I think many of us have seen the State Farm Insurance commercial that ran in 2001, where the subject is the guy who climbed rural antenna masts for the purposes of changing the light bulbs (‘reds’, I think they’re colloquially known as), but he wouldn’t dare drive mast-to-mast without his SFI.
The mast that I have seen him on, however (such as in the print ad), while it’s nothing to sneeze at, does not seem to be as great a height as the towers I’ve seen, many of which are in excess of 1,200 feet. (Note the truck below.) That’s, what, maybe a 300-to-500 -foot mast on which he appears? How are the bulbs changed on grander masts and/or radiators? Are they actually climbed as well?
You gotta change those beacon lights when they go out or get in trouble with the FAA.
I worked with an engineer who climbed our 350-foot AM towers on average of once a year to change beacons.
Note: on an AM tower the entire tower is hot. If you ever get close to an AM tower notice the huge chunk of insullation between the base and the tower itself.
To climb an AM tower you need to stand on a wooden box that isolates you from ground. Then you hold a large screwdriver to the tower (at least that’s what he did) until he reached the potential of the tower. Then he’d jump on, connect his belt and start climbing. The scairest part was when he had to replace the top beacon. To get the heavy cover snapped back down he’d SIT on it…holding on to nothing.
Oh, and when you come to the bottom, un-belt everything and announce you’re about the jump. Jump back and away so that when you hit “ground” you are not touching the tower.
For the very, very high and difficult towers there are a sub-group of professionals who make a living servicing them. There is a real heart-in-your-throat photo (I believe from the New York Times) LOOKING DOWN at some tower technitians making repairs. Our Chief Engineer recognized two of the guys in the photo. He named them and said they’d worked on TV towers here up on Mount Franklin.
Yep. My dad worked in radio for many years. One of his acquaintances died in a fall from a tower while he was working on it. I was just a kid when it happened, so I don’t have details on what exactly happened, whether he was using safety equipment, etc.
My dad never even liked to go up on the garage roof to work on his ham radio antennas.
I once climbed a cooling tower at a nuclear power plant to check nameplate info on emergency lights up there. They are hyperbolic, so you climb the first half facing toward the tower, then you flip around and climb facing out. :eek:
At least some of the tall towers have elevators. I was watching a documentary on BASE jumping years ago and they used the elevator to get to the top of an extremely tall tower. Whiteho’s link bears this out.
I always wondered how exactly an AM radiator was handled. Thanks for that especially detailed account.
I’m also relieved to read that at least some of those extensively tall towers are managed with an elevator. That one account of climbing, though, just sounds like a nightmare.
I was just a kid when it happened, so I don’t have details on what exactly happened, whether he was using safety equipment, etc.
