climbed so far today and further than I have ever climbed in my 20 years of technician experience." Eventually, after 55 minutes, I got to 1220 feet, replaced the bad component, coordinated by radio with the ground crew and found out that the work was good and that part of the job completed for a happy customer. Then............... I had to climb back down. That only took 25 minutes. Gravity was my ally that day. I was about 45 years old. John

[@ManJO601]

Great respect to you.

[@gekkedirkie]

good to see you back, John

[@jhettish]

I like to think I never left but I'm sure to those who lie in wait for a new video, it must seem like I've left the planet. :-)

[@Lcapone]

Good job John! I heard in radio familiar voice)

[@jhettish]

Thanks Alexander, I've had the idea of recording the radio traffic separately from the video then editing it into the video. It would make both sides of the conversation easier to hear. Having an idea and actually doing it are two different things in my life. I don't think of setting this up before we start. I rarely think of it while the guys and I are on a tower but I do remember the idea while editing. One of these days (maybe) I'll remember the idea of how to record the audio before we start working. A digital recorder and a spare radio would be all that was needed. Finally, once set up to do this recording, I'd probably forget to start the recorder. My laptop could be the recorder while the job was going on. Simple but complicated at the same time. John

[@glennidalski6833]

And you are a American icon in this business keep up the good work sir

[@SonsandDaughtersMusic]

I fainted watching this video 😂😂😂 Palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy.

[@poptartmcjelly7054]

How's the movement of the tower feel up there? I remember climbing a watchtower once on a windy day and even though the tower wasn't that tall it moved enough to make me feel very uneasy.

[@Fireship1]

Interesting video John. I realize how easy I have it looking for distance to fault with my tiny coax cables and my TNC connectors. I don’t see burnouts with the small transmit power we’re using. Mostly dielectric damage from someone failing to observe bend radius guidelines when installing. Rigid line is a whole other animal! Does this station use filtered compressed air in their coax or an inert gas?

[@jhettish]

Hi there, Yes they do use "dry air" to fill the system. There's a lot of volume to one of these things and once the air or nitrogen is dropped it takes a while to get it back up to 3 or 4 psi. Anything in excess of ambient pressure is enough to keep the interior dry. I often look for faults in small cables also. It's essentially the same thing. Water in a PL259 on the end of an RG58 coaxial cable will show up on the Sitemaster the same way 9" rigid will. I have a hunk of 7/8 Heliax with holes punched in it every so often used to train my guys an to test the calibration of my various Sitemasters. Sticking an awl in one of the holes shows the fault immediately. After doing that in our garage they know what a short and what an open look like on a sweep device. John

[@voltagefireworker7849]

thats are stunning views,nice high tower.

[@rapman5363]

Balls of steel!!

[@Keith_1]

Good to see another video

[@jhettish]

Its good to be able to finally upload a video. Thanks, John

[@sO_RoNerY]

Dang. Trying to remember what I was doing on March 18th 2018. Probably home using my phone while this man was climbing this tower.

[@dhansel4835]

Burnouts are probably caused by lightning strikes. That pipe is called a tuned circuit. It is better than running helix coax all the way up. They may have to replace the antenna.

[@owensweetland342]

Weebles wobble. But they don't fall down. I am hooked on these videos. Personally, I am not a fan of heights. As a youngster it wasn't a problem. Weird.

[@joeb5756]

I wish I had a job doing this kind of work.

[@tonycosgrove6433]

I must say you guys have got some balls been up there the vehicles below look like ants.

[@harbselectronicslab3551]

I just cant do it.........watch this video.........as much as I want to, I feel like I am going to black out just sitting in front of the computer......you guys are crazy, and I don't care what they pay you, it is worth 10 times that or more........The world would be a different place without you guys.......I am more than happy being the person on the ground.......and lastly, thanks for answering those who have questions.......it is a great thing you take the time to do so........a lot of people wonder about these sort of jobs, maybe even some future tower techs, and your answering those questions will make a big difference to those that are to come, and even those that are just curious.

[@Okanagan48]

My legs go like jelly....

[@ve3enx95]

1:29 When you touch antennas like that, are they ever loaded with static so that, even with the transmitter off, you get a jolt?

[@royamberg9177]

Good to see the crew is doing good. That tower has nice holes for the meat hooks. Some don't have any. That camera has good clarity what model is it

[@jhettish]

I was surprised to see the anchorage points. I have not been on that pole. I've been on some of the adjacent poles you can see in the video but not that particular one. There are three antenna mounting arms on the tower we call "arbors". The other two arms support TV transmitting antennas. The one in this video supports two FM antennas. it's necessary to climb the first antenna in order to get to the top antenna where Garrett and Clay are doing the inspection and search for a big problem. John

[@bryanlettow4389]

Does it take a bit to get use to the heights? I was in lineman school climbing an 80ft tower which seemed intimidating until I actually started climbing, then it was fun.

[@Ithinkiwill66]

Did you overcome the fright of heights? I don't know if I could....and the question also is would I?

[@jeffreykoerner3036]

Which radio station is this

[@glennidalski6833]

And you inform us about the work you do thank you

[@stoneman3079]

It was cool to here your voice on the talkies talking with your men reminded me of ed Harris talking to Sandra bullock and George clooney in the movie gravity right before the meteor strike lol hope ya seen the movie peace be wth you guys up the in the air

[@steveallen5496]

very good video. I would like to see the correct way to purge the air after repair is done.

[@jhettish]

The best way is to flow dry air or nitrogen thought the system for an hour or more then cap it off. I've actually climbed 700 feet and pulled the cap from the connector then climbed back down, drove away, ran errands then came back to the tower, climbed 700 feet and put the plug back in the connector in one afternoon. The TV station engineer was running two large bottles of gas dry in order to drive moisture out of his elliptical wave guide.

[@JS-kx3de]

I too offer the utmost respect for you guys and gals! This may be a dumb question, but I have to ask... I see you using various hand tools. How many spares of each tool do you carry? I.e. what happens if you accidentally drop one?

[@jhettish]

The scariest thing about tower work is the idea of dropping a tool or a part. We try to carry what we need without creating too much weight. The harness already weighs an extra 20 pounds. A bag of tools, especially "spares" adds more weight. If a tool is "accidentally" dropped from a tower or the roof of a tall building the worse part is that someone might get hurt and/or killed. Secondly the worse part of dropping a tool from 1280 feet is that as a tower tech it may be necessary to climb to the ground, collect another tool of find the first one then climb back up 1280 feet to finish the job. The guys each have what they have determined they need to safely finish the job, whatever that job may be. If one drops a tool and nothing is damaged on the ground they might share what tools remain. John

[@JS-kx3de]

John Hettish Thank you! One more question, did it take you a certain amount of time to get comfortable working in those conditions? My hands were sweating just watching it!!!

[@jhettish]

It's hard for me to remember but it probably took a year of intermittent climbing (1973) before I lost any anxiety before a climb. In the first year I made a bunch of breakthroughs with getting comfortable around 30 feet, just high enough where I had to rely on my positioning equipment and too high for someone on the ground to hand me something that I might drop. I came to this in very good physical condition, having just left the Army.

[@agnesfury120]

John, my husband just accepted a job with Ericsson as a tower tech. What are your thoughts about the company and that particular job?

[@jhettish]

I can only guess that Ericsson has all the right perks. Small companies like mine cannot offer retirement programs and low price health insurance. I'm also guessing that they have the best of safety rules with a lot of enforcement of those rules. Safety rules are not bad things. Of course attributing that to Ericsson is only a guess. I passed out $2K bonuses this year yet my key tower tech quit to go to work for a larger company. Go figure. It's a tough world we live in and prices will continue to go up, not down. I could say that these days are all about the money but that may be the way it's always been. Ok; I'm a bit depressed. John

[@stevep2325]

I hope you gentlemen get paid real BIG bucks...

[@jhettish]

No, just regular sized bills, checks actually. "Big Bills" are usually counterfeit. :-)

[@stevep2325]

@@jhettish definite respect for you guys

[@414RadioTech]

Don't worry about that I'm always listening to what channel you guys are on maybe someday I'll talk to you on my mobile rig I've got all the frequencies so you guys have in there I hate those Portables you guys are using you need longer antennas on them

[@officialallannova8313]

Hello friend John this tower is how many meters high ie lengths you can mi answer please look forward i am very grateful allan an ABS

[@user-oy2bz5wm2b]

Hope your using some comfortable Petzl harness, being up there that long...

[@Okanagan48]

Was that FM off the air, or on their old antenna?

[@jhettish]

I've been waiting for someone to ask. Yes, it was off the air. The station has another tower in the East end of the county and they were still on the air by virtue of that other tower. John

[@Vgp-rp4iu]

What are those pipes for? I heard something about gas?

[@justinhobart8747]

That's like practically right above my brother's house on Knights drive in Whites Creek... I believe right?

[@EastAngliaUK]

what make it burn out?

[@jhettish]

It's hard to say. It is likely that the antenna was struck by lightning but secondarily the connection at bay 3 (where the actual trouble is located) might have merely worn out. Once an electrical connection develops a bit of corrosion the contacts become resistive. Over a period of time the resistive connection will develop heat leading to arcing within the antenna. This tower, and antenna system, has had a series of problems over the years and will probably continue to have those issues in the future. John

[@TMcConnaughhay]

I hope they have parachutes!

[@jhettish]

A chute wouldn't work from there. The tech would be bouncing off the towe and antennas below before getting away from the tower and for the chute to completely open. This has been discussed between tower worker's before but a parachute would be just one more thing to take up the tower and we're usually about 30 or more pounds heavy when climbing. Consider a base-jumper. He sees a tower and gets all excited about jumping from something where he wouldn't have to pay a pilot/airplane to get him there. I'm not sure but I'm guessing that base-jumpers who jump from towers probably only do that one or time times a year. Even if were ten times a year all he'd be doing is climbing and jumping off. Tower workers climb four or five time a week, maybe 200 towers a year. They do the work then climb down. Next day they're climbing all over again. If you love the work you're focused on the work, not the climbing and not jumping off after a full day of work. John Hettish-guess and opinion.

[@amineachour9442]

bon courage mon ami

[@jhettish]

Merci, Amine

[@Erzahler]

After watching your videos, I know we ham radio operators are just rank amateurs (no pun intended?) by comparison. Oh I do know heights can be deadly, whether it's 100 feet or 1000 feet, and the difference between 1 kw and 100 kw is like peanut butter and jelly. Still, the tactics are sound, and we hams can learn a lot from you. Thanks! 👍

[@jhettish]

When I started the channel KZbin asked me to categorize the video. I figured there'd be a category referring to jobs but there was not. Of all the choices the best one I could find was "educational". I have trained a lot of people over the last 34 years so I selected education as a category. Since then I've kind of kept to that theme to some extent. I like to show a methodical method and the pitfalls of tower work. Tower work, and that's what it is, "work", is not a thrill sport and it's not play. it's dangerous but I like to play down the danger part. The statistics show that it's far more dangerous for new workers than for those who have made a career of being not a tower climber but a tower technician. it's not about the climbing. It's about the work and a calm mature approach to that work. That's what I like about it. John (K4WJZ)

[@robertmitchum2972]

John Hettish "Educational" is the perfect category for your videos. Most watch and see either you, Clay or Garret up a tower installing or repairing some kind of "Antenna" system. But I often wonder how many of them realize just how much math and physics one has to know just to get a RF system to operate properly.. Impedance, inductance, resistance, reactance, just to name a few. One changes, they all change possibly making a simple repair, not so simple. There's more to tower work than sticking an antenna up there and hooking a feed line to it from the transmitter. I am one who appreciates all your attention to detail with the the comments you make in your videos, both written and verbally. Thank You for the time you spend responding to comments and answering questions. I find your videos very educational.......

[@johnrobinson357]

If that is burning solid feed in a short, the power is more than just a few kw - tens of kilowatts. Teflon dielectric? Ceramic?

[@jhettish]

The dielectric is a spiral of Teflon suspending the center conductor. The dielectric around the connector is also Teflon. Once an arc is established it doesn't take much power to keep it going. Once burned the copper is vulnerable to further damage and presents a high VSWR (Voltage Standing Wave Ratio) potential concentrated in a small area.

[@johnrobinson357]

I've got some old contaminated andrews hardline copper plated aluminum with the poly spiral insulation. The 1 inch connectors are a fortune! Lowest loss i will ever see on 440, amazing stuff dead flat vswr. I got 3 very large 4 person lift large coils for $50.00 each as is. Right place right time driving a truck. I bet i could feed my 80m dipole 1/4 mile away with that stuff - maybe not. And i thought belden 9913 was good stuff. it's okay, but the hardline blows it far away. I have an 90 ft run to one ant. That is a jumper in the terms of length you deal with. My 4-1000 X 2 amp carbonized the short coax feed to dipole from my balun. rain got in somehow..... Have a good.

[@anthonyanderson1954]

i won't even increase the screen ..i might fall in...lol

[@davidwhitehouse8920]

I work on broadcast in the uk up to heights of 350+ meters when we work on rigid connectors we always torque them up to spec just wonderd why you didn’t on this footage!?

[@jhettish]

350 meters or 1148 feet is impressive. I've been there many times. It's sort of like going where only few people have gone before. Coming down I've noticed that the houses and commercial buildings start to get bigger. I'll bet you've noticed this also. John

[@D322MWUNITED]

Where is this tower?

[@jhettish]

Hello again Sparky, This may sound a bit arrogant but it really isn't. First the arrogant part. The title is "Another Nashville Burnout" so I would say it's in or close to Nashville. Now I know there are several other Nashville's in the US but there is only one that is recognized by millions of people so use your imagination. Now, and more important, why did I answer this way? Simple. The only way I've been about to get around 150 tower videos on KZbin without any customer interference has been by not revealing the actual physical location of their antenna support structure and which broadcaster (licensee) occupies the structure and/or who that license is. Some broadcast licensees are rather paranoid about the location of their transmitting tower. Often the actual owner or manager of the tower site worries about the same sort of thing. If you've worked in the Tower industry you can probably figure it out for yourself by knowing a few fact. My company does not travel and spend nights in motels more than 5 days a year. I've posted quite freely that we focus on middle Tennessee so that also narrows down the search. If you have the time it might be fun to play detective and figure out which is which. I just don't want owners and broadcasters to worry about some jerk climbing their tower with a parachute and jumping off. I hope you understand why I don't reveal these facts. John

[@cplcombat]

Did u forget the o-ring? Lol

[@deepwaterescue4u]

There is not enough room for them and their balls on the tower

[@shoe_prophet8803]

HOW DOES ONE GET STARTED ON BECOMING A TOWER TECH/CLIMBER? PLEASE POINT ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION @JohnHettish

[@jhettish]

As much as I hate to say it the quickest way to get into the industry is with a cell tower crew. Cell crew expansion is greatest during cell operator (ATT, Verizon, etc) are moving from a current platform, like 4G to a new platform like 5G. Small companies that have doing small jobs lie in wait for these conversions. Once an cell system upgrade is announce they expand from five or six employees to perhaps 50 employees in order to meet the demand. Some tower companies will hire anyone who applies without regard to the history of the new hire and his mental outlook. (I'm putting it nicely.) Like all good things the upgrades come to an end and most of the "expansion" workers are laid off. By the time there's another upgrade most of the former workers now have "real jobs" so the new hire circus ramps up again. Check out the video called "Cell Tower Deaths". Simply Google that title and you'll have your eyes open to the cell industry. My company does not do cell work at all and as long as I'm running that company we will not do cell work. Ours is broadcasting, public safety, utilities, government entities, manufacturers and random others. Unlike cell companies, we get paid directly by the owners, not some giant contractor. John

[@shoe_prophet8803]

John Hettish Its very difficult to find information on this type of work. Im still a young man (22). but i have no experience in the industry. I feel as if I were to start now i would be able to retain more knowledge and possibly be a great member to the society because i would be starting at a young age. I aspire to become one of the few tower climbers as the next generation continues to roll in. I want to get trained by the right people. Seeing the number of deaths is quite heartbreaking but i did hear that about 50% of those deaths were from free climbing! So it is an eye opener but yet it still doesn’t stop me from looking or inquiring about this type of work. Do you recommend any companies that are willing to train and hire with completion of certifications? or do certifications have to be done before applying places? Your videos are greatly appreciated as are your responses!! 🔩

[@jhettish]

Hello Leonardo, You have to do some research on the internet to find where tower companies are and if they're hiring. I have about four links to tower job head-hunters on the "About" link on my KZbin tower channel that focus on people trying to find jobs for tower technicians. However I'll save you the time of finding the "About" section. Here goes. natehome.com This is the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE). The next link is www.towerclimber.com . The third link is wirelessestimator.com/wireless-construction-jobs. I know Craig Leukitus who is the editor of Wireless Estimater. It's a great source of news in the Tower Indursty. The fourth link is facebook.com/TowerHeadHunters. There are several tower-worker oriented mailing lists. The only one I'm quite familiar with is groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/tower-pro/info. I started that group in 1999 and then passed it on to another moderator in 2009, after 10 years. Check into some of these resources. You might just land that job you want. John

[@johnrobinson357]

I wish you were closer...I have been a ham radio operator since '82 and an electronic tech for 35 years..I could use the work. Where i live is a technical dessert - my resume is useless here - gotta move out of here.

[@jhettish]

Well, I wish you lived in Shelbyville Tennessee. I need another electronic technician (bench and whatever) and I need an extra tower tech. Life just isn't perfect is it. :-)

[@johnrobinson357]

I got a pair of GE mastr II's for $40.00 at a local ham flea. Took quite a while to sort out problems. Just something about them, the audio is fantastic for fm. Receivers are a little wide. If i can get those basket cases working well i can fix damn near anything. I've got some family in Tennessee.....you never know, one of these days.

[@jhettish]

I've got four Mastr II repeaters, pulled from service when narrowbanding reared it's ugly head. If you're setting up the old repeaters for ham use there's no need to narrow band the radios. Of course, there are some ham "nuts" who want to narrow band. Aside from the digital modulation is making its way into ham radio. We have fifty or more ham repeaters 2 meters and 440 mhz that are always available but rarely used. Repairing legacy equipment is straight forward but with broadcast equipment the documentation is at best, misleading. I work on the legacy equipment and have had to give up more than once, unlike "the old days". John, K4WJZ

[@johnrobinson357]

Good old analog....Fading away it is. I lucked out they both had the 100 watt bricks with each. One on Dos metros one on 440. I got these before the narrow crap started. They were both on the same site when they got whacked by lightning. Proximity damage mostly, but still a large amount of zorched components I got the cavity's as well. Really nice to work on, TONS of room. Most of the guys i hear sound like they hold their noses when they speak. Everyone who has met me always says i sound the same on air as in person. I take some pride in that. Panasonic back electret elements from mouser - had to buy 25. 6 band eq and a non offensive sounding peak limiter with a hack homemade push pull pre amp in a band aid box to get the mic level up. It works. Then.....there is the low band junk. A lot of it is used parts and junk. But it works. Every time with no magic smoke release. 4-400 transmitter for 80mtrs am, among the junk. yeah, the sidebanders LOVE me to death. An R 390 and HQ 180 A for the hearing side of things. The electric bill can be a bit excessive at times - i'm longwinded big surprise right. i made an 811a linear for the solid state stuff i have so i can get by the sidebanders on 80. It is a LOT of tubes to get some decent power out. But i have so many i'll never run out of them, i got a really good deal on 6 large full boxes of them back in the late 80's. 4-400's 4-1000's 811A's 813's 6BQ5's 12AX7's holy crap have i got tubes! got it all back in the 80's when they were cheap. Kind of like a retirement plan of sorts. I have gone on far too long yet again. John you've got some big ones giving your call, i'm not quite so bold. I am in north central Mass 10 miles from the new hampshire border N1XXX Got my ticket in 1982 Have A Good 73's

[@jhettish]

Got my ticket in 1960 at the age of 15. I've never hidden my identity on the internet with approximately 30 years of activity and have never had bad things happen. I don't publish my SSN, my DL , my credit card numbers or my bank account ID, just my real name and my ham callsign. There are many databases with my location and info on my company. I'm an open book. I'm just not all that important. John

[@masonmeyer1914]

Why do they touch the bays as they climb up

[@jhettish]

Hi there. When I'm checking the antenna with an instrument (Sitemaster) on the ground and am looking for a bad bay I have them touch each bay as they go past it so that I can see if it's in the mix. If they get to a bay, touch it, and I don't see the reaction on my network analyzer I know that's the bad bay. Before you ask, the antenna is not attached to the transmitter during this sort of exercise. It's connected to the coaxial feed line down in the transmitter building below the tower. John

[@masonmeyer1914]

@@jhettish thanks so much for the explanation!

[@ronniecogar8961]

Are you not afraid to be up that high in the air I know I would please let me know

[@jhettish]

No, not at all. I might get startled on occasion but 46 years and focusing on where I am and the job at hand tends to remove the fear factor. John

[@Vgp-rp4iu]

Nope. Not a chance in hell would I climb that. I don't care how many safety harnesses I have on. There isn't enough to make me feel safe then feeling that thing sway in the wind. Nope

[@amineachour9442]

moi meme je suis entrain d entamé la procedure de limmigration a canada j éspere qu'unjour on pouras ce recontré c est dieu le veut good bay my ferend

[@jhettish]

C'est merveilleux. Je suis heureux que tu sois capable de venir de ce côté du monde. John

[@zatchsmp3262]

Ya’ll need to strike so you can get paid the same as lineman. They pay you guys shit for what you do and it’s because people will do it. Doesn’t make it right.

[@kk6aw]

Hey, flat Earthers, see the horizon. I know the camera is distorting the picture. Fact the Earth is still a globe

[@officialallannova8313]

Hello friend John this tower is how many meters high ie lengths you can mi answer please look forward i am very grateful allan an ABS