[BC] Towers (good ones too)

[RichardBJohnson at comcast.net]

I built the transmitter site for WTEV-TV (New Bedford) in Tiverton, RI. It had a new RCA transmitter and an old GE one. It was on channel 6 and conventional in all respects except that I could run either transmitter into the either filterplexer, and either filterplexer into either the dummy load or the antenna. This was two transmitters, (each having both aural and visual), two identical filterplexers, and either the antenna or the dummy load. This was done using a control panel I designed plus a number of six-inch motor-driven coaxial switches with all the necessary interlocking so nothing could be hot-switched.

It was a lot of RF plumbing. Additionally, I did all the electrical work from a disconnect switch on an external pad-mounted transformer on through the entire plant. I had a lot of work to do and I loved every minute of it.

The tower was built by Dresser Tower and Crane. I do not know anything about the crew; however, I was interrupted early one morning by someone who claimed he was a supervisor. He wanted to know where my hat was. Hat? I did not wear a hat! I had to now. He suspended all work until I either left the area or got a construction worker's hardhat. Not wanting to be blamed for holding up construction, I promptly left the site and set out trying to find where I could get a hardhat.

Even most construction workers did not wear them in those days, so it was difficult to find where I could buy one. Someone at the studio (a long trip) said that Graybar Electric had such hats. I drove to Providence (another long trip) to Graybar Electric. They knew what they were, but they did not have any in stock. However, they had a Teletype between stores so, if I waited about an hour, they could tell me where I could get one.

Word came. There was a hardhat in Paramus New Jersey. I drove to New Jersey to buy it. This was probably the most expensive day on that job, certainly the most tiring. When I arrived back at the site the following day, I tried to find the supervisor. I was told that the "supervisor," was someone from the Federal Government (OSHA did not exist yet) who showed up at every site and threatened to shut it down if we were not wearing hardhats and steel-toed shoes. "Where are your steel-toed shoes?" I was asked jokingly.

My first encounter with the new, real, OSHA was about six years later at Cetec/Sparta, where an OSHA inspector came and cut off all the equipment cords that only had two prongs. I spent about a week repairing power tools and test equipment by installing those gawd-awful three-prong plugs that caused ground loops in every test setup!

Every time I see a three-prong plug, I mentally reach for my hardhat.

Cheers,
Richard B. Johnson
Book: http://www.AbominableFirebug.com/