ECN Forum
Posted By: jdevlin how to change a light bulb 1768 feet high - 01/29/11 02:22 AM
http://www.liveleak.com/mp53/player...onfig.php?token=07b_1284580365%26embed=1
One would hope that ALL the tools and materials are in the bag!!

Lead guy with short sleeves, & new looking gloves; second guy has on PPE??

Don't forget the lamp!
I'll wait in the truck until they find a way to lower the working point tower to no higher than 6'-6 AFF.

Aughhh!!
I'll choose a helicopter.
Posted By: leland Re: how to change a light bulb 1768 feet high - 01/30/11 02:43 AM
Originally Posted by PAteenlectrician
I'll choose a helicopter.



AGREED !!!! (Mind you,it will be a cold day in Hell before I get in one of those)

Better still, I was thinking the Pilots ought pay closer attention to whats around them.

$150K Per climb- NO way !

Everyone has a 'price' - not in this situation. (at least not me)

Thanx for the link.
With them alternating between climbing and belaying off, the fall would just be painful, probably not deadly but you still need to climb a third of a mile straight up. That requires that you be in better shape that I am in wink

What is the base altitude. From my experiences in the Tetons and the Rockies I can say, if you get over a few thousand feet above sea level, air starts be be hard to come by. Up around 9000' they just don't have much.
Posted By: leland Re: how to change a light bulb 1768 feet high - 01/30/11 03:55 AM
Further more.....

Ya gotta Climb DOWN !!!!!!!
Parachute down, why waste the climb?
I too was thinking of a parachute to go home at the end of the day, but then you've just got 1 more thing strapped to your back (plus a reserve) to climb up there with.

Oh, Well; such is the unintended cost of "wireless" communication.
Better them that me...any day of the week.
How often does someone have to go up and change the bulb on a tower like that?

Does the owner wait until it goes out or is it on a scheduled basis whether it needs it or not.
Originally Posted by mbhydro
Does the owner wait until it goes out or is it on a scheduled basis whether it needs it or not.


I'm sure that the tower owner has that bulb changed out on a regular schedule, rather than waiting for it to burn out. A burned out marker light on a tower requires notification to the FAA, and possible hefty fines if not fixed immediately.


Originally Posted by gfretwell
With them alternating between climbing and belaying off, the fall would just be painful, probably not deadly...


It looked like he was free-climbing the last part of the way. I'm sure the fall wouldn't be deadly. The sudden deceleration at the end of it might not be too healthy, though. Unfortunately, a fall from a height like that gives you plenty of time to think about it...
What the video does NOT show you is that, even on a calm day, the tip of that tower is swinging back and forth a good 5-ft. It's like changing a bulb atop the mast of a ship at sea.

The sequel is coming to a windmill near you.
If these guys are following rock climbing protocol they are always tied of to something and when you saw the lead guy tie off, the guy below was climbing. I still doubt the 20-30 foot fall before the line came tight would be pleasant and you would smack into the tower pretty hard.
Aah, memories of the old days! The top of our antenna was around 1070 feet. They used to kid me about jumping off of it. BASE jumping never tempted me. I figured that those guy wires or all the trees in the CYO camp below would do me in. BUT I wouldn't want to be up there without my rig on. With my luck, I would've snagged my pullout handle and gotten deployed off the tower.
The bottom of our transmitter log had a line for nightly tower inspections. I think the local FAA number was there so we could call them if the beacon or side markers went out. They would put out a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) but I don't remember any next day replacements. I don't remember any scheduled lamp replacements but I think they might have relamped ones that weren't burnt out if they had to go past them anyway.
Joe

Attached picture JumpinJoe.JPG
Leland:

Where did the $150K per climb come in? Did I miss something, or is that your bid?

Woah! I couldn't watch it when he started free climbing. I could feel my feet starting to tingle. I'd have to pass on doing that for a living.
Doing a little playing around on Google today and it looks like LED bulbs are taking over from Xenon bulbs for this application.

The LED manufactures are taking 10 years life at 24/7 usage.

I guess that means if you were a young installer you could only have to climb that tower 4 more times after the initial installation to replace the LED assembly before you retire.
Posted By: wa2ise Re: how to change a light bulb 1768 feet high - 02/01/11 01:16 AM
All the transmitters would need to be shut down while people are climbing around the antennas at the top. It looks like a UHF TV station transmit antenna up atop that tower, and stations on UHF run something like 1/3 of a megawatt of RF. You don't want to be near that antenna if it's pumping out power like that. That means that the TV station has to go off the air, which means that they don't earn money during that time playing commercials. So you might as well change out all the lamps, and it's probably done early Sunday morning when most every viewer is sleeping in.
Bullpucky.

I've watched crews spend days painting operating broadcast antennas.

I've seen numerous instances of protesters climbing antennas of all manner of broadcasters, either to hang banners or to stage 'camp ins.'

Finally, our friends at Mythbusters tried the old 'cook you' myth with turkeys, and failed miserably. Besides broadcast towers, they tried radar masts.

I expect that the antenna in the video was operating at full power as they worked - and, contrary to the explanation in the video, I believe the spikey things you saw were there on account of broadcast static, rather than natural lightning.
I heard that after the owner saw the Video of the free climbing those employees no longer work for that company
Our tower in Cleveland, that I'm close to in the picture, had beacons and side marker lights. The one in Pittsburgh had strobes. The towers are grounded with transmission line or waveguide going up to the base of the actual antennas. Our licensed power was 110KW visual, 11KW aural, with an ERP (Effective Radiated Power) of 2MW. The beam's cardioid pattern had a 6 degree downward tilt and was directed roughly NE to favor the city. I would NOT be up against that antenna while we were broadcasting. I could see coordinating with the climbers to go off the air when they were staged up near the top of the waveguide. I think our bulb replacements were done after signoff.
We had lots of folks renting our tower by the foot. MMDS wireless cable, a 10KW FM, cellular. Studio Transmitter Links and remote microwave link receivers are often mounted part way up towers too. Tower maintenance would involve determining what services might be impacted AND any dangers to the climber(s).
Joe
The spikey things would have no measurable effect on lightning save perhaps to act as an attachment point like a regular rod (air terminal) as they stick out from the side of the tower. I have no idea on static from broadcast, that is out of my experience but sounds hokey.

Apparently NATE (National Assoc. of Tower Erectors) is not happy with this video. They released a news release in December 2010 saying saying the tower climbing practices shown are unsafe and not condoned by members of their association.
I thought the spikey things were to keep birds away. Eagles and such like to nest on high places like towers.
When I looked last night I got a "removed because of copyright violation" but then the video showed anyway. It may have just been from the file cached on my computer tho.
I'm sure that it's still out there somewhere.
Once something's been put on the web there's no way to get rid of it totally.
Originally Posted by ghost307

Once something's been put on the web there's no way to get rid of it totally.


Indeed. smile

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/81100181/
Posted By: doc Re: how to change a light bulb 1768 feet high - 03/15/11 08:32 AM
I remember years ago a new tower had gone up near us . I think it is 1000 feet or more . Two men were climbing it to change or put in a bulb .They were nearly to the top when it started sleeting and the steps up the side started freezing over
I a bit a helicopter showed up out comes a guy and lowers down to them . He started swinging back and forth and plugged one of them off raised up and put him in the chopper and then went back out and down to the other one and plugged him off ,back in the chopper they went
No news coverage or anything it was like they were in the get ready mode get there get them and get out
Just to clarify by the time the chopper got there the sleet had stopped and the sky had cleared enough to see.
Was something I think about everytime I go by that tower
Posted By: Vlado Re: how to change a light bulb 1768 feet high - 03/15/11 07:50 PM
Fascinating! cool
© ECN Electrical Forums