When Larry Prelog suffered a fatal fall from a radio tower Saturday at a ham radio demonstration in Watervliet, he was doing the routine task of installing an antenna.

It was something the 57-year-old Niles man had done time and time again as a professional installer of radio equipment and radio towers, said Matt Severin, spokesman for the Blossomland Amateur Radio Association (BARA).

Severin said Prelog was at the top of the radio tower, attached by a safety belt, when it fell down sideways, crashing him to the ground.