1500' TV Tower

[Homer J Simpson]

No way.

[Red Squirrel]

Seen this before, looks fun!

There was land with a 300' tower for sale about an hour from where I live, and it was very tempting to buy it, was in an unorganized township which means you can pretty much build what you want without needing permits, and taxes are super low.  I decided to hold off though.  My goal would have been to rent space off the tower but I informed myself and found out it would be a conflict of interest with the company I work for so it kinda ruined my plans.

[LaserSteve]

Oh, really old  Batwing array, aka Super Turnstyle. cool.
At least he's smart and climbing properly with the dual hooks.
Steve

[cvanc]

Oh HELL no...

[Brumby]

If you wanted me to climb that thing, you'd have to put a gun to my head - but that would only be while climbing within the structure.

Once you wanted me to climb outside - I'd just tell you to pull the trigger.

If no such extreme persuasions were in play, then this:

Oh HELL no...

[ajb]

Looks like fun!  Heck of a workout, though, probably 30 minutes of straight climbing, and the same to get back down!

[JackJones]

When it comes to tower climbing videos, I don't think anything beats this one: https://youtu.be/2A_h2AjJaMw?t=21

[Halcyon]

That's over 450 metres in proper measurements.

 

[Brumby]

That's over "You've got to be *&***$##^%!! kidding me" in any measurements.

[jh15]

I agree JackJones,

That one was on a broadcast engineering blog I was on. It was taken down at one time.

Freehanding is frowned upon by OSHA, your management, etc. But the new double hook junk tires you more and makes you unsafe in other ways.

I think the double hook was implanted because of the cell tower boom, making many hires less skilled and had to be reigned in.

Another broadcast engineer said when hiring a tower climber nowadays would ask for a valid driver's licence. Seems many applying  for a climb are drunk drivers convicts, and will do anything for a few bucks.

[VK3DRB]

Any ham radio operator would love to have one one of these towers, maybe a little shorter to enjoy the optimal ground plane effect for HF.

I once built a 65 foot tower on my 5 acres in the country, which supported a home brew 8 element LPDA with a 30 foot boom and the longest element was 33 feet. Rotatable and guyed with dacron rope. Low SWR from 13 MHz to about 30 MHz. It was the best antenna ever. Even so, it scared the crap out me me climbing it. The QRN was nothing, except for the odd electric fence noise and atmospheric noise. I miss that antenna badly .

Maybe when I retire, I will move back the country and pour $100K into a new tower and antenna farm. But the difficulty would not be the height or the cost, but the wife who would not see such a project at the top of the to do list.

[GreyWoolfe]

When it comes to tower climbing videos, I don't think anything beats this one: https://youtu.be/2A_h2AjJaMw?t=21

That scared the crap out of me and I am sitting in my office chair!

[cdev]

The music and the effects were beautiful. That is such a long way up. One must have to be very careful about safety.

At least it has guy wires, which make it fairly secure from high winds, etc, as towers go. Where is it? Did they say where that tower is?

[james_s]

It's terrifying for sure, however I think by the time you get to around 200 feet the next 1200 feet wouldn't really be that much different and might even get easier. I know for me whenever I fly I sometimes get a bit of vertigo looking down out the window when the plane is really low and I can see all the small buildings and cars driving around and stuff but then as it gets higher the fact that I'm up in the air becomes less noticeable.

I'm sure one also gets used to it. I've been up the mast of my dad's sailboat a few times to work on things and for the first bit it's unsettling but once I've been up there for a few minutes I kind of tune out the fact that I'm 40 feet above the deck and don't really notice. Until that is somebody moves around down below, small movements of the boat are greatly amplified up there.

[rrinker]

 I generally do not consider myself afraid of heights. I have no issues standing on the roof of a house, for example. I actually like watching out the windows when my plane descends, I think it's neat as you get low enough to distinguish cars moving on the roads - and trying to figure out just what particular road we are passing over when landing in an area I am familiar with. Or flying around at a relatively low altitude in a light plane just sightseeing.
 But climbing one of these towers? Even if I was in incredible physical condition? No way in hell.

[Ampera]

If you wanted me to climb that thing, you'd have to put a gun to my head - but that would only be while climbing within the structure.

Once you wanted me to climb outside - I'd just tell you to pull the trigger.

I'd climb on the outside, but I'd bring the gun with me in case I fall off, I can shoot myself in the head before I hit the ground.

[Red Squirrel]

If you bring a big enough gun you can maybe shoot the ground a couple times before you hit to increase your chance of survival. 

[LaserSteve]

If you want scary, there is a free climbing one with no safety gear similar to  "Stairway to Heaven". I don't endorse stupidity nor creating widows and orphans.

225 foot was enough for me, and that was AT&T Microwave style, not a narrow one.

When you get older, its not only "Hell No", but "Why did I EVER" do that.

Steve

[CatalinaWOW]

I am generally of the "Oh Hell No" crowd, but a couple of decades ago I had a job that required work at the top of a 300 foot (100 meter for you units bigots) tower.  You do get used to it after a while.  At least you get over the part where you have to pry your fingers off of handholds to get to the next position.  But I still am much happier closer to the ground!

[james_s]

Over the past few months they've been building a new high rise apartment/condo building across the street from my office. I remember watching them installing the outer cladding, these guys had a safety harness but they were laying on the ground leaning their torso out over the edge to reach down and install the flashing. It made me dizzy just watching it, they were up around the 10th-14th floors at the time.

[vk6zgo]

Back in the mid '90s, I had occasion to climb a 145m (475ft) self supporting tower in connection with my position as Transmitter Tech.
The bottom part of this type of tower is not too bad, pretty,much like a building without cladding.

The ladder shakes a bit on the first bit along the leg, but after the first level, it feels more secure.
Those first couple of levels are quite nice, you can stroll around, or sit down for a rest.

As the climb moves into near vertical it gets harder

You are a bit pooped by the time you reach the last (very small) level, where you go to another ladder which
goes up behind the antenna panels, but it is then only a short climb to the very top, where you stand on part of the tower frame to replace the top clearance lamp.

There is no chance of falling inside the ladder cage of the one I climbed, as there is an anti-fall device, in the form of a track up the centre of the rungs, which mates with a trolley attached to your climbing belt.

The top bit, behind the antenna panels, has no cage or safety device, so you are back to climbing free, hooking on, when you need to.

And it is bloody cold up there!
That wicked Westerly wind, known as the "Fremantle Doctor" is at full strength up there on the Scarp, once you get above the cover of the trees.
It is what we call a "lazy wind"-----It doesn't bother going round you, it goes through you!

This means that your tongue starts hanging out for a hot cup of coffee, so naturally you start to climb down fast as you can.
The safety device doesn't like this, however, so it lets you get moving, then "stops you falling", giving you an almighty wrench to the back!

I must admit that I felt a bit proud of myself the first time I climbed the tower, until I looked across at the Ch2 tower, where there was some work being carried on.
There they were, Riggers all over the outside of the thing, like aphids on a rose bush!
It put my climb back into perspective.

[airfilterbag]

Is this dangerous?

[Richard Crowley]

Is this dangerous?

It was quite possibly fatal before modern safety gear came to be required in most civilized jurisdictions.

[Ampera]

Maybe I'd climb it if I was allowed to take a parachute with me.

[james_s]

I doubt a parachute would do you much good. You'd likely hit the ground before it fully deployed, or crash into the tower on the way down.