"What happened?", you say? Well, apparently the neighbors that live behind me, in particular the Man, his Wife, and Daughter have all been experiencing "headaches" since I put my RECEIVING antenna up a few weeks back. My guess is that these "headaches" are of the variety to inflict an individual whenever they look into my backyard and see something they don't like.
Now before I am judged as being uncaring, crass, or unsympathetic, especially when concerning a neighbor. I would ask of you, a few of your valuable moments to read through the events that led up to all of this and judge for yourself, if my annoyance is well placed.
First, let me say that these are not bad people. I have never had an issue with them up until a few years back. And even then it was something that rubbed me the wrong way in such a fashion that I am actually too embarrassed to speak of with anyone who is not a close friend, let a lone the entire internet.
Dateline, late October of last year. I managed to take a few pictures of Jupiter in the night sky that I was rather proud of. It was this event that inspired me to explore what radio emissions Jupiter might have to offer. I did quite a bit of reading and realized that I had a lot of the equipment necessary to receive a larger Jupiter emission. The only thing that was needed was an antenna. I researched smaller design antennas in the hopes that I could just construct something directional and small enough not to cause suspicion. To that end I failed and had to settle on a single dipole antenna cut to around 20.1Mhz.
This required at least 30 lateral ft with10 ft on each side of yard. Furthermore to get the antenna pattern I required, to encompass the low angel of sky that Jupiter occupied at this time of year, I had to get everything at least 15 ft above ground. I was able to accomplish this with some Romex house wire and four 10ft lengths of PVC.
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| I don't know, I rather like the way it looks with the backdrop of a nice sunset. |
Setup proved to be way faster and easier than I had expected. I only needed to adjust the guy wires (strings) to insure that the antenna did not sag in the middle or lean towards one side or the other. It was actually a beautiful day with many people going about their outside business. No one seemed to notice or care what I was doing in my backyard. They never do, as I try to keep a low profile.
While adjusting one of the guy wires, my neighbor, who we will call Mr. F. in the interest of annominity, called out my name. I was a little surprised since I haven't talked to this person in literally years. We don't even wave to one another. Still not really sure why. Anyway, I said hello and asked how he was doing. He was looking at the antenna. Before he could speak I said, "Its ugly isn't it? You don't like it?"
He seemed surprised that I said that and offered back "No, no its beautiful, I like it."
"Really?, I think its ugly, but looks don't matter. So what's going on? I haven't spoken to you in a long time.", I said.
One thing I think I should mention about Mr. F is that he is Ecuadorian and has a VERY heavy accent. The kind that I have trouble understanding most times. So from this point forward I will be paraphrasing what I THINK he said to me. At very least my interpterion is how I will illustrate it here.
Mr. F starting talking about how he was worried about the pandemic and how nobody in his household wears masks or takes things seriously. Especially his mother-in-law. He also started talking about keeping his yard clean and how hard that was because he is always working.
Then as sure as shifting gears without a clutch, he grinded over to the question, "So what is this thing for?" I was all too happy to explain everything to him, not so much to leave the dreary line of small talk conversation that I felt roped into, but to honestly share my enthusiasm for radio astronomy with another human being.
I tried my best to explain what I was doing and why I was doing it, but alas I got a "deer in the headlights" stare from him. Sensing that he really didn't want to connect about anything other than a big strange thing being erected in my yard I kept it simple and said, "Its ok I am just testing something and I won't have it up too long." That kind of satisfied him and I bid him a good day and didn't think much of it.
Fast-forward a week later. I finished up my development work for the day and decided to indulge a bit by reading my book. "The Big Ear" by John Kraus, awesome book by a true radio pioneer. Anyway, the doorbell started me, because it is so seldom rung. "No Soliciting" signs are well worth the money. I checked the front door camera and seen that it was Mr. F.
"What?, Really? <sigh> Why?", I thought to myself. I reluctantly answer the door.
"Hello Mr. F., won't you come in", I extended while locking eyes with him. I continued, "Wat can I do for you?"
He feverishly shook his hands and blew in them to scare away the cold. "It's my daughter, she is upset. She says there is something in your window."
"My window?"
"Your window."
"MY........win...dow?"
"Yes, she is very scared."
"Fine lets go take a look", I said while heading towards the stairs.
"No wait!, Let me take off my shoes on your nice floor", Mr. F barked. I have to admit that I did feel nice that he noticed our new floor, but this was quickly replaced by a feeling of annoyance that I was being interrupted for what I had predicted would be an exercise in futility.
As I watched him fumble with his double tied laces to get his shoes off, I exhaled through my nose probably louder than I should have.
It took a moment but we got past that eternal wait. "Come on let me show you", I said.
I led him into my office/station/studio or rather my "man-cave".
Upon entering the doorway his eyes grew very wide, and I heard a little gasp from Mr. F.. There presented for Mr. F's review was a variety of blinking things. The three screens from my work computer invited him first. Then a slight hiss from my HF rig listening to static on 20.1Mhz drew his gaze over to another laptop with a selective voltmeter and large power supply. I could see that he was slowly taking it all in and had not expected to see all of this.
"So you see? There is nothing in the window!" I snapped as if I pulled Mr. F. out of trance. I then pointed to a third laptop that had an active line plot. "You see, that antenna outside listens to the Sun and other things and sends it to this computer where I can analyze it and compare it with..." I clicked an icon and brought up the NOAA Geophysical & Solar Daily Report. "this report that tells me all of the confirmed things the Sun is doing."
He truly seemed astonished. But he kept insisting that his daughter was getting upset about something in my window. So again I asked him, "Is it the antenna outside, does that bother her, or perhaps YOU?"
He shook his head immediately. "No, no ,no I like it.", he assured me.
"Riiight. well ok, then I am not sure what problem your 'daughter' has with anything, would it help if I visited and talked to her?" I offered.
"No, no ,no that's ok." He firmly stated.
At this point I attempted to show him the particulars of what I was trying to observe, but that lead into the same dead end stare I had received earlier.
"Well ok then, my wife will be coming home soon and I need to get dinner ready so thanks for dropping by." I said while opening the front door. As he pasted me I added, "If there is a problem you have with my antenna in the yard, just let me know and we will address it."
"No, no ,no everything is fine, thank you.", he muttered while waving his hand as he made his way down my walkway.
Not a word from these people in like five years, and now all of a sudden this guy is telling me about his "problems". It was clear that SOMEONE in that house had an issue with my antenna, but honestly I wasn't going to take anything down yet since I was experimenting and was expecting to see some solar activity within the next week. So if anyone had an issue they would need to speak up loud and clear.
So apparently yesterday they did.
Because of the pandemic I have been fortunate enough to be able to work exclusively from home, until things even out a bit. I won't lie, I have enjoyed it. It allows me a great deal of freedom. The kind of freedom that allows me to roll out of my bed and into my computer chair.
So here I am, sitting in my chair at around 8:30am. Outside was cold and wet. I do believe that ice was actually falling from the sky at that time. I had just put my slippers on that had been sitting on the heating vent for a spell to toast them up for my receiving feet. I sipped mildly at my warm cup of coffee. Ahh the serenity, I thought. There was no doubt about it, I was more than ready to take charge in our weekly developer's meeting. Business as usual. Work, and schedules peppered with light humor to keep things positive. Then the doorbell rings and I look at the camera.
"Oh you have GOT to be kidding me?"
What do I see? A frail Mr. F. standing at my doorstep in only a hoodie, hands clasped around his upper arms shivering in the the cold, icy rain., What could I do? I was running a meeting talking about important stuff. So I left him there to ring the bell a total of two times, driving the dog absolutely insane.
It was at this moment that I decided that this had to stop.
After my meeting I bundled up proper and went to knock at his door. It took him a moment but he finally answered. Before he could even offer a "hello", I looked him straight in the eye and asked directly, "What do you need to talk about? I could not answer my door because I was in a meeting working."
He broke eye contact with me and shook his head, then said "Please, please come in"
"No, I will not come in, this is my work day, I have errands to run and then immediately go back to work", I replied while simultaneously taking a large step back from his doorway,
"Now what is it that you need to discuss with me?", I added.
Mr. F. took a moment to compose his thoughts. He noticed that I was glaring right at him. Some folks are intimidated by this and I hope he wasn't one of them. I glared at him because I wanted to be sure I understood EXACTLY what he wanted, because this would be the last time I would give him audience.
"My family, wife and daughter, we have been having headaches", he attempted to say in his most convincing voice.
"Really? That's terrible, have you been to a doctor? Because those are all symptoms of the pandemic, and I seem to remember a few weeks back that you were concerned about that.", I put firmly.
"No, no I haven't been to the doctor. We all started getting headaches after I talked to you that day in the yard", he added.
"So you mean that day I had put up the antenna in my yard? " I snapped. Mr F. was about to say "yes", but then I quickly added, "The same day that you said it was beautiful and you liked it and had no issue with it? RIGHT?"
He then sheepishly said, "Yes".
At this point I was a little angry, and I became more firm. "LOOK AT ME!", I barked. Surprised he locked eyes with me. "DO YOU WANT ME TO TAKE THE ANTENNA DOWN?" I added very firmly.
"no, no your a good guy I like you", he said. He was about to say more but I interrupted him.
Again I barked, "LOOK AT ME! DO YOU WANT ME TO TAKE THE ANTENNA DOWN?"
Still he persisted that he was ok with it being up but that he didn't know what to do because it gave him headaches.
At this point I could take two courses of action. I could either loose my patience and literally berate this poor guy on his own door step(That's not the guy Mom raised), or just give him an easy out because he was clearly being manipulated by someone in that house to take care of what they deemed of as a problem. So with that I regained my composure, exhaled the rage and asked him this simple question.
"Let me ask you this. Would you feel better if the antenna had never been put up", I asked calmly.
"Yes", he replied.
I extended my hand to shake his. I shook it quickly and then handed him a piece of paper.
"That is my phone number, if I do not answer, leave a message, I am not available between 8am to 6pm because I am working. Please do not knock up at my door. The antenna will be down today"
He thanked me a few dozen times, as I walked away. I then used my lunch break to dismantle the antenna I so carefully erected. After that I played with the dog some and that cheered me up.
At this point I am just kind of over it (says the guy who just wrote ten pages about it). But in the end it was always a temporary fixture and I just wanted to learn with it. And I did just that. However, Mr. F didn't make it easy. Mr. F did teach me a valuable lesson though. And that lesson is that although my burning curiosity about the cosmos above might inspire me to build large and strange things to listen to it, it indeed inspires fear and loathing in others who have to witness it.
And with that in mind I think a hydrogen line telescope would arouse much less suspicious to those who are commonly afflicted with headaches of this sort.
Thanks for allowing me to bend your ear.
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