I will NEVER complain about my job again

[HenryT2]

Re: I will NEVER complain about my job again

The worst part of what I had to do was getting on the tower right at the base - The narrator mentioned the spikey things used to stop lightning strikes - what he failed to mention was that the entire tower is ground isolated. It's designed to build up a high static charge to repel lightning - if it was grounded it would be a 2000 foot lightning rod, and no surge suppressors in the world would save your transmitters. You always had to jump on to the tower, and it always zapped the hell out of you no matter what, but if you were grounded when you grabbed it it would probably blow you off the base.

I remember that bit about the jumping .
Right after High School , a classmate worked as a DJ at one of the local radio stations. The owner would get him to replace the burned out lights on his tower. It was only a 100' tower , but , he had to jump from the base enclosure onto the tower. I was there to toss him the bag that held the replacement bulbs .
Like I said , it was only a 100' tower , the owner paid him with a 6-pack of COLD Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer .

[jermyth]

Re: I will NEVER complain about my job again

No thank you. No safety line, me no climb. Nope.

[HenryT2]

Re: I will NEVER complain about my job again

No thank you. No safety line, me no climb. Nope.

Many years ago I was working for a Government Contractor . Electronic Tech , working on micro-processor controls , etc.
If the controller was in an enclosure that you had to stand on either a mounted ladder , a support platform , or on a free standing ladder ( the ladder had to be tied off as well ) , that put you above 6 feet from ground level ; you were required by law to be wearing a safety harness, and tied off by safety line .
That rule sometimes did not make much sense ... the safety line was 6 foot ( with the required safety stop stitched in that was probably 3 feet ; for a total of 9 feet ) ... the tie off bracket on some of these areas were at approximately 9 or 10 feet ... do the math on that ...

STILL YOU ARE RIGHT .. No safety line, me no climb.

[Shadow1]

Re: I will NEVER complain about my job again

I really didn't mind climbing, so long as you could make the ascent inside the tower. Don't ask me what the difference is because the structure is fairly insubstantial from the point of falling through, but it still lent a feeling of protection vs. free climbing the outside. Some of the towers had a climbers line running straight down the middle from top to bottom - you could clip an ascender rig and safety harness onto it that would slide up with no problem, but would grab tight trying to go down unless you squeezed a handle to release the brake. Obviously you could only use that if you could stay inside the structure, and the line wasn't required, so it was rare and nobody had the ascender rig. Nobody trusted them anyway thanks to the lack of maintenance most things get on a tower.

You can only go so high that way, as seen in the video,(never had the luxury of an elevator) but that really wasn't a problem for the relay dishes I usually had to work on - it was only the antennas that were all the way to the top...

...and the beacon lights which got replaced once a year, need it or not. (They started making them redundant so if the primary bulb blew there was a backup built in, same with strobes...) If I had your buddy's job I'd have to drink the 6-pack before I went up, and I'd be too tempted to take a piss off the top of it.

BTW, you'd be surprised how high hornets can build a @#$%& nest