Country
dwellers don’t have the Internet options that city folk enjoy. For several
years the only connection we could get was through HughesNet, an expensive and
unreliable service provider whose customer service reps all spoke with us from
India.
A
few years ago another option showed up – Mercury Wireless, a Topeka, Kansas
company put up a radio tower just a mile from our house. We immediately signed
up, a technician came to install a small radio receiver on our roof, and we
were on line for a fraction of what we had been paying. Mercury’s
service was excellent and if a problem arose, a technician came from Topeka to
set things right.
We
were happy surfers until this spring. Our connection was slow and would
unexpectedly cut off. Three times
technicians came to work on the problem, but eventually we got no connection at
all. Finally Dennis called Mercury and chatted with a fellow who said, “I see
that your signal was initially strong, but year by year it has grown weaker.”
Like
a light bulb turning on, Dennis realized that every year the trees around our
house have grown taller and broader. He drove to the radio tower to get its
precise location by using the compass on his phone. Thirteen degrees North, he
determined.
Back
home, he stood below the radio receiver on our roof and sighted 13 degrees
North. The sight line was blocked by two large walnut trees, an ancient redbud,
and one big branch of an elm. Steve Grammer kindly came with his chain saw and
the two men cut the trees. Immediately
I was able to access my email!
Steve
took the cut=up logs home – four pick-up loads – to burn as firewood and he and
Dennis spent a few hours cleaning up the debris. And everybody’s happy.
Copyright 2016 by Shirley Domer
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