Joel Dinda's photos with the keyword: antennas

Many folks who spent their war in or near Pleiku recall these 60-foot-tall antennas . I've mentioned them several times m'self, so it's about time I gave you a good photo of 'em. For me, they were a link in the communications system I used and adminstered; other local signal folks kept 'em running, though. I'm certain this hill has a local name, but we all called it Tropo. I lived directly down the hill from these fellows, just barely out of their line of fire. Cats lived in the concertina wire, and were about as friendly as the fence. Pleiku, Republic of Vietnam, 1971.

Where I lived in Vietnam: Ward 1 of the 71st Evacuation Hospital, in Pleiku. By 1971 the 71st was but a pale ghost of itself, and most of the hospital complex had been either ceded to the local Signal Corps folks (that would include me) or completely abandoned. So I spent my Vietnam year living in a hospital ward. This was the social area, between the wards. If I'm not totally disoriented, the building to the left was the latrine (better than the word implies, but...) and that on the right was Ward 1. Beyond the fences, and up the hill, you can see a corner of one of the large tropospheric antennas which apparently mean Pleiku to everyone who was stationed in the Central Highlands. Camera: Minolta SR-T 101