A few of us (N6AW, N6TJ, and myself - AB6R at the time) did a good bit of
work for/with Don at the rhombic farm up to the time of his passing. he had
a good number of rhombics on the 24 acres, most hung from really tall
utility poles. it was not uncommon to see don up a pole doing something.
with that much wire and santa ana winds, repairing antennas was a frequent
mission. forget how many rhombics there were at the time but it must have
been really impressive when he had 125 or so acres. he talked about the
'north london' and 'south london' rhombics. a bit of exaggaration but there
were no directions left uncovered. his other location was long beach, a bit
north of downtown near the virginia country club where he had his final
cribbage or gin rummy game. at the long beach house he had a huge utility
pole and a variety of yagis strapped to the top stuck in the grass between
the street and the sidewalk as I recall. that location was key during the
great long beach earthquake. his mobile location was the big caddy or
lincoln with the kw mobile rig...
Jim
N1NK
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Nielsen" <nielsen@oz.net>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 17:50 PM
Subject: Re: [BULK] - [TowerTalk] Tower Tale
> I recall that the Los Angeles Times published a photo of W6AM standing
> at the top of his tower (at his house, not the rhombic farm) when he
> was well into his 80s, but then Don was one of a kind.
>
> Bob, N7XY
>
> On Tue, Jul 15, 2003 at 10:36:26PM +0200, on4kj wrote:
> >
> > Only 13 years to go before I can climb ... I am nearby 70.
> >
> > I climbed for the last time when I was fifty five, I guess thats about
the
> > age we should stop climbing. Serious compagnies wont insure climbers
after
> > fifty-five, at least in Belgium. Believe me they dont care that much
about
> > climbers, they only care about money.....
> > Jos on4kj
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Steve Katz" <stevek@jmr.com>
> > To: "'Larry L Lindblom'" <llindblom@juno.com>;
<towertalk@contesting.com>
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 5:58 PM
> > Subject: RE: [BULK] - [TowerTalk] Tower Tale
> >
> >
> > > I didn't see it, but that's hilarious...and hilariously stupid. An 83
> > > year-old climbing a tower solo? -WB2WIK/6
> > >
> > > "Success is the ability to go from failure to failure with no loss of
> > > enthusiasm." -Winston Churchill
> > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Larry L Lindblom [SMTP:llindblom@juno.com]
> > > > Sent: Monday, July 14, 2003 6:50 PM
> > > > To: towertalk@contesting.com
> > > > Subject: [BULK] - [TowerTalk] Tower Tale
> > > >
> > > > Tonight I grabbed a can of tuna and some crackers for my evening
meal.
> > I
> > > > turned on the TV and lo and behold there was a piece about a ham
radio
> > > > operator on "Stupid Human Behavior Caught on Tape".
> > > >
> > > > It seemed thing were not working well and a ham radio operator
climbed
> > > > his tower ( 50 or 60 ft) to check out his "huge" antenna (a 3
element
> > tri
> > > > bander). He slipped and was hanging with one leg in the tower and
his
> > > > head aimed at the ground. The fire department got him down and the
> > > > announcer pointed out he was 83 years old. His wifes comment in a
> > rather
> > > > crotchety voice was "I've been telling him to take that stupid tower
> > down
> > > > for years!"
> > > >
> > > > Given his wife, I'll bet the only thing this ham has to live for is
his
> > > > radio which gets him away from her!
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > >
> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any
questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
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