A Cold Night On Coon Peak (Part 9 of 11)

We walked into another room. There were dozens of smaller transmitters. Each had a thick galvanized pipe going out the top and up through the ceiling. Dad explained, "We have a bunch of FM stations that have their transmitters up here. These are the transmitters for them. There are also other services, mobile telephone, the emergency broadcast system . . . ." Dad went on and on with the list of who had their transmitter up there.
Dad got a cot and unfolded it for me between two FM transmitters. "Well, I have to get to work now. Since you still have school in the morning, you'd better get some sleep. I'll wake you up when it's time to go."
I didn't feel tired. I wanted to stay up and watch my dad at work. I took another look at the cot. By this time one of the men had brought me a blanket. I was instantly tired for some reason. The man and my dad began to leave. I laid down and they turned off the lights. I looked around the dark room. It was contrasted with the red and green lights of the transmitters. They each buzzed their own tune. I wondered about all the radio signals that each was pumping into the air.
I looked at the transmitter closest to me. It was for KRSP FM. I knew that, because someone had placed a KRSP bumper sticker on it. A lot of my friends at school listened to that station. Wait till I tell them I slept next to the transmitter for it!
I lay there for a few minutes, wondering how my dad was doing with the antenna. He had explained that the new antenna needed to be electrically matched to the transmitter. If their characteristics were as close as possible, the maximum energy would be radiated from the antenna.
Dad had a passion for getting the best signal possible. I had seen him risk his life many times to push an antenna a few inches higher on a translator station so as many people of a small Utah town could get a better signal. Now Dad was making sure of the same thing yet on a much larger scale, from Coon Peak.