"Stephen M.H. Lawrence" wrote:

Funny - I worked for a radio station in Topeka, back in 1992.
I've enjoyed a friendship with the station's chief engineer since
then. We drove down to Prestonsburg to pick up a 50kW
FM transmitter and its plate transformer, and stayed for the
weekend in Salt Lick, KY, just a stone's throw from Frenchburg.
We managed to have lunch in Frenchburg. That really is "God's Country,"
and I've thought ever since that it might be a nice place to
retire.


I was a teenager the last time I was there but I still remember the
clean air, the rolling hills and all that Kentucky Bluegrass where it
had spread all over the hills and mountainsides. The other thing i
remember was how quiet the radio and TV bands were. There was no
manmade noise on most bands so all you heard was a few radio stations or
bursts of static when a storm was pounding away at a mountain top.

Did you see "Broke leg Falls"? Its about ten miles from Frenchburg
and a popular tourist stop.

I moved a 25 KW UHF TV transmitter from Leesburg, Fl. to Destin Fl
around that time. It took four 28 foot Ryder trucks to haul all the
parts and the water chillier for the final tubes. The transmitter was
built in '52 in nine, three foot square aluminum cabinets. It was a RCA
TTU-25B which was one of the first "high lower" UHF transmitters.


That transmitter was quite an adventure - the tower site was
perched on top of a mountain overlooking Prestonsburg. We
were driving a 20-ish-foot Ryder truck, and the road up the
mountainside was impassable, mud, probably a foot deep. The
road was *very* narrow, and the drop was (I kid you not)
well over a thousand feet. A local contractor pulled us up the
mountainside with an ancient Cat, and the swaying of the truck
as we crawled up....Phew. I imagine the dashboard of that
truck still has holes in it. I was lucky to have a "mountain side"
seat on the way up. If I'd opened up the door, I'd have probably
fallen at least 50 feet before the first bounce.

Nice folks, though. I don't think I've ever felt so at home.
I remember the traffic jams, too...just coal trucks.

73,

Steve Lawrence


I still have a few relatives up there. One of them had a big rock
quarry called "Acme". Others farmed, made Sorghum and raised thousands
of chickens.

--
Former professional electron wrangler.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida