High atop the coop grain elevator in the center of Imperial I could see the antenna. There were also relays atop the courthouse and water tower. In exchange for the antenna location Smith gave the coop, water company, and city free service. He also set up similar systems in Grant, Champion, and Wauneta, Nebraska, and in Holyoke, Colorado. The antennas need to be connected by line of sight. In the high plains you can have 30 miles (50 km) line of sight, but some of these towns were further, and relay locations were scouted out as they expanded their network. The Smith's assistant is nineteen year old Aaron Greene who is their next door neighbor. When Greene was in high school he approached Steve and asked to dig a trench between their houses so that he could have access to Smith's T1 line. Later, he began doing odd jobs for Chase 3000, and now he works full time.

Antennas must be aligned carefully and when there are two or more on one antenna mast they must have a certain amount of separation. At a relay point between Holyoke and Imperial they were experiencing a problem called packet loss, and this slowed down the throughput for subscribers in Holyoke. Smith asked me, "Are you afraid of heights?" I said no, and he invited me to accompany him on the installation of some new equipment at grain storage bins on the border between Colorado and Nebraska. We drove for half an hour past one abandoned farms, working farms and feed lots and finally pulled off the two-lane blacktop at a line of grain elevators. I estimated they were 150 feet high. We pulled up to the office, walked across a truck scale to a tiny elevator the size of a coffin. Grains of corn that had fallen off the trucks lay scattered on the pavement. Steve grabbed some amplifiers, cable, and other hardware and we crammed ourselves into the metal box and ascended above the plains in about a minute.

What a view! The air was cold and breezy, but the sun was out and I could see Kansas as well as Nebraska and Colorado. We proceeded along the metal catwalk that stretched across the top of each bin. Conveyor belts sheathed in metal ran parallel to the walkway. Another met the main one at a junction where Greene was adjusting part of the new antenna mount. I took a few photos and then helped them tie down the coax cable that ran from one antenna to another 50 yards away. The wind and weather can be very severe on the High Plains, but today was perfect for this kind of repair work. I imagined the problems of restoring service during a snowstorm or even in a windy spring rain. How this network holds up as time passes, and the equipment ages will determine just how profitable a venture can be for a small entrepreneur like Smith. I had other appointments with MIRA participants in nearby towns, and as I drove off I could still see them high over the plains, securing the new antenna to a mast.