[TowerTalk] RF Voltage at AM Tower Base

[Tod -MN]

While a graduate student at the University of Michigan in the late 1950's I
made money replacing the lights on one of the AM station towers in Ann
Arbor. I would put on the climbing equipment [such as it was], grab the
replacement bulb and then jump onto the tower and start climbing. I have no
idea what would have happened if I had not jumped between ground and the
tower but it seemed like the smart thing to do.

The most noticeable thing while climbing was that the spacing between the
horizontal elements of the tower was just far enough that one did a series
of 'pull ups' to get to the top of the 230 foot tower. The tower was
situated on a hill and I could see Detroit from up there [about 50 miles
away]. As far as 'post effects' ---- I really noticed the sore muscles for
the next couple of days after earning such money. Who knows if the radiated
RF did strange things to me later in life --- after all I was a ham operator
and everyone expected us to be 'strange'.


Tod, K0TO



> discussion ensued among the hams, of whether any nasties 
> would happen if you had to do maintenance on the tower, while 
> hot @ 50KW if you could safely jump the ground to the 
> insulated (hot) base of the tower.  Or even if not safe in 
> the OSHA/FCC RAD HAZ sense, would  you would likely receive 
> an RF burn of any kind by hopping onto the tower never 
> connecting to the ground and the tower at the same time?
>  
> Some say, you would feel nothing,
> others thought there could be significant charging current at 
> 50 KW that you probably would get a painful, possibly 
> dangerous ZAP, on contact, even if not touching ground...