I didn't watch the video, but one big factor that determines whether it's safe to grab a broadcast tower is its height. If it's close to a quarter wavelength, the base is a high current, low voltage point. I don't recommend anyone try this, but in my young and stupid years as a college radio engineer we would grab the base of a quarter w…
I didn't watch the video, but one big factor that determines whether it's safe to grab a broadcast tower is its height. If it's close to a quarter wavelength, the base is a high current, low voltage point. I don't recommend anyone try this, but in my young and stupid years as a college radio engineer we would grab the base of a quarter wave tower on our kilowatt AM broadcast station to show off to newbies. If I'd tried that with a half wave tower, the results would not have been pretty.
Just to reiterate, we did a lot of dangerously stupid things back then, like troubleshooting inside transmitters with the high voltage interlocks disabled. Luckily no one I knew ever got seriously hurt. But if anyone decides to try this stunt, remember that I told you it's a bad idea!
Jim - Thanks for your observations. I'll defer to your deep knowledge. I have a non-aggression policy towards live AM radio transmission towers, open but still powered up electrical panels, and standing in front of high power microwave dishes (though I didn't realize I violated this last one on the top floor of a skyscraper in Dallas that was a microwave hub... until I realized that my belt buckle was getting uncomfortably warm).
I didn't watch the video, but one big factor that determines whether it's safe to grab a broadcast tower is its height. If it's close to a quarter wavelength, the base is a high current, low voltage point. I don't recommend anyone try this, but in my young and stupid years as a college radio engineer we would grab the base of a quarter wave tower on our kilowatt AM broadcast station to show off to newbies. If I'd tried that with a half wave tower, the results would not have been pretty.
Just to reiterate, we did a lot of dangerously stupid things back then, like troubleshooting inside transmitters with the high voltage interlocks disabled. Luckily no one I knew ever got seriously hurt. But if anyone decides to try this stunt, remember that I told you it's a bad idea!
Jim - Thanks for your observations. I'll defer to your deep knowledge. I have a non-aggression policy towards live AM radio transmission towers, open but still powered up electrical panels, and standing in front of high power microwave dishes (though I didn't realize I violated this last one on the top floor of a skyscraper in Dallas that was a microwave hub... until I realized that my belt buckle was getting uncomfortably warm).