[AMRadio] Jumping on the NDB

[CL in NC]

Mike's story about jumping to a hot tower also brought back memories.  But the one I used to jump to was only a 400 watt Non Directional Beacon, but you could sure draw a nice arc with a pencil from it.  The tower in question was a 130ft Rohn 25, three levels of guys, and the top three were electrically attached to the top of the tower, but insulated down the line about 20ft making a nice capacity hat.  The base was the Rohn ceramic insulator assembly, the thing it needed was an occasional wipe down due to crud getting splashed on it or grass clippings when the grounds maintenance guy cut the grass.

All was well until another fellow, weighing in around 240lbs, jumped from a ladder to the tower and put a hairline crack in the base insulator.  After that, you had to clean out the stuff that would grow in that crack to stop the arc over you'd get when the humidity got to it.

Charlie, W4MEC in NC