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UER Store
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sweet UER decals:
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 cunningx
Location: Waterloo, ON
Gender: Male
 |  | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 60 on 4/17/2009 12:44 PM >
|  | | |
Best Advice: Check the fucking weather. It's not a difficult task. Cell towers are already dangerous enough thing to attempt; without adding that element. Just like drains ... Why make an idiotic mistake that could easily be avoided.
Cell technicians don't always have a choice when they get to go up; fail to meet a deadline, lose your job. You as a recreational climber, do. |
Sorry, I should have clarified. You are right, There is no reason for any recreational climber to be anywhere near a tower with bad weather on the way. I meant my post as more of an interesting tidbit than a lightning avoidance guideline.
Thanks for the correction 
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\/adder
   
Location: DunkarooLand
Gender: Male
I'm the worst of the best but I'm in this race.
| |  | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 61 on 4/19/2009 6:29 PM >
| | | | I was just searching around for new sites and OMFG.
Guise I think I fownd:
RADIO TOWER HEAVEN
Check it:
1 TD-2 Long Lines
2 Lattice Type Cell Tower
1 TV Transmitter? (Top Right)
...and it's in backwoods CT.
I just birdseyed along the entire road.
There are two more cell towers along that particular road. That makes SIX Towers all within a mile of each other.
Edit Missed a smaller one ... SEVEN towers within a mile radius of each other.
[last edit 4/20/2009 3:36 AM by \/adder - edited 2 times]
"No risk, no reward, no fun."
"Go all the way or walk away"
escensi omnis... |
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Banditt
    
Location: T.
Gender: Male
| | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 62 on 4/23/2009 12:19 AM >
| | | | Posted by TheVicariousVadder
I was just searching around for new sites and OMFG.
Guise I think I fownd:
RADIO TOWER HEAVEN
http://i214.photob...rClimberHeaven.jpg
Check it:
1 TD-2 Long Lines
2 Lattice Type Cell Tower
1 TV Transmitter? (Top Right)
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Looks like you have 3 Cell towers (2 with microwave links) and one Microwave Repeater tower there.
Really Nice find.
FLICKR
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Big Pete
Location: Cutler,Maine
Gender: Male
| | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 63 on 4/27/2009 5:13 PM >
| | | | Someone posted about knowing the types of antennae.
I have found a website that can help: http://www.necrat.com This guy covers all of new england radio towers.
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Esoterik
Location: Kansas City
Gender: Male
| | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 64 on 4/27/2009 6:49 PM >
| | | | Not related to climbing but interesting - camo'ed cell phone towers:
http://www.utilitycamo.com/sites.html
“You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons.” |
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Louie
| | | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 65 on 4/28/2009 1:42 AM >
| | | | Nice find, Vadder
somewhere is there an online database of transmitter tower locations or coordinates? Or maybe a Google Earth overlay? Or would that just be too convenient for us?
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bfinan0
Location: Rochester, NY
Gender: Male
| | | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 66 on 4/28/2009 3:00 AM >
| | | | Posted by fatLouie
Nice find, Vadder
somewhere is there an online database of transmitter tower locations or coordinates? Or maybe a Google Earth overlay? Or would that just be too convenient for us?
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One thing the FCC is good for...
http://wireless2.f...AdvancedSearch.jsp
This doesn't say what exactly uses the towers, but some good guesses are: multiple towers the same height right near each other, like the ones by the Democracy Blvd exit of I-270, are probably AM towers and BAD for climbing. Taller towers (200 or more meters) tend to be TV towers and not to be mast radiators. And, if it's owned by a cell phone company, you just might have a cell tower.
[last edit 4/28/2009 3:24 AM by bfinan0 - edited 1 times]
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Louie
| | | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 67 on 4/28/2009 4:27 AM >
| | | | Posted by bfinan0
One thing the FCC is good for...
http://wireless2.f...AdvancedSearch.jsp
This doesn't say what exactly uses the towers, but some good guesses are: multiple towers the same height right near each other, like the ones by the Democracy Blvd exit of I-270, are probably AM towers and BAD for climbing. Taller towers (200 or more meters) tend to be TV towers and not to be mast radiators. And, if it's owned by a cell phone company, you just might have a cell tower.
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Awesome.
you mean the WMAL towers... Definitely not good to climb, but what a great view it would be.
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Ansion
Location: BC, Canada
Gender: Male
The same, except different.
| | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 68 on 4/28/2009 4:41 AM >
|  | | | Excellent thread - I've a;ways found these lonely sentinels to be interesting. There's some towers on top of the small mountain beside my home, but they're not very large or anything special. But there is some great looking targets on top of another mountain across the way - I plan on taking my camera up there as soon as the snow melts from that elevation. Hopefully that will be by mid May. I'll be sure to post any shots of interest here.
I have an unspectacular picture of the small ones near my house; here you go: (had to post some kind of pic!)
"Explore thyself." ~ Henry David Thoreau
"...and abandoned stuff & things that look neat." ~ Ansion |
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\/adder
Location: DunkarooLand
Gender: Male
I'm the worst of the best but I'm in this race.
| | | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 69 on 4/28/2009 4:43 AM >
| | | | Posted by fatLouie
Nice find, Vadder
somewhere is there an online database of transmitter tower locations or coordinates? Or maybe a Google Earth overlay? Or would that just be too convenient for us?
|
Here:
http://www.cellreception.com/towers/
Yes I know, I know, I am Teh Roxor.
Also I was given advice to check "Aviation maps (VFR Navigational Chart or 'Sectional'), as ALL towers are listed (with heights)" By another user who has already posted in this thread. He can claim credit for the idea if he wants.
http://skyvector.com/ lists the towers as "obstructions".
I now have a nice big textfile that I've pinned to my start menu "toclimb.txt" I keep adding locations. I just busted my cell tower cherry this past weekend
If anyone in Lower New England area is interested in climbing shit hit me up a PM.
[last edit 4/28/2009 4:47 AM by \/adder - edited 2 times]
"No risk, no reward, no fun."
"Go all the way or walk away"
escensi omnis... |
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bfinan0
Location: Rochester, NY
Gender: Male
| | | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 70 on 4/28/2009 5:48 AM >
| | | | Posted by fatLouie
Awesome.
you mean the WMAL towers... Definitely not good to climb, but what a great view it would be.
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I'm guessing that WMAL broadcasts on either 630 or possibly 1260 kHz?
Here's another little trick you can do with the FCC tower database:
1. Take the height above ground level of the tower (in WMAL's case, 121.3 m)
2. subtract 1.8 from this height (all AM towers are required by law (and laws of physics) to be insulated by at least 6 feet from the ground (WMAL = 119.5 m)
3. divide 300000 by this number (300000/119.5 = 2511)
--> this is the frequency the tower would broadcast at if it were a full-length radiator. Note that this is outside the AM band. Most AM towers would have to be prohibitively large to be full wave radiators, although they are sometimes found.
4. divide the frequency by 2 (2511/2=1256 rounds to 1260)
--> this is the frequency the tower would broadcast at as a half-wave radiator. This is inside the AM band, so a possible choice
5. divide the frequency by 2 again (1256/2=628 rounds to 630)
--> this is the most common AM tower size, the quarter-wave mast.
6. divide the frequency by 2 one mote time (628/2 = 314 rounds to 315)
--> this is the eighth-wave mast. However, the frequency is outside the broadcast band in North America, so we can disregard this one.
This works for most shortwave, AM and longwave stations. Of course, you can always just try to look up what station uses the tower, or stand at the base of the tower and listen to the baseball game come in through your glasses until the station identifies (not a recommended method), but this is the physics way to do it...
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Nabeel_co
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Gender: Male
| | | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 71 on 4/28/2009 6:07 AM >
| | | | Being hit with high power RF (which is exactly what a microwave uses to cook) is kinda like being in an MRI if you have ever had one.
Basically it causes the water molecules to vibrate and generate heat via friction.
So if you feel your body getting warm or a sense of heat, then stay away. If you feel your body buzzing, leg it, and fast! That is the water in your body buzzing at the molecular level. You will literally start being cooked from the inside out, and your body will loose the ability to control its temperature (eg you'll get a fever and/or get dizzy).
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BOX
box1
| | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 72 on 4/28/2009 8:38 PM >
| | | | Posted by Nabeel_co
Being hit with high power RF (which is exactly what a microwave uses to cook) is kinda like being in an MRI if you have ever had one.
Basically it causes the water molecules to vibrate and generate heat via friction.
So if you feel your body getting warm or a sense of heat, then stay away. If you feel your body buzzing, leg it, and fast! That is the water in your body buzzing at the molecular level. You will literally start being cooked from the inside out, and your body will loose the ability to control its temperature (eg you'll get a fever and/or get dizzy).
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Partially anyway, its not just water.
the buzzing is not the vibration of molecules, directly, but probably more to do with unshielded 60hz power lines.
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pelican369
Location: Glenville, NY
Gender: Male
| | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 73 on 4/29/2009 3:41 AM >
| | | | Posted by Nabeel_co
Being hit with high power RF (which is exactly what a microwave uses to cook) is kinda like being in an MRI if you have ever had one.
Basically it causes the water molecules to vibrate and generate heat via friction.
So if you feel your body getting warm or a sense of heat, then stay away. If you feel your body buzzing, leg it, and fast! That is the water in your body buzzing at the molecular level. You will literally start being cooked from the inside out, and your body will loose the ability to control its temperature (eg you'll get a fever and/or get dizzy).
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its not a proven fact yet...that it cooks you(according to the FDA).
just wait a few years and the residual effects will tell!
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whistlebait
This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Gender: Female
"There is no top. There are always further heights to reach."
| |  | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 74 on 4/29/2009 5:24 AM >
| | | | Posted by Nabeel_co
Being hit with high power RF (which is exactly what a microwave uses to cook) is kinda like being in an MRI if you have ever had one.
Basically it causes the water molecules to vibrate and generate heat via friction.
So if you feel your body getting warm or a sense of heat, then stay away. If you feel your body buzzing, leg it, and fast! That is the water in your body buzzing at the molecular level. You will literally start being cooked from the inside out, and your body will loose the ability to control its temperature (eg you'll get a fever and/or get dizzy).
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I hate to point this out, but the eyes have large fluid filled cavities with no circulating blood. Hence, very little ability to dissipate any internally generated heat. The retina's rods and cones are very easily damaged. The cornea also is potentially vulnerable sort of like an egg white in a microwave oven.
See what I mean?
"I occasionally play works by contemporary composers for two reasons. First to discourage the composer from writing any more and secondly to remind myself how much I appreciate Beethoven."
-Jascha Heifetz
-Little known fact, Serious Cat is the enforcer of Ceiling Cat |
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Banditt
Location: T.
Gender: Male
| | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 75 on 4/29/2009 6:26 AM >
| | | | Ya. It will cook you... No If, And or But about it. Microwave burns are no joke and can occur in spots where direct exposure, reflections or standing waves occur. These can burn parts of your insides without you even knowing it, as you dont have those sensory nerves on your inner body or organs. Eyes are VERY susceptible and cataracts can occur in varying degrees with exposure.
RF burns are extremely painful afterwards and I have had a couple. They resulted from my own stupidity and always occurred while working for WAY too many overtime hours while on call, back in the day... Mostly these were off cables, so the burn was essentially a small pinhole burned well into fingers or arms. Those really do hurt and take a long time to heal up... But thats nothing like having the internals cooked...
FLICKR
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Q1W2E3R4
| | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 76 on 4/29/2009 12:36 PM >
| | | | Posted by Banditt27
Mostly these were off cables
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Do you mean RF was leaking from a cable/waveguide ?
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Banditt
Location: T.
Gender: Male
| | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 77 on 4/29/2009 11:22 PM >
| | | | Not exactly, lol.. The last time, I had been working for about 18 hrs straight and had the feeds off at the top of a transmitter cabinet.. reached up and over to grab something, not realizing that the radios had cued back up... There were *if I remember correctly* 6 multiplexed radios cued up at about 55 watts (800 MHz band) each and got a nasty hole burned into my arm... The other couple of times it was on the fingers. My own fault, sure. But it always happened in the middle of the night on really long shifts.
An antenna or plain cable wouldn't do that to you (unless you disconnected it or put a hole in a waveguide or something).. you could get more generalized burns tho...
And contrary to popular belief... you wont feel it till later. your hair wont stand on end. you wont feel a 'buzzing'...
FLICKR
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whistlebait
This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Gender: Female
"There is no top. There are always further heights to reach."
| | | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 78 on 4/30/2009 1:54 AM >
| | | | Posted by Banditt27
Ya. It will cook you... No If, And or But about it. Microwave burns are no joke and can occur in spots where direct exposure, reflections or standing waves occur. These can burn parts of your insides without you even knowing it, as you dont have those sensory nerves on your inner body or organs. Eyes are VERY susceptible and cataracts can occur in varying degrees with exposure.
RF burns are extremely painful afterwards and I have had a couple. They resulted from my own stupidity and always occurred while working for WAY too many overtime hours while on call, back in the day... Mostly these were off cables, so the burn was essentially a small pinhole burned well into fingers or arms. Those really do hurt and take a long time to heal up... But thats nothing like having the internals cooked...
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Good point. Bone marrow can also be damaged.
Ha-ha, be careful were you piss around live towers and if on high tension towers. The farmer's electric fence nightmare revisited.
"I occasionally play works by contemporary composers for two reasons. First to discourage the composer from writing any more and secondly to remind myself how much I appreciate Beethoven."
-Jascha Heifetz
-Little known fact, Serious Cat is the enforcer of Ceiling Cat |
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KONG
Sus scrofa domestica
Location: Kingston, Ontario
Gender: Male
| | Re: Climbing Radio Towers?
<Reply # 79 on 4/30/2009 3:40 AM >
| | | | Posted by whistlebait
Good point. Bone marrow can also be damaged.
Ha-ha, be careful were you piss around live towers and if on high tension towers. The farmer's electric fence nightmare revisited.
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Pissing on a high tension tower shouldn't be a problem. Those structures are bonded to ground at the base of every tower leg and to each other through the skywire.
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