More "Tower" to You
December 1962 Popular Electronics

December 1962 Popular Electronics Table of Contents Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Popular Electronics, published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

In the 1960s, most people believed that poetry ought to rhyme. It was not uncommon to see poems appear in magazines of all sorts including even technical publications like Popular Electronics. "More 'Tower' to You" is a good example. Nobody ever claimed that these reader-submitted on-subject poems were of Nobel Prize quality, but many were extremely clever and were almost sure to elicit the chuckle their authors intended; that is to say, they were humorous. What made them humorous is what is true of nearly all good humor - it contains an element of truth.

More "Tower" to You

By David Moore

The CB man this day and age,
You usually will find,
Has equipment in his shack
Of every size and kind.

He has scopes for checking output
And a bridge for standing wave.
He's got to keep his power up-
Those five watts he must save.

He's got to punch through QRM
To contact Warehouse Two.
You'll find the building down the street
It's hardly out of view.

Yes, this chap's a perfectionist.
He keeps on with his quest
To improve his CB setup
And to make his signal best.

So naturally he stacks his beams
Atop his home-brew tower.
And, of course, the fourteen elements
Will multiply his power.

However, you're not going to hear
His signal any more.
From his tall tower he must chop
Off sections three and four.

The FCC has grounded him,
And here's the reason why:
Though our friend's tower was mighty fine-
Ninety feet is just too high!

Posted September 14, 2015