At the bottom, all seems to be in order. Ron and Dave from Mikab, Inc. (www.mikabcorp.com) strap on their safety harnesses, check their tool belts, grab a bucket of heavy rope and a pulley. When you're on a small pole 130 feet in the air, going back to the truck for a wrench isn't that easy.

Not that the WNTI tower is tall, in comparison to many other broadcast towers across the county. While prepping to lower some unused two-way radio antennas from the side of the WNTI tower, Ron brought his digital camera out and sent me virtually up a 1,300 foot radio and TV tower in Connecticut. As the photos progressed, the pickup truck parked at the base kept getting smaller and smaller, until it looked like a mere speck of dust. That's a long way up, with nothing to hold on to but some steel bars and a double clipped safety harness allowing one to work with their hands. But any climb is dangerous work, whether it is 40 feet or 1,300 feet a fall can kill a climber. The only difference is that it takes longer for the ground to reach him from 1,300 feet.

Today, Ron and Dave are removing some old antennas that were mounted on the side of WNTI's tower, as well as repairing an installation of a New Jersey Network TV antenna that also shares the site with us. By removing and fixing antennas, not only is the weight of the brackets and coax removed from the tower, the wind loading is significantly decreased. In fact, the lateral forces that are induced from wind loading are far more critical to the tower than the dead weight that is transferred down the legs.

At the top, Dave tightens and checks the bolts holding the WNTI antenna onto the pylon on the top of the tower. The actual antenna are those two "eggbeater" looking metal things hanging off the side that are in the photo. The wind whips around and a hawk soars overhead as he works his way up the pegs on the side of the pole. From the ground, the pole wobbles in the wind and with Dave's weight moving from side to side as he ascends to the very top. This is normal, Ron tells me, though it looks anything but to me. If the tower and pylon did not flex under pressure, it would simply snap, like a dead tree limb.

All of the work on our tower, which has been standing since 1958 is made possible by your generous donations during our membership drives. The work is in preparation for a planned antenna upgrade that will improve the reception of WNTI in the nooks and crannies of Northern New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We are also exploring the feasibility of broadcasting in HD Radio, which would be possible with the new transmitting antenna.

Thank you again for your donations to our tower fund at wnti.org.

Nick

Nick Straka is currently WNTI's Operations Manager and Chief Engineer. Nick has spent 13 crazy years in the broadcasting business, at commercial and non-commercial radio stations, AM and FM, both on the air and in management roles while not on the air. At no time has he ever considered climbing a 1,300 foot tower, or even a 130 foot tower.

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