New Antenna on 64 Year Old Tower

In this video I'm installing a new UHF Land Mobile Radio antenna on a tower built in 1954. It's 9 years younger than me. :-). I go through a lot of gymnastics getting this done, or at least to the point where it's almost done. So, sit back and enjoy my pain. John

[@donedeal2057]

Its been a while since a video John. Hope everything is going well for you. thanks again for the videos. You got me into tower climbing and now i have opportunities I could never dream of. Thank you.

[@tonywestvirginia]

Thank you John. i really enjoy watching you work as that was what I wanted to do as a young teen.. Then came cars and electronics. I went that way.

[@Coopmanye]

Wow much respect for you, John! Such an incredible amount of health and strength you carry till this day. Love your attitude and how you communicate with your team! God bless you!

[@b3j8]

Good to see ya John! Man the one word that always comes to mind watching you guys is PATIENCE! The clock's always ticking, but you can't rush the job!

[@StevePietras]

Thanks for the respose John. I remember I was doing a project and fat fingered a parts order entry. Ended up with the wrong butterflies for LDF5-50. Glad we caught it on the ground rather than 900ft up on the stick. I felt so bad we couldn't work that day. Taught me a valuable lesson, always check the shipments when they arrive. I sat and put the hangers together with the crew to make up for my mistake.

[@jhettish]

I do things like that all the time and usually do the work to help everyone through whatever the problem is. I figure the buck stops with me therefore even though I might not have screwed up (and I often do) I'm still responsible. Today I'm cleaning out some corrosion on 3" flanges so that I can install two of them tomorrow, if I'm lucky. This message is going out on a Saturday so I hope it's not lost on you that tomorrow is Sunday. My guys have the weekends off but I don't. Still, I've been working as a manager or as an owner for so many years I can't imagine being an employee and having specific working hours even though overall it might be easier. :-) John

[@jmurphy1973]

Been out of the tower biz for 12 years now and I still miss it every day. Stay safe (and i know you will)

[@Keith_1]

Good to see you appearing in another interesting video

[@jhettish]

It's more like "disappearing". Unless I do a selfie you rarely see me. :-) Thanks Keith

[@Lcapone]

Hi John! Well job my friend! It similar sense I had couple month later. We raised cable on tower and I saw bad mount connector. This problem I eliminated on tower. Somtime I take more instrument on tower and it saved me. Nice day, John!

[@jhettish]

Quite often I'd be able to fix the connector but this one was too messed up to be fixed on the tower and the center pin required a soldering iron. I've used gas-powered soldering irons on towers but much rather fix such things on the ground. I do tend to take a few more kilograms of tools than I need but usually don't have the actual thing required for a specific problem. That's just the way it goes. I would have used Google to translate but Google couldn't handle what I had written. John

[@alastairbarkley6572]

Hi John. Looks like you're done posting videos presently. I really enjoyed watching all of your content. Hope there will be more. Regards. Al (London, England).

[@jhettish]

Hi Al, I have several videos but they're not ready for "prime time" just yet, so to speak. I had an accident during the summer that really set me back. I was supposed to be walking again by February. I was walking and working full days two months before February 2019. Lots of workouts at the gym and lots of Physical Therapy. I appreciate your comment. John

[@jhettish]

@Matt Perry Hi Guys, I spent several hours yesterday up and down ladders at a tower site identifying cables and what they were attached to in the transmitter building. That was only the first phase of what we call a "tower mapping", a process that lets the owner of the tower know how many cables are going up his structure, what type of cables they are and what they're attached to (antenna) at the end of the run. About as soon as I got back my guy Clay quit to take a job with a local telephone company so I'm short on the People-Power level. It's just the life of a business owner. Things will eventually work out. John

[@MVVblog]

Another great video from Mr Hettish :-)

[@jhettish]

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it. John

[@CarrotDugTooDeep]

Looks like a Telewave ANT4506-9. I just had to adjust the VHF version on top of a Rohn 45G that shifted during Hurricane Florence. Now that antenna is a handful.

[@johnrobinson357]

Back when my tower was up, i had a thing for ten meters. Had a gamma matched .64 wave ground plane. A guy in Florida makes them, solid aluminum ground plane radials really nice quality $156.00 cheap in my opinion. Anyway....I put it right at the top - Bad choice but i did it anyway. The main radiator was over 20ft long, and ground plane elements 16ft each. Add to that load an 8 ft length of chain link fence top rail, great stuff strength wise but heavy as hell. I got it all mounted and got my coax in hand same way you did it here but i was alone. The damn PL 259 shield braid was a little corroded so my solder did not take well enough - DAMN !!! I use copper foil one wrap around the diameter of the shield braid and tack solder it around in several points - it broke free i felt it turn. I also grind the threads off the inside of the connector as well and use RTV to hold it in. Major pain in the ass to remove. Done right it works great. Took it all apart did it RIGHT this time, back up the tower and done. A little re tuning and i had a kick ass signal on ten. For whatever reason there is nothing like a high gain ground plane antenna on ten, Same holds true on 6 meters as well for some reason...As soon as i saw the connector move in your hand it took me right back to that. 80 + feet off the ground is a bad place to find bad solder joints. Have a good

[@jhettish]

I can remember that during the 70s there were a lot of commercial and government users of "low band" equipment, in other words 30 to 50 Mhz. i installed a lot of ground planes for these users. I'd take the DB201 to the top of the tower with the radials bundled up and attached to my old lineman's belt and install them once the vertical portion of the antenna was clamped down. When I was in the Germany during my Army time I had a multi band ham antenna on the roof of my apartment building. It worked quite well but caused so much RFI that I had to abandon use of it and run an 80 meter dipole from the building to a tree out back. At 80 meters (3.6Mhz European) the RFI went away and no one seemed to notice my new antenna. Before ham radio became a non-hobby with me I had a ground plane when I got back to the states. It was mounted about three feet from the ground with no radials (half wave). I did pretty well with that then my interest shifted to the temporary job I took 46 + years ago, two-way radio. I quickly found out I knew almost nothing after 10 years of hamming (including Europe and Vietnam) and the first class FCC license I'd studied so hard for. In the two-way shop I began to fill in the empty knowledge bank and that work became far more interesting. My job was supposed to be "temporary" while I went to night school to become a lawyer. I figured that I'd have a good command of ham radio after I became a lawyer and made tons of money. I lasted one semester and dropped out, planning to go back later. I never did. Full custody of two small kids (a Vietnam Legacy), a full time job and a one hour commute to that job was just not conducive to being in law school. Fortunately I loved the work and still do at 73. John

[@JoseRobertoGarciaMGT]

Hi John ! I hope you are ok soon ! Greetings from Brasil !

[@alandoherty8279]

Man I feel your pain, been there and done that.. Never trust a connector unless you’ve fitted it yourself !! I’m the same age as the tower, and still climb.

[@jhettish]

Good to hear from you. I got the privilege of talking to a guy in the Boston area who is in his 80s and still climbs commercially. The hip is about the only thing I can complain about. Usually it's just fine but all of a sudden it will remind me that its in an uncomfortable position and it reminds me with a bit of pain. Usually it comes from a big stretch between a ladder and the leg of a self supporter. I'll bet you have experienced big stretches of that type. John

[@jhettish]

One other thing. I train my guys to install connectors and at times they're better at it than I am. I have no (or almost no) secrets and am trying to create the next generation, hoping I get to sit back and watch and continue to have a paycheck. I can't, or at least shouldn't, do it all. John

[@rksg2003]

Come on John give us another video that hurts us that are cared of heights to watch! It's been 4 months lol

[@jhettish]

Of those four months I spent about 64 days in two different hospitals and I'm still trying to recuperate. I will come back with some videos but my business needs me. I have a lot of raw videos that have plenty of altitude. I just need the time to edit and upload. I've missed an incredible amount of time away from my office. Time to catch up. John

[@LandonClimbs]

@@jhettish I hope your okay John! You were inspiration to me to start climbing, I'm now 9 months in and wouldn't turn back. I love it and respect all the safety aspects I learned from your videos. Hope to see a video soon! Hope your healthy bud

[@Frank-ue6eg]

I saw a tower in Germany - along the lines of 1,500 ft AGL, that has an enclosed man-lift - effectively an elevator - from the ground up to the mounting laterals at the top of the tower.

[@feetgoaroundfullflapsC]

Any link to that?

[@dennisqwertyuiop]

good job

[@jhettish]

Thanks for your comment. I even appreciate the bad ones. Fortunately I get very few bad ones and they never reveal their whole name. Just some screen name. I've got to figure that maybe some of the bad comments come from 12 year old kids in their bedrooms. :-) I appreciate you Dennis.

[@BurtBartlow]

64 and still doing jobs most millennials couldn’t even begin to do. Right on man. People like you helped build this great country we are extremely lucky to live in. edit I just read your are in your 70’s. Jeez man awesome.

[@jhettish]

I tell people I'm blessed that I can do what I do and attribute my ability to good Yankee genes. (I live in the south). I usually follow that up with, "I'm cursed that I have to do what I do," but it's only for humor effect that I say such things. John

[@jhettish]

By the way, this is the first time I've been 73 and don't really know what I 'should' be doing. This is the first time I've been really old. :-)

[@feetgoaroundfullflapsC]

You were born in 1945? Over 70 years old and still doing that? Man, we need to man up after looking at what you do..

[@lewiemcneely9143]

John, sometimes you act like an old man. I had 4 years on the tower but you beat me out. My right knee is the one that can't handle being bunched up. Too many mikes in a DM Mack with no leg room, big feet and having to turn the right one sideways to work the blasted throttle. Glad you got it done though. Always a pleasure to get a video from you! Take care!

[@jhettish]

I've done a lot of work trying to completely destroy my body. My hip problem came from an injury in a motorcycle race back in the 70s. I hit the trail, literally, and the guy behind me hit me in the small of the back. The result was a cracked pelvic socket. After motorcycle racing I played a lot of adult soccer. Oddly enough I still have two knees that function quite well. I had my drone in the following mode this evening. As I watched the video I saw that i even walk like an old man in grass. :-) I'm 73. Does that mean I'm old? :-)

[@lewiemcneely9143]

I don't reckon. Just means you're 73! I guess that 40+ years of truck driving and equipment operating took their toll on me but I still love it. I used to be 6'2" but now am 5'11". Furniture disease. My chest is falling into my drawers! But I guess we'll keep going till we can't and then we won't need to! And we both can be thankful that Sammy thought enough of us to make sure we got a good dose of his blessed elixir that went so well with bushes and shrubs. The orange variety! We're really blessed we can move at all!.

[@gatesmw50]

I have experienced hardline connectors put on loose and incorrectly too may times over the years going to communications sites. Some people just have no clue as John just experienced in the video. 73!

[@andrewwilson8317]

Tower looks in great condition for its age? Better than the rusty crappy old ones we have!

[@jhettish]

It's in pretty good shape. It's just not made for installing modern antenna systems. You've got to get creative. We don't have a lot of snow or other pollution sources. We're not by the ocean so salt isn't much of a factor. We do have some crappy towers but they're few and far between. John

[@user-oy2bz5wm2b]

John, would a Petzl Astro Sit Fast, harness made it more comfortable for you? I would think so....

[@skmc6915]

Do you ever go up WLAC towers? I live next door to them lol

[@winterburan]

what kind of coaxial cable is it? cellflex coax? LMR, RG? Thank you

[@jhettish]

Specifically it's Andrew/Commscope LDF4-50A, It's half inch diameter, concentric copper shielding and a solid center conductor. There's a spec sheet available at this link. www.commscope.com/catalog/cables/pdf/part/1329/LDF4-50A.pdf

[@makeitrightb6550]

I though it was Halifax cable. Thanks for the jnfo

[@ShabaleetoIV]

Hi john I just discovered your videos what does it take to do a job like this? What type of Education and job experiences do you have? I’m currently in college going for an Electronic Engineering Technology Associates of Applied science!

[@ShabaleetoIV]

And is there anyway I can contact you so I can learn more about jobs like this and what you do?

[@drdegutrez8458]

Hey John. Any plans on climbing a new tower this month?

[@royamberg9177]

Oh. You two are working against each other lol. Hear only when you want lol. All sounds normal

[@jhettish]

I wouldn't doubt that at all. Keep in mind that the ground guy is extremely inexperienced but quite willing.

[@makeitrightb6550]

Nice video John. Question Is there a TV antenna signal a analyzer for using on TV antennas to line the signal up with the antenna and it shows the digital frequency

[@jhettish]

Simplest way to know the actual is to look in the FCC database, get the file you want by call sign or even ASR number, open the file (license) and get the actual transmitting frequency. There are network analyzers that can look at the condition of the antenna and VSWR meters built in to most of the transmitters. I hope that helps. I can expound further but have no time to do enjoyable things these days.

[@makeitrightb6550]

@@jhettish thanks John. I was hoping there was a meter like they use on satellite dishes were they can lock onto the signal and the meter sounds a audio tone.

[@jhettish]

@@makeitrightb6550 Keep in mind that we don't particularly "aim" these antennas. With Microwave (dish) antennas they are directional by design and need and must be aimed at whatever they're trying to communicate with. John

[@michaelmccarthy4615]

I'm surprised the loose coax connector wasn't caught on the ground before going up...

[@jamielee9350]

The side arm mount might be on backwards John, but if it fits and it's safe, and it works, it's good.

[@jhettish]

Thanks for the comment: The tower is gone now. It had been erected in the 50s but it's time had come. Yep, the side arm "was" backwards but that was the only way to make a side-arm work on that old piece of steel. John

[@jamielee9350]

@@jhettish Only came across your channel a few weeks ago, now going through them all. Giving them all a thumbs up, great job you all do. Best wishes from the U.K.

[@jhettish]

@@jamielee9350 Thanks again Jamie. I enjoyed making the videos and climbing. Things have changed in my business but may now be turning around. I have a new guy and am planning to nail one of our cameras to his helmit. Even though you see me in my videos only rarely I am present on about 95% of them. Why don't you see me? You don't see me all that often because the camera is on my helmet. Try this one from 1100 feet. You might see me on the scene. Transportation to the work site is via ladder only, no elevators or any other strange methods. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gaCYap6anZZnf7s

[@sabrinapeterson9887]

I would have been highly upset if I had to climb back down to fix something someone else messed up

[@CrazyTechReviews]

when are you going to post another video?

[@kirbysteel2766]

What kind of antenna you installing?

[@infinitecanadian]

That tower is older than my mother by one year (although 3 years younger than my father).

[@nexo567]

Epic; I'll be better at changing my oil, just from watching this! Thanks.

[@jhettish]

That is funny. Mainly because I can't figure out what you're talking about. Thanks John

[@nexo567]

It's just; can I just do ANY thing without dropping a tool?!! Kudos...

[@jhettish]

Ah, now that makes sense. I had a good trainee who had a bad habit of dropping things. He did good work but he dropped more things in his first 6 months than I had in 30 years. Finally he almost hurt somebody dropping a block from 300 feet. After that I started working on jobs side by side with him. I found out rather quickly that he was working at "ground speed" on the tower. I got him to slow down and adopt my slow and deliberate methods and the problem went away. That's why I often tell new people to never let anyone goad them into working faster on a tower. On the tower every movement should be a conscious thought and should be done in slow-motion. John

[@techharvest2]

What sort of feedline is it? Looks like smoothwall 1/2 CommScope FXL or something. Al jacket.... I never liked that stuff.

[@jhettish]

Nawh, It was LDF4-50, simple 1/2 inch Heliax. The person who installed the connector managed to cut it completely around breaking the outer conductor completely free of the internal foam. It wasn't too difficult to fix but it was one of the older connectors and a soldering iron was required. I always have stuff like that in my truck. By the way, I do not like the 1/2 or 1/4" flexible cables at all.

[@techharvest2]

That's a helluva lot better. Most of all the stuff I touch is LDF4-50A, LDF-5, and LDF 7.... all great cable. I haven't been pleased with the new AVA style cable. AVA-xis a PITA since they thinned the outer Cu to almost foil thickness IMHO. It is hard to strip and clean off the foam for connectors without damaging it and AVA unique connectors are required. It is also very easy to dent. Whatcha think?

[@jhettish]

Worse yet is the AVA5-50FX. It has a foam filled center conductor which requires special connectors. The up side is that the new connectors can be made to fit the old 7/8 with the solid center conductor. I saved one of my customers a pot of money not having to replace over 900 feet of the old solid center stuff. The cable had less loss than the factory specs so there was no engineering reason to replace it. The only other reason would have been the absolute absence of the proper connectors required for it.

[@EastAngliaUK]

that does not look to high here at least you did not have to go down to far.

[@geebee75]

What are your thoughts on someone (like I dunno, me? lol) filming your work from a drone. A 2nd perspective to show a 3rd person perspective of what it’s like to be positioned on the outside of a tower.

[@jhettish]

I have no problem with it but I also have a commercial drone license and a Mavic Pro. How close are you to the middle of Tennessee?

[@geebee75]

Mavic Pro - very nice kit, and small enough so if the unthinkable happens and it runs into something on the tower it _shouldn't_ damage anything on the tower. Anyway Nashville (you're a little further south I understand) is a day's drive (one-way) for me. (I'm in Southern Ontario). Was just a fleeting thought, I haven't been down there in a few years and the weather's great for a little road trip lol.

[@jhettish]

So far so good. I'm still playing with it when I have time, which is somewhat rare. I'm going to see if it can follow me up a tower. Follow mode is a bit strange in the Mavic Pro. They have something called Active Tracker. The drone sits in one place and basically acts like a security camera with pan and tilt capabilities. Still learning the other flight modes. John

[@jhettish]

One other thing my Grandfather was born at Port Erie. I have some Canadian blood. I still can't pronounce the "ou" sound correctly but I have been known to complete a sentence or answer a question with "Eh?"

[@drdegutrez8458]

It's been a year john! If you can read this, where have you been? when are you going to make annother tower video? And also have you retired from your job yet? I just want to know! I build lot's of towers in Roblox and i'm sometimes a fan of your climbing videos. and i think i'm going to subscribe to see if a new video pops up on you channel.

[@jhettish]

I had a serious injury last year from which I almost died. Did I fall:? Yes. What was I climbing? A tree. What were you doing climbing a tree? My wife asked me to rescue a 4 month old kitten. What almost killed me? Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville presented me with a hospital born germ. In the fall I had a brain injury which I'm completely over now. I also shattered the right socket of my pelvis. An expert doctor rebuilt the socket and it was said that I'd be walking by February. I spent 30 days drugged and another 30 days in hospital getting past the drugs supplied by the ICU during my first 30 days. I was driving and walking by the last week of September (2018). I'm not at 100 percent but am still working on it. I climbed a water tower this past Sunday and a 180 foot AM tower today. So far my altitude record is 320 feet, so no, I'm not retired. Clay left my small company about four months ago. Garrett is leaving after this Friday. I have an incredible amount of raw video but have had no time to edit. I'm hoping to have stuff, including drone video, ready to go within the next two weeks but can't promise anything. Work is heavy and I'm down one radio technician and two tower guys. We've hired two green hands that seem good picks but they're still green. One guy is working already and has made it to 1120 feet. The other guy starts 5/13/2019. I need to put a V-Log together to explain my lack of videos to KZbin. I miss doing it and several other things. Your last question: No, I have not retired.

[@dosgos]

@@jhettish So sorry to hear of your fall and hospital infection. So ironic from a tree for a kitten. Keep up a positive attitude and look to the future. Wishing you a speedy recovery. PS I enjoy living vicariously through your videos.

[@jhettish]

I appreciate your comment. I'm wanting to create a video in the form of a V-Log in order to explain the reason for no videos being uploaded and my recovery. At 73 (when the accident occurred) the doctors expressed reluctance at operating due to my "advanced age". Others present in the ER universally said, "You don't know this guy", referring to my work, my stamina and my will to survive. I'm actually back to climbing heights around 300 feet but I've lost my two most experienced climbing employees so I'm scrambling around each and every day (as in 7 days a week) keeping the company moving. I was told I might be walking by February. I was walking in late September and driving in the first week of October. John

[@dosgos]

@@jhettish We are thrilled you have recovered and I think that narrative would be very interesting indeed. I thought you were in your 40s when I was watching the videos lol. For future videos, on-the-ground videos where you are on-site and brainstorming job & climbing strategy and challenges, engineering comments, and some business noodling are also an interesting angle.

[@nnordby78]

I've been watching for awhile now. I noticed that you always have the doors open on your truck. Is there a reason?

[@jhettish]

You and a whole bunch of other people. I get this comment quite often. I don't know specifically why I do that I just do. However I'm beginning to notice when I watch my own videos. Funny habit I guess. John

[@stanpatterson5033]

I remember asking that about a year ago (maybe longer). I expected an answer like "so we can pile inside the truck quicker in the event of a problem" or something, but your answer then was to the effect that you didn't like getting into a hot vehicle in the summer time. Well, it's a good enough reason to leave door(s) open. But with my kind of luck, after the job, we'd all pile in to the vehicle to head back to the office, and find out that a raccoon or skunk or something had crawled inside and was napping under a seat....

[@jhettish]

I worked all day yesterday (Sunday) putting connectors on 3" coax. At one point I noticed that my truck doors were open and have, as you know, received comments on the fact I tend to leave them open. Yesterday I realized that it's because I'm in and out of the truck so often, for tools, parts and other things. If I was on a cell crew (argh) and in a city that would be a very bad idea for sure. I work mostly in rural areas or on somewhat secure property so leaving the doors open is not as problematic as it might be in other situations. The only problems I've ever had was with batteries. The guys leave the site and I can't start my truck. That has happened. I drive a GMC Duramax (diesel) that uses 24 volts to start and therefore has two batteries. They go to series during the startup but then back to a form of parallel once the truck is running. If one of the batteries gets weak, the truck will not start without a jump from something and I've used a lot of methods to get my truck started again to include removing a power supply from a base station, hooking it up to the battery, starting the engine and while its running I go reinstall the PS in the base station. I haven't had to do that one in years though. But, I still know how. :-) John

[@winterburan]

Good morning, I saw a video where they said that a guy in the USA, changed a light bulb to a high trellis every six months and earned $ 20,000 every six months? Seems to me a false news? How much on average can the replacement of an inc lamp from a high tower cost? Thanks for the great videos!

[@jhettish]

We make about $1600 for lamp replacement on 1200 foot tall towers but we only get those jobs every three years or so. It takes two salaried employees to do the work. The $1600 goes to the company and is paid back in salaries to our employees and to bay the company's expenses. It cost around $40,000 per month to run Middle Tennessee Two-way. I'm definitely not getting rich but I love my work, which includes a lot more than tower work. John

[@winterburan]

Thanks for the precise and quick response, as I suspected was a false news, many still wonder why you use light bulbs and not the LEDs, I know, and I laugh at these questions!

[@jhettish]

It's easy to understand why people ask. They see LED lamps at their local hardware store. They ask "Why doesn't he use these?" Mainly, they're not Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) approved. The tower owners know what's legal and what isn't and if they want to skirt the regulations they will open themselves to law suits. Besides, my customers know I won't use non-approved repair parts. It's part of my mission with this channel, to educate the world as to what goes into Tower erection and the maintenance of both the tower itself and the items installed on the tower. I could trumpet the "danger" angle but I would see that as dishonest. I'm trying to keep it real with my presentations on KZbin. John

[@jhettish]

And I do appreciate everyone's comments. John

[@steelem422]

Back in the saddle again hey Mr Hettish!

[@jhettish]

Never really left. I just ran out of editing time. I have a bunch of video in the virtual can that will probably never make it to KZbin. Thanks for the comment. John

[@jhettish]

I'm getting better and most people I deal with think my recovery is going quickly but it's not quick enough to satisfy me. I'm also finding other things that were injured in my 10 foot plunge from a ladder to the hard Tennessee dirt. For instance, my neck has bothered me for a long time but now it seems much worse. We'll see how it goes. At the moment I'm needed in the office as it's accounting software upgrade time and I'm the "IT" guy. Owners of small businesses take on all sorts of titles. John

[@KeepingitAnalog]

@@jhettish I have been missing your videos. I wondered why you were not posting. I hope you are doing well!

[@jhettish]

@@KeepingitAnalog I thought I had answered this comment but apparently not. I had a bad accident in June 2018 and subsequently spent around 67 days in hospitals and later about 30 days at home. I missed around 97 days from my business. When I finally got back to the point where I could spend the whole day at work (office type) Clay Youngblood) gave his notice. 2018 has not been good to me but I'm hoping 2019 is going to be better. I was supposed to be walking by February 2019. It's now February 2019 and I've been walking since late November 2018. I am persistent and I will be climbing later. I have many hours of video but no time so far to edit and upload them. I have several videos on the channel right now but they're unlisted and meant for customers. If I can re-edit I may make them public but I'm not quite there yet. John

[@jhettish]

Climbing but not going out of my way to do so. I probably worked around 80 hours this past week on one "job from hell" and it probably isn't over yet. I did no climbing. It was just technician work at the base of a tower. John

[@richcallahan2968]

Just have him send up two adjustables. Am I missing something?

[@jhettish]

Adjustables are something "I" don't like. Many tower guys I've worked with require only a couple pair of "channies". I like the proper size wrenches and so do my crew. I had a sub-contracted crew remove a device at 1200 feet from a broadcast tower. The device was a small ENG antenna, attached to a plate with about 24 3/8" (9/16" head) bolts. After the antenna came to the ground I discovered that they had removed all the bolts with channel locks. When I sent the new antenna back up I included a couple of ratchet wrenches, a couple of 9/16" speed wrenches and some new bolts. They were able to reinstall the antenna much quicker than they had been able to remove it. John

[@wilsonrichard7570]

Big job. Lol

[@michaelschwab2048]

A good Towerworker on Ground is better than gold :)

[@jhettish]

Many people don't know that. They think that inexperienced, non climbing workers can do the ground work. The best crew member on the ground is one who has climbed and continues to climb. He's experienced poor ground work by someone without the knowledge of a load reaching the tower guy only to gound loaded in the reverse order. Now the guy up the tower has two choices. Send it back down and demand loaded in proper order or fix it himself. Most experienced tower guys will fix the problem themselves if they have enough pieces of rigging rope to secure the items as he removes them from the load line. If not and if the load is just too heavy his only alternative is to send it all back down and instruct the inexperienced ground man on how to load the load line correctly. Tall tower and 500 pound loads definitely require experienced, trained ground crews. I'm glad you pointed out what you and I know is the obvious but most people don't. John

[@jhettish]

You're absolutely correct. Years ago my business partner's friend and a former two-way radio installer (non-climber), volunteered to help me with a tower job. I got set up on a 180 foot tall Rohn 24 tower and asked for the antenna clamps. I pulled on the rope for a bit until something familiar appeared. It was the (DB-365) clamps, still in the box, completely disassembled. Sitting atop a Rohn 25 tower is not the greatest work position to begin with. The disassembled clamps consisted of four threaded rods, 16 3/4" nuts and 16 1/2" lock washers. Assembling it at the top of such a tower reminds me of a circus act where a guy on a uni-cycle is juggling plates. Experience in the air is quite important for ground help. John

[@ErikPAPATIE]

Wow one year without any video im sure is death by is age or is alive ? one year without any new video strange this ☹

[@jhettish]

Hello Erik, good to hear from you. I had an accident a year ago and when I got back to work I had a couple of my tower guys quit so much of the time of the accident I was in hospitals and then being back at work I've been instructing two new guys. It's almost like starting over again. I'm climbing a lot but have no time to edit videos. I hope to be able to post videos once my work pace slows down a bit. Editing takes a lot of time and raw video isn't very informative. John

[@ErikPAPATIE]

@@jhettish 🤩haaa you ALIVE good im just worry for you im wait more and sorry im never know what happen but take care of you

[@jhettish]

@@ErikPAPATIE I'm going to do a V-Log eventually describing the accident (not work related) and the fact that I did almost die while in hospital. Every attempt at a V-Log has not been up to my video standards so far and I've had a couple of my cameras disappear recently. It will happen eventually though. John

[@ErikPAPATIE]

@@jhettish ha ok sorry for you stolen camera im wait thé vlog

[@royamberg9177]

Live day to day then think in the future

[@StevePietras]

That is the worst! So close and find a connector like that.

[@jhettish]

If it had been one of my guys sending the cable up to me it wouldn't have happened. In fact we probably would have had the whole thing done in a couple of hours but I was in a position of having to have external help in order to have the best shot of getting this job done. It really turned out to be no big deal but generally I fully agree with you especially if the ground guy is experienced. I don't know if you've heard but the best ground man is a guy who has actually spent a lot of time on the tower. An inexperienced ground guy can get things so messed up that the tower guys are put in a bad position trying to get everything off the load line in proper order. John

[@johnrobinson357]

John just checking up on you. Is all well ?? I hope so. Too busy to think of YT i bet. Curious is all......

[@jhettish]

Just as I was finishing rehab on my hip and leg a hernia developed near the surgery. After that was fixed I seemed to get a dose of food poising. It just keeps on coming. Makes me wonder what is next. At this moment Friday 10/12/18 I feel rather good or at least better than the last two weeks. I'm not up to working five or six days a week. 4 days a week is all I've been able to come up with this week. Thanks for asking. John

[@johnrobinson357]

Well John something nagged at me, so i thought i would ask. Just got one of those feelings ya know? Hip and leg - a fall in the harness? If you don't want to tell don't. Sounds like hopes like nothing else will sneak up and bite. My feelings are you will be good in time. He said with optimism. + Ease in and ease out time will put you back on keel. Hope the pain is not nasty. I'm due for some issues i can feel it, but i will deal with them in time. Hey us old guys gotta stick together ya know. Yes you have a few more laps than do i . Sending positive thoughts your way John. Hope you continue feeling better and better. I will check up on you. JR

[@jhettish]

Thanks John. I don't know if you got the news about my fall but it was completely away from work and had nothing to do with antennas or towers. I was trying to rescue a 4 month old kitten from a tree at the request of my wife. Ten to twelve feet of fall doesn't seem like much but it's turned into an epic round of doctors and three surgeries so far. I want to get back in tune and finish with medical things.

[@johnrobinson357]

I am an animal person, had cats all my life. Hooray for you! boo on the fall. I'll tell you this, they get up there - yes they can get down. In time. One of mine could go up and down at will and with speed - she was a nasty little hunter hated squirrels. No good deed goes unpunished seems fitting. Well John look at it this way, perhaps the event has a positive note. Things were found that may not have been otherwise. Dealt with and sorted now, hopefully prevents it popping up at a later date. As previous positive your way ! Go get some sleep. Be in touch... JR

[@jhettish]

Without looking through all my replies I don't think I mentioned that the "cat" I was attempting to rescue couldn't be older than 4 months. He was truly a kitten. Two days after my operations the kitten was rescued by a couple of ladies who do that on a regular basis...............and they didn't even have to climb as far as I know. I'm a lot better than I was but I still have some nagging problems. I am getting better all the time though. John

[@milkywayexplorer942]

A risky job in difficult conditions and you face problems due to unefficient people.

[@royamberg9177]

Cramps on a tower is not fun. Did you say YELL lol. My experience has been the ground man can hear everything and I'm on the tower with bad ears can't hear nothing lol. That stand off bracker is a make something work in a hurry like you say hard to work with. Good work older guy. I'm getting older to. But not the old guy yet lol

[@jhettish]

One of my passions is flying. I'm hoping to get another five years. If I do then I'll try for another five. However I do live one day at a time. No expectations. Just chipping away. John

[@jhettish]

Actually I called it the "yell-a-phone". At 60 feet it works ok, especially when I don't need three hands to use a radio and continue to work.

[@royamberg9177]

You have good ears

[@jhettish]

My wife doesn't think so. :-)

[@royamberg9177]

Do you have slective hearing lol

[@jaa93997]

Pesky connector eh?

[@jhettish]

Indeed it was. John

[@kirbysteel2766]

You was born in 1945?

[@ErikPAPATIE]

Ops a the connector loss is not funny this I'm sure you not done for this day

[@jhettish]

The bad part was the rain after that. I could have gotten it done except for the rain. I do tower work in the rain but only if there's an off-the-air emergency. Otherwise everything else can wait. Thanks for the comment Erik. John

[@ErikPAPATIE]

John Hettish just take care of you in you age is awesome continue To make more vidéo im like it