[Boatanchors] Tower Climbing Video

[Bob W5UQ]

Mike...  I agree.

Having been in broadcasting over 50 years, doing AM, FM, TV and 
microwave consulting plus Chief Engineer/Dir of Eng of TV and Radio 
stations, I climbed a lot during the 60's, 70's and 80's.  Some in the 
90's and still my ham towers now.

Tallest tower was 1909 feet in Tulsa.  most were 1500 to 1800 and some 
1200 feet and down...
One of the scariest was only 600 feet tall.  But it was badly built.
In 1973, I installed a 10 foot MW dish on the top, the 100th floor of 
the Hancock building in Chicago...  looking out from the top of that 
building is scary too.  I remember being on the 97th floor one January 
evening, looking out when a snow storm was going full blast and all the 
snow was horizontal, of course.  That was eerie.

After watching that video and I got my stomach out of my throat, I 
decided to not watch any more of it at all.
  I shut it off after about 45 secs or less.  Well I did skip thru a bit 
of it BUT when I saw him flip his hook over the climbing rung I FLIPPED 
OUT.  I just couldn't handle any more.

We all have anxiety dreams and my worst anxiety dreams have been:
1. that I was back in the Army at a place I really didn't like,
2. being naked in a group of people
3. married to my ex wife or back living with her and wondering why
4. and being up at the top of a tower...which it is not unusual for it 
to be falling.
I'll let you decide which is the worst nightmare.

That video needs to be erased so that people climbing now do NOT copy 
any of his bad habits.

I didn't send an email on this yesterday because I didn't want to 
further it's memory in my mind for last night's sleep.
Hope I can forget it for tonight... HI.

I'm partly kidding of course, however that video IS SERIOUSLY BAD.

Bob

and the beat goes onnnnnn!
W5UQ.com
A25UQ, V31UQ&  VP2EEU
QRZ.com is accurate for all.



On 12/12/2010 12:03 PM, Michael D. Harmon wrote:
> I've climbed a few towers in my life, and I have to say, this video made
> me naseous (which is something that almost NEVER happens!).
>
> It wasn't so bad when the guy was climbing the ladder and looking down,
> but watching him go out over the top of the tower and start up the pegs
> scared the crap out of me.   I've ALWAYS used a belt and hooks when
> climbing anything higher than an extension ladder!  Free-climbing
> something like that is just plain reckless!  All it would take is one
> bad weld on those pegs and the guy would be a statistic.  Not to mention
> hooking his hook over a peg!  What if he got a wind gust that threw him
> sideways so that his hook slid off the end of the peg?
>
> The scariest tower pic I ever saw before this was one I saw in Broadcast
> Engineering about 40 years ago that showed an ironworker standing on one
> of the bowtie TV antenna elements on the tower on top of the John
> Hancock Center in Chicago, holding with one hand to the element above
> his head.
>
> I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid.  I didn't live to 61 by doing stuff
> like this!
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