Oct 10

Written by: Paul McLane
10/10/2012 9:18 AM 

Jeff Welton of Nautel has a world of experience in troubleshooting RF sites. Speaking here at the Madison clinic,  addressing the care and feeding of solid-state electronic equipment, he tossed in several gems from his customer support work.

One of my favorites: He told of a customer who called about a problem and told Jeff he might need help by phone during his transmitter troubleshooting trip. The customer said he’d call Jeff back a little later when he got up to the site.

Well the engineer finally called back, but not til three hours later. He said he’d spent an hour trying to find the key to the transmitter building and another two hours explaining to the sheriff why he’d had to shoot the lock off the door.

After everyone in the room chuckled at that, Jeff added that he’s had other calls from customers who told him, “We’re not 100% sure where our transmitter site is!”

If you get a chance to hear Jeff speak at a broadcast conference, you’re sure to learn something, and probably smile while doing so.