Chaffee Time-Exposure

I don't get out there much, but when I do,

I take advantage.

Ollie at the End

Ollie celebrates the empending conclusion to our wonderful day.

Meathead

Pretty cool picture, at least that was the idea. Unfortunately, Nick looks like "Me Ted" from that teen sci-fi movie from the late '80's.

Bullet Holes

Out here in the middle of nowhere, it's quite a chore to get in one's truck and drive all the way into town just to pick up some paper targets. Instead, resourceful country folk opt to use brightly colored signs--that have no pratical purpose--for target practice. At least the shooter of this particular sign was smart enough not to shoot the sign through the middle where it was bolted to the steel post.

Something tells me we'll be called back here occasionally in order to replace lines.

Chad in his Elf Hat

"Get some pictures of guys being safe and wearing hardhats for the website," he said. In the background, Nick and Ollie, waiting on the tower, were kicking each other. I guess it's a good thing I wasn't zoomed in on them at that particular moment.

Which Tower Is It?

When pathing a hop, it helps to know what you're looking at. That way, the dishes you're manipulating can look at each other as well. So, when the sun is high in the sky and you say "There's the other tower," it might be a good idea to place some reference marks on the tower or use some way to remember it. That way, when it gets dark and all you see is a bunch of towers with similar beacons and side-markers on the horizon, you can say with confidence that you're pointed at the right one.

Unfortunately, we didn't think of that before the sun went down, so Ollie and Nick had no idea which tower we were on. Finally, Chad asked if I had my green laser. This is a silly question because I always have my green laser--which people always give me shit about. I had Mark climb it up to Justin and he pointed it towards Ollie and Nick...twenty miles away. We thought it was a futile attempt, but got surprising results. Ollie said it was "As bright as the brightest beacon on the horizon," and that "I wept with joy at the beauty of it's shimmering emerald essence..." I made that second part up.

In short, the laser I usually use to jack with people saved our asses and we were able to get home by 1am instead of staying up all night.

I'm So F*$@ing Happy!

Justin takes a moment in joyous repose, thinking how great life is right now. "The sky is blue, I'm in good company, and I've got a 400 lb. dish to jack with. Doesn't get any better than this!"

Hanging Out at Chaffee

Nick (bottom) and Ollie hang out on the Chaffee side of the final hop we pathed that day. Chad stayed on the ground to communicate with me on the other side. Unfortunately, he had to communicate with them via yelling because someone forgot to pack working radios...and two fully-stocked crew trucks (hack saw).

It's not enough that we are in the most dangerous job (per capita) in the nation. No, we also have to drive over and under Missouri bridges that get an "F-" in safety. We got a particularly close look at this one while sitting under the bridge at a red light. When it turned green, we were like "Go before this thing caves in on us!".

It's a good thing MODOT doesn't build towers.

Finding Beauty in the Mundane

I'm going to sell this photo for $10,000

to Marcal...so don't copy it.

Advancing on Advance

Justin Mowry ascends to the final 8' dish he will

successfully manipulate at Advance.

Little did he know what the outcome would be,

but his efforts and tenacity helped us get to

--and over--

the finish line.

Loves His Job

Sometimes we forget that our employees simply

love their jobs. Justin, in particular, can't wait to

climb to work and freeze his ass off on an

otherwise beautiful day. It doesn't hurt when you

work with a bunch of up-beat guys who get along

so well either.

Finally...A Nice Day

To finalize the installation side of the project, we special-ordered some nice weather. Although it was costly, we thought it would be a nice way to thank the guys for all their hard work.

The Shadow

I'm not really sure what effect Mark was going for here.

It looks like he's doing sit-ups in the middle of the road,

but I think his legs were just hot and he wanted to keep

them in the shade.

Elliptical Portrait

Mark wanted to commemorate the elliptical project in his own special way. Using a cutting guide, we were able to get this stunning effect for our album.

If you are interested in similar photos of yourself, please contact me and I'll send you the request form. Simply fill it out and place in an envelope with a check for $12.99 and put it on my desk.

The Perks of Working Outdoors

One of the advantages of working outdoors for a living is that you have multiple opportunities to view wildlife. Witnessing creatures in their natural habitats is one way to calm one's self in an otherwise stressful situation.

Here, Justin discovers a seldom-seen phenomenon and exclaims "Look! That cow is about to take a CRAP!"

Visual vs. High Tech II

Sometimes the simplest solution is to "look up". After a couple of hours of "stumbling around in the dark," we noticed that the new dish and the old dish weren't quite pointed in the same direction. After hearing "Screw visual! That's why we've got these (expletive deleted) path-a-liners! Whoa! What did you just do? I've got a -75!" we switched over the the new-fangled method and fine-tuned the path to a -66 dB.

Ted gives me a hard time for bringing my camera everywhere I go. But this time, it's a good thing I had it, so up yours, Ted.

"Visual Alignment" vs. "High-Tech Alignment"

Here, Justin Mowry "talks to the other side" using extremely high-tech (and prohibitively expensive) Pendulum Path-a-liners. The concept is very simple: Point the dishes at each other, plug into the system, and fine-tune them using a combination of voice, tone, and visual readouts. Unfortunately, most people who complain about the use of this equipment--and how it doesn't work--haven't actually read the instructions.

Additionally, when using this method, it is a good idea to make sure your dishes are actually pointed at each other. If not, you'll spend hours "splitting hairs" between -96 dB and -95 dB...when your target is really -65 dB.

Elliptical Microwave Project

Just a few short months ago, none of us had really messed with this stuff--other than in Andrew training, and that was in a controlled environment. Now, following the conclusion of the project (knock wood), the guys are seasoned professionals in the installation, sweeping, and path-alignment of systems using elliptical waveguide. Each guy took home souvenir chunks of the waveguide to commemorate the joy they experienced over the course of the project.