So You Think Your Job Is Rough.....1999 Foot Tower Climb
Have been on several 100ft towers for ham radio antennas.. Once while using a safety belt ( on a 100ft tall tower ) that was looped around the tower instead of thru the tower when a foot slipped I started to slide down till the the safety belt of another climber below me only allowing me to fall about 2 1/2 feet before stopping... Once as a ground crew support our equipment was at 1000 ft on a platform but this was a commercial TV and radio tower.. service personel were not allowed any higher unless all of the transmitters were on greatly reduced power output or totally off the air.... For climbing purposes there was a 1 man elevator inside the center of the tower that went to the platform at 1000 ft. Any higher it required climbing the old fashioned way. But this day my feet stayed planted on Mother Earth. Before that day had never seen 6inch gas filled heliax feed line and some square metal wave guide the towers going up to the antennas ..................... drill sgt.
November 23, 2021, 02:17 PM
dewhorse
quote:
Originally posted by pbramlett:
quote:
Originally posted by ensigmatic:
quote:
Originally posted by Oat_Action_Man: How the hell do they even build a tower like that???
In sections, with subsequent sections lowered from helicopters and bolted on by riggers like the guy in the video.
There's a video of an antenna installation atop a local station's tower that way. If I think of it, I'll see if I can find it tomorrow.
Used to be heights didn't much bother me. Now? Uh uh. Nope.
All of the tall towers we built and the others that i've been associated with were built using Gin Poles. Basically another structure attached to the side of the tower used to hoist the sections up, then the gin pole is moved up the tower for the next section etc. I've only been on one site that used a helicopter to set the transmission antenna, and that was for TV. All my tower work has been with broadcast radio.
Here is a picture of a gin pole i found on the interwebs.
God I hate gin poles...yes when used properly they are safe...problem is not enough people use them safely.
And some are just stupid, in Indo we came across a crew on a rooftop building a 5m stump mast. They were using the bipod legs of the mast as a gin pole....WTHF!
This was with 3m built, so they were climbing on a pole that was less than 12" in diameter 5 stories above the street (rooftop) that was being held only by lags in the roof.
Yup....as soon as we left the site they went back to doing stupid things....and 2 went ....what's that sound called when you smash a pumpkin??? ya that was the sound.
Sorry for the OT rabbit hole
November 23, 2021, 02:21 PM
RogueJSK
quote:
Originally posted by jbcummings: I had an uncle when I was growing up that would climb radio towers to change out the bulbs, but that was generally less than 200 feet. And each climb earned him $2/foot. That was back in the 1950s, so how much today? Not nearly enough in my book.
$1 in 1950 dollars would be about $11.50 today.
So that 200 foot climb would earn him the equivalent of ~$2300.
November 23, 2021, 02:24 PM
markand
My stomach is doing flip-flops and I didn't even watch the video.
November 23, 2021, 03:14 PM
sigspecops
Don't look down! Even if I could overcome the physical challenge of climbing that high, I don't think I could overcome the fear. I don't even like climbing 15ft ladders.
No one's life, liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session.- Mark Twain
November 23, 2021, 03:19 PM
229DAK
Ought to get astronaut pay for that.
They couldn't have made the tower 1' more and called it an even 2,000 foot tower?
_________________________________________________________________________ “A man’s treatment of a dog is no indication of the man’s nature, but his treatment of a cat is. It is the crucial test. None but the humane treat a cat well.” -- Mark Twain, 1902
November 23, 2021, 03:42 PM
Joe123
I would be willing to bet that there is a regulation about not having a tower 2K feet or higher.
November 23, 2021, 03:45 PM
RogueJSK
Both the FAA and FCC have a limit of 2000 feet.
However, there are a few TV towers that have gotten permission to be slightly higher, including the the KVLY-TV Tower in Blanchard, North Dakota, which is 2063 feet tall, making it the tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere.
November 23, 2021, 04:20 PM
jsbcody
quote:
Originally posted by sigspecops: Don't look down! Even if I could overcome the physical challenge of climbing that high, I don't think I could overcome the fear. I don't even like climbing 15ft ladders.
The problem with "don't look down" is when you start to climb down.....just saying.
November 23, 2021, 04:43 PM
Sigfan Roy
No way in hades could I do that!
November 23, 2021, 05:00 PM
RoboV
I worked for a couple of elevator companies. Most of the elevator shafts I worked in were pretty dark. I could be ten stories high but when looking over the side of the top of the cab I couldn't tell how high up I was.
I did the Yosemite half dome hike a couple of times. You have to use cables mounted in half dome to pull yourself up. You can't fall vertically but you can slide down an awful long way.
How about having a craving for salt so bad you're willing to go up the side of a dam.
"Lion Heart is all heart, Smarty Jones is all out!!!"
November 23, 2021, 10:16 PM
mikeyspizza
quote:
Originally posted by Gibb: Would it be easier for the worker to be delivered to the top via helicopter (like the aerial line workers are)?
Just thinking about fatigue related mistakes or tool management.
I was also thinking about a helo, but probably cheaper to pay the guy and insurance to climb.
November 23, 2021, 10:30 PM
ARman
A guy I work with used to do this kind of work. Says it prepared him to be a school bus driver....
Now, you couldn't get me to do that for nothing.
ARman
November 24, 2021, 08:18 AM
ensigmatic
I believe the highest tower here-abouts is TV station WKBD's, at 1,053 feet.
Here's a video of them mounting a new antenna for the latest UHF TV band re-pack
"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe "If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
November 24, 2021, 08:53 AM
V-Tail
quote:
Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Both the FAA and FCC have a limit of 2000 feet.
There are a couple of towers between the Orlando-Sanford airport and the Deland airport, that are just under 1,800'. Traffic between these two airports frequently flies at 2,000', so not a lot of margin for error.
הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים
November 24, 2021, 09:57 AM
Pipe Smoker
^^^^^^^^ V-Tail, what happened to your classic avatar?
Serious about crackers
November 24, 2021, 05:50 PM
V-Tail
quote:
Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
V-Tail, what happened to your classic avatar?
הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים
November 24, 2021, 06:20 PM
jbourneidentity
No, no, no, no, no. Even the video makes my stomach uneasy.
It's so bad for me these days that I literally cannot climb upon my own roof.
I have a metal roof and some screws were leaking last fall. I identified the screws and had to have a friend climb up there to spray them down with a no-leak adhesive. I couldn't do it.
On the upside, these guys are in phenomenal shape.
November 24, 2021, 06:24 PM
P-220
Um, NO!!!!!!!!, Hell NO!!!!
Niech Zyje P-220
Steve
November 24, 2021, 08:08 PM
SigSAC
Another - only in Florida.
This shows a gin pole being used as they needed to turn the antenna 180 degrees to orient the signal in the needed direction.
Look at the casual nature of their clothing, and the one guy tying his boot as they are lifted off the ground at about 7:15
Look at the weather rolling in at the end as they are trying to get things closed up.
