Climbing Radio Towers

twisties · 12 Aug 2012, 1:43 pm

Hey everyone,

I was just after some info on climbing radio towers, mostly about the radiation emitted from these towers. I mean can you get an unhealthy dose of radiation if you climb one of these things while they're operating? I met a guy who worked in the industry who told me it was safe as long as you were behind the antenna, but he seemed like a pretty dopey guy so I didn't really trust him.

Anyway looking forward to your replies

Nuggs · 12 Aug 2012, 3:32 pm

The radiation goes out the front of the antenna (the vertical rectangular cellular or cylindrical, dish type ones).
You will have major burns very quickly if you find yourself in front of an active transmitter of this type.
If you stay behind it, it is not harmful for short periods (no different than standing in your kitchen or watching TV).
RF EMR is non-ionising radiation.
It will heat-up biological tissue, but causes no other long lasting health effects.

And we want to see pics too!

Bangers · 13 Aug 2012, 12:06 am

I worked on towers for a while, the hazard level depends on the purpose of the tower...

Phone towers aren't too bad as long as you stay within the structure of the tower or the triangular platform on top, the antennas surround you up there but as has been said already, you're behind the antennas so you're generally pretty safe for an hour or so at least.

These pics are FM broadcast sites, and caution needs to be used when climbing these types of towers.

1)

In this pic you can see the broadcast antennas at the top of the tower, this is a dangerous area, I wouldn't climb more than about half way between the platform and the top of the tower. TV towers have similar antenna arrays also. These antenna arrays are somewhat directional, but due to high trasmitter power they shouldn't be approached as you'll still get a major dose of RF radiation very quickly.

2)

This is another type of FM broadcast site, taken from another tower nearby, the antennas are clearly visible on the left side of the tower, best to avoid getting too close, but it would be possible to climb straight past the antennas to the top, take a 2 minute look at the view then straight back down below the antennas again.

AM towers are a different story again, they're the ones with insulators in the guy wires, and are generally a tall bare tower, often in pairs. These usually sit on an insulator at the base - the whole tower is energised, the health effects RF radiation isn't so much of a factor here, but don't touch the tower or you'll most likely get a nasty electrical burn as a result. AM towers can be climbed, but use a wooden ladder to access the tower.

I recommend always using a harness when climbing, another thing is that depending on your fitness level, your arms and hands might cramp up. I'v also seen people climb to the top and freeze with fear.

Tower climbing is good fun and always rewards you with a great view at the top, but it can be a dangerous sport too, start with smaller ones and work your way up, best not to tackle the big ones straight away.

Not sure what else to add here really, hope this is some help to you.

Cheers

twisties · 13 Aug 2012, 10:38 am

Thanks Nuggs and Bangers, that was an awesome post!! Great information there, if I decide to go ahead with this I'll definitely post pics

binjuice · 13 Aug 2012, 9:54 pm

Love the last photo its crazy high.

Titan · 14 Aug 2012, 7:56 am

Last photo made my palms sweaty

Bangers · 14 Aug 2012, 11:42 pm

That last photo is at about 60 metres, threw that one in as a bit of a display of the satisfaction of climbing high stuff...

Back on the subject of radiation hazards, climbing on FM and TV sites are (in my opinion) the most likely to find high radiation levels, what Nuggs said is right, RF radiation heats up your body, and the effects are different depending on the frequency of the radiarion. It's a strange feeling, the sensation of warming up on the inside, have experienced this near tuning coils on an AM transmitter site. Have also experienced headaches, and at other times an itchy numbness in my face with eyes watering when too close to FM antennas and high power UHF antennas.

60 watts of UHF CB into my bullbar antenna caused the face sensation in about 5 minutes when transmitting music one day, too severe to continue to transmit after about 10 minutes.

That's about half the usual transmitter power that is fed into some commercial VHF and UHF installations on towers.

I believe I have also hardened the lenses in my eyes from experimenting with a 200 watt FM transmitter a few years back, dipole antenna was at about head level and about 7 metres away, felt a severe case of that itchy numb face thing, then noticed in the following weeks that my eyes no longer focus the same to how they did before playing with the transmitter.

Not everyone will feel the same effects of RF over exposure, but that's some of my experiences with it.

The tower in the first pic has at least 4 major radio stations, (something like 30,000 watts) all being fed into the antenna array at the top, not a nice place to be if you aren't aware of exposure limits.

In pic 2, under the FM antennas, towards the bottom of the photo, you'll see some loop like antennas, these are folded dipoles, these are another to be a bit cautious of being next to for too long, although being directly above or below these is not much of a problem, they radiate outwards in a fairly flat 360 degree pattern, but not really up or down.

Sorry I crapped on too long, was hard to keep it simple...

Cheers

axel · 15 Aug 2012, 7:45 pm

Very impressive. How long does it take to get up and down something like that last photo?

Bangers · 16 Aug 2012, 9:09 pm

axel wrote:Very impressive. How long does it take to get up and down something like that last photo?

This one about 3-5 minutes each way, maybe faster.

Cheers...

Panic! · 16 Aug 2012, 10:19 pm

I admit, that's brave. I don't mind tunnels, catacombs, drains, getting wet, falling over and so on, but heights, scare the crap out of me. Unless I'm in a plane. When I used to be a pilot I'd flip planes on their side just to look at stuff on the ground. It scared the crap out of my passengers but I wasn't slightly worried. But put me near a cliff, a window, a mine shaft or a tower and I don't like it one bit.

Bangers · 17 Aug 2012, 8:04 pm

Panic! wrote:I admit, that's brave. I don't mind tunnels, catacombs, drains, getting wet, falling over and so on, but heights, scare the crap out of me. Unless I'm in a plane. When I used to be a pilot I'd flip planes on their side just to look at stuff on the ground. It scared the crap out of my passengers but I wasn't slightly worried. But put me near a cliff, a window, a mine shaft or a tower and I don't like it one bit.

We've all got our strengths and weaknesses, I wouldn't say to much really bothers me, but I respect that there's places and situatons that do bother others, it's human nature I guess.

Fear generally will reduce a person's confidence in the given situation, and as a result incease the chances of something actually going wrong. I'm respectful and weary of heights, but also confident at height, and with the correct harness etc i'v got no issues climbing anything that has been built to endure strong winds, etc.

Planes are good for seeing thins that you usually wouldn't, but on the same token they're statistically more likely to fall out of the sky than what a tower or chimney is.

Fear isn't a bad thing, I won't disrespect anyone who admits fear, at least they're honest...

Cheers...

Bangers · 17 Aug 2012, 8:19 pm

Should have added this to the last post,

The biggest AM tower in the perth region, I think the frequency is 882Khz, would be somewhere in the vicinity of 170 metres. The top hat, or capacitence hat, effectively reduces te requirement for the tower to be built higher, to put it in scale, it would be about 15 metres across.

Note the insulators in the guy wires, don't touch a tower that has these or you could get burnt

This isn't a common design of tower with the top hat, there's only a few like this in the country.

Cheers...

Midget · 29 Aug 2012, 4:55 pm

Ha! I'm not afraid of heights at all. Nice views and breezes depending on where you are. It's only the thought of falling to a horrible death and my remains scattered everywhere that terrifies the crap out of me. Which pretty much limits my comfort zone to about... 2-3 meters above ground/things-that-look-and-feel-stable-to-me.
*Working on extending my comfort zone.*

And wow, 60m climb in 3-5min... I'd probably cramp up midway. More importantly... WHY ARE YOU ON THE OUTSIDE? (of the tower)
You got balls.

Bangers · 30 Aug 2012, 9:23 pm

Midget wrote:Ha! I'm not afraid of heights at all. Nice views and breezes depending on where you are. It's only the thought of falling to a horrible death and my remains scattered everywhere that terrifies the crap out of me. Which pretty much limits my comfort zone to about... 2-3 meters above ground/things-that-look-and-feel-stable-to-me.
*Working on extending my comfort zone.*

And wow, 60m climb in 3-5min... I'd probably cramp up midway. More importantly... WHY ARE YOU ON THE OUTSIDE? (of the tower)
You got balls.

I used to be uncomfortable at heights, can think of a few occasions where i'v been up in scissor and boom lifts crapping myself when we were at full height, but the thing that kept me in control was coming to the conclusion that these things are designed to go high, with a safety factor built in - now they don't bother me with that thought in mind.

Another thing one tower guy said one day was that "If you fall more than 10 metres then you're pretty much going to be killed, so it would be best to just enjoy the fall 'cos it's the last thing you'll ever do"

Trees are the biggest risk in my opinion, but the majority of structures are pretty safe if they're not rusted to hell.

Use a harness with twin hooks for climbing, you'll be fine as long as you've always got at least one hook attached.

60m up a tower isn't that far really, but yeah if you're not used to climbing big ladders then your hands and arms can cramp up by about 40m if you go too fast.

I was on the outside of that tower looking at the back of a dish, actually had no hands on taking that pic, with a strap hooked around the steelwork on the tower taking my weight leaning out.

Having the right safety gear helps, no balls required. Like I suggested earlier, start on smaller structures, and when you're comfortable with that, go higher!

Midget · 31 Aug 2012, 2:59 pm

Bangers wrote: but the thing that kept me in control was coming to the conclusion that these things are designed to go high, with a safety factor built in - now they don't bother me with that thought in mind.

That's why I try to tell myself, but the illogical part of me refuses to believe it.

Bangers wrote: Another thing one tower guy said one day was that "If you fall more than 10 metres then you're pretty much going to be killed, so it would be best to just enjoy the fall 'cos it's the last thing you'll ever do"

Heh, that, surprisingly, will probably make me more brave to finish certain climbs. Nice quote. Only on safe climbs though...

Bangers wrote: Use a harness with twin hooks for climbing, you'll be fine as long as you've always got at least one hook attached.

Yeah, gotta get one someday. I found a pretty good one for $70-ish at a local extreme sport store.

Bangers wrote: I was on the outside of that tower looking at the back of a dish, actually had no hands on taking that pic, with a strap hooked around the steelwork on the tower taking my weight leaning out.

Having the right safety gear helps, no balls required. Like I suggested earlier, start on smaller structures, and when you're comfortable with that, go higher!

... aw yeah, you know, just a strap and it's safe
One day, I will be able to do that... right now, I'm not entirely that trusting of my equipment.

Bangers · 31 Aug 2012, 8:21 pm

As long as you're somehow attached to the tower you'll be right, at worst you'd likely end up a bit bruised if you slipped and fell a few metres, any harness is better than none, there's plenty of people that freeclimb towers and chimneys with no safety gear at all...

Gotta say to twisties, I feel like i'v taken over your post here, not intended to be that way, hope some good info to answer any questions you've been asking yourself and increase your confidence to take on a tower (or a few).

twisties · 03 Sep 2012, 5:27 pm

Bangers wrote:Gotta say to twisties, I feel like i'v taken over your post here, not intended to be that way, hope some good info to answer any questions you've been asking yourself and increase your confidence to take on a tower (or a few).

Not at all Bangers!! The information you're posting is absolute gold to those of us with no knowledge or experience with this stuff, please feel free to keep posting

Midget · 03 Sep 2012, 5:43 pm

twisties wrote:
Bangers wrote:Gotta say to twisties, I feel like i'v taken over your post here, not intended to be that way, hope some good info to answer any questions you've been asking yourself and increase your confidence to take on a tower (or a few).
Not at all Bangers!! The information you're posting is absolute gold to those of us with no knowledge or experience with this stuff, please feel free to keep posting

Bangers · 04 Sep 2012, 12:26 am

Cheers guys,

At least my over enthusism for the topic isn't useless dribble, and midget, that's a crack up, nice one..

Midget · 17 Sep 2012, 3:21 pm

Bangers wrote:I've also seen people climb to the top and freeze with fear.

Just re-reading this thread, as I might want to take a look at some towers close to me. A little bit of advice to anyone who has a fear of heights like me; one step (or rung) at a time.

And also don't look directly down to the bottom, instead look in front of you and a bit lower. Of course if you're cool with heights, then it doesn't matter.

I made that mistake recently on top of a crane. It took me another 5 minutes to steel myself to begin the descent. The mental dialogue was pretty insane:

"What the f*** am I doing up here?"
"It is a pretty good view, and you did get up here. So +1 to killing your fear of heights."
"Alright, just gotta get down."
"Don't. You'll probably slip and die. Not to mention, that ladder a few metres down seemed pretty unstable."
"But if I stay up here, I'll probably die anyways. The wind's blowing so hard, I think the swaying crane will topple the whole thing."
"I wonder how far it is to the bottom."

"Okay, I'm staying here."

Eventually, I did make it back down. Proving to myself that such structures have enough support to handle a small midget, and some wind.

millhouse · 30 Sep 2012, 1:58 am

Hello from England, UK!

I've been doing some research to try and find out wether it's safe to climb a particular transmission mast. We went last night and got part way up, but stopped and came back down due to being tired from other adventures (we'd just been climbing a chimney at a live cement works

).

I'm confident that most of the tower is safe to climb, as it consists of mostly the circular directional dishes. However when you get nearer to the top there are some more sinister looking transmitters that I'm not so sure about. I was wondering if anyone could give some advice on these, I noticed Bangers seems to know quite a bit.

The transmitters I'm concerned about are pictured below - the 'spiky looking' ones (dipoles?) and the ones that surround the tower in a complete circle. From what I can gather they're broadcast transmitters opposed to ones that transmit data to relay stations. The photos are old, but not much has changed form what I can tell. In the second pic the top transmitter has been changed. And since the photos were taken the Digital Switchover has been undertaken.

The ladder runs up the centre of the tower, so you climb behind the transmitters.

The tower broadcasts FM radio, DAB radio and digital TV signals, at frequencies ranging from 106.9MHz to 722.000MHz.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Bangers · 30 Sep 2012, 4:14 am

Hi Millhouse, and welcome to UEGA!

Great to see fellow explorers pop up from the other side of the world

I envy some of the sites you guys have over there in the UK, wish I could have seen Cane Hill before it went, and Pyestock before the pikeys messed it up, and other places, but can't see myself getting there any time soon...

Very impressive tower you're taking on here, looks like it must be about 400 feet?

Quick answer - You've provided enough in your pics and post for me to confidently say you'll be pretty safe to go all the way to the top of this one! (I would anyway, and stop just short of the antenna they changed at the top)

The first pic is the main danger area, you're right, that's all the main broadcast antennas up there. i'm guessing to say that the digital tv is the one up top, having been changed about the same time as the digital TV switch over, the mesh like one would be the FM, and the circular one above it I havn't quite seen anything like this before, I assume it's DAB, which isn't very common in Australia yet.

It all looks like medium power stuff, RF radiation won't kill you if you get over exposed, it just heats you up, sometimes you can feel weird sensations from being irradiated. The antennas in question on this tower are designed to radiate more horizontally than vertically, best advice I can give is to move fairly quickly (but safely!) from where the tower gets smaller, up through the 2 antennas in question to the bare section of tower above the circular one and below the top one. I would think there wouldn't be much of a problem with staying up there for a half hour unless you start to feel funny.

I can't really say more than that, except that I wish i could do this one myself, looks like a prize....

Good luck on your climb and be sure to send us a report with some pics from the top!

Cheers from Bangers...

millhouse · 30 Sep 2012, 5:18 am

Ah yes, Pyestock is a firm favourite! I've been 7 times, but it's been stripped more and more each time I've been. Shame really. It's supposedly being demolished at the end of October. Funny you should mention Cane Hill aswell - when I got round to going I turned up to find a pile of rubble haha..

As for the mast hat's brilliant, makes sense. Thanks a lot!

It's 770ft. (235m.) so should be a bit tiring I'd imagine. The only other things I've don around this height are Inverkip power station chimney in Scotland, and the Shard in London - but they had stairs.. Still, should be a good one!

Will let you know how it goes for sure.

Midget · 02 Oct 2012, 9:11 am

235m... good luck.

Bangers · 08 Oct 2012, 1:40 am

Check out this guy, 540m tower - No safety!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwkB9QTK ... re=related

Madness!