A tour of AM tower equipment

[Colm 1]

If you have ever wondered "what was what" on your local AM tower, the first 15 minutes of this video may be informative.

https://youtu.be/Aax-ehkRTnQ?si=zN0-dIeXgcXTCIEk

If you ever wondered if you should ever touch that thing, the answer is, definitely, no.

I can't believe I actually used to climb up those things.

[jakebaustin 11]

Im all about them fm towers yo

[kleggo 145]

Agreed, this was the base of the original KFI mast. I can just imaging how much EMF is crackling.

(so mind boggling one day ~ 20 years ago when I drove by and it WAS GONE!!!!, knocked over by a small plane impact)

 

https://www.oldradio.com/archives/warstories/640.htm

I hope that wooden ladder was truly a non-conductor.

 

 

[temporary17 5]

On 11/24/2023 at 8:21 AM, kleggo said:

...this was the base of the original KFI mast. I can just imaging how much EMF is crackling.

...I hope that wooden ladder was truly a non-conductor.

Wooden ladder?! You didn't use that, did you? We used the wooden plank on the roof of that shed. (I think you can see the end of it on the roof there between the tower and that wire.) You'd slide the plank a ways off the edge of the roof, walk out on it, then jump to the tower so that you'd 'land' on it like a bird on a power line, and not be grounded. You needed a 'plankmon', someone who wasn't going to climb/jump, to stand on the plank for the last guy. Sometimes a spark would come off your foot when you left the plank, or your hand when you grabbed the tower. How stupid we are when we're young...

[kleggo 145]

No, I was referencing the wooden ladder shown in the photo. We always used the procedure you describe.

 

Be safeish

[temporary17 5]

Yeah I saw it in the photo. I can't remember whether I ever saw it there or if it was laying around or what. I have to wonder who might have thought that was a good idea. Maybe maintenance people used it after turning the power off.