Author Topic: 1,700 Foot TV Tower Climb!  (Read 6009 times)

Big Frank

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Re: 1,700 Foot TV Tower Climb!
« Reply #10 on: October 05, 2010, 05:15:59 PM »
The tower in the first video is just over 1/3 of a mile high. Think about that a moment. That's way too high for me. A one story house is about my liimit and I don't feel safe then. Especially if there's moss or leaves on the roof.
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SwoopSJ

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Re: 1,700 Foot TV Tower Climb!
« Reply #11 on: October 05, 2010, 05:22:57 PM »
Watching that video made my head swim.  There is NO amount of money that would convince me to attempt that job.  I'm not really afraid of heights, I can handle tall structures and working on roofs and such, but I am afraid of falling.  Well, it's not really the falling that scares me, it's the sudden stop at the end.   ;D

Swoop

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twyacht

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Re: 1,700 Foot TV Tower Climb!
« Reply #12 on: October 05, 2010, 06:19:49 PM »


That was far-out, or far-up depending,.... :o
Thomas Jefferson: The strongest reason for the people to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against the tyranny of government. That is why our masters in Washington are so anxious to disarm us. They are not afraid of criminals. They are afraid of a populace which cannot be subdued by tyrants."
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ellis4538

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Re: 1,700 Foot TV Tower Climb!
« Reply #13 on: October 05, 2010, 06:38:58 PM »
Not afraid of falling but that sudden STOP terrifies me!  LOL

Richard
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PegLeg45

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Re: 1,700 Foot TV Tower Climb!
« Reply #14 on: October 05, 2010, 06:55:15 PM »
I used to work with a guy that did tower maintenance in his younger years. He said a 1,200' full climb, with bulb changes along the way, was an 8 hour, full day job, bottom to top and back. He said he got out of it before they started putting the elevators like on many of them like the one in the video.

I've never been afraid of heights myself, but the size of the platform under me has a lot to do with it too. Towers are not my game.

"I expect perdition, I always have. I keep this building at my back, and several guns handy, in case perdition arrives in a form that's susceptible to bullets. I expect it will come in the disease form, though. I'm susceptible to diseases, and you can't shoot a damned disease." ~ Judge Roy Bean, Streets of Laredo

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Re: 1,700 Foot TV Tower Climb!
« Reply #15 on: Today at 09:25:23 AM »

fightingquaker13

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Re: 1,700 Foot TV Tower Climb!
« Reply #15 on: October 05, 2010, 08:09:24 PM »
The "moon towers" in Austin (think Slackers), are as close as I've come to that. Some bright soul in the 1890s decided that it would be cheaper to have centralized diffuse lighting rather than street lights. So these 12-15 story towers with a bulb changing platform were built. Of course, given the amount of drunk students in town, those platforms, well........ 8)
FQ13 Who was there for one hell of a party when they were shut down in '93. Still a cool piece of triva, and if every half drunk aspirant high school or college, (or Quaker :-[) "tower climber" gave you a buck? You could play serious poker with Donald Trump. ;D
FQ13

rat31465

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Re: 1,700 Foot TV Tower Climb!
« Reply #16 on: October 06, 2010, 08:08:52 PM »
Doing stuff like that is the  one thing I miss about being a industrial painter.

I worked for Eddy,  a Cousin of mine painting for a couple of years.  We painted Water Towers, Bridges etc...
On morning a friend of Ed's walked in and asked Ed if he knew anyone who would help him for the day changing some bulbs and doing maintenence on a Radio Tower...Ed told him that I was the only one he knew crazy enough to do it.  As it worked out, I happened to have a new Climbing/Rappelling harness I had just bought in my car.   I spent the day atop a 330 ft tower...While not nearly the height or the same level of "Pucker Factor" as this climb....I enjoyed it.
I did have dreams of falling several nights in a row afterwards.

At the top of the 330 ft tower I worked on, there was as much as 12" of sway with a 20 mph wind...can't imagine what the movement would be like atop a 1768 ft structure.

Also worth mentioning...the American Medical Association reports that a fall from a height of a mere 30 feet is lethal 95% of the time....Anything above that height becomes just a mental game...
If you do happen to fall from a substantial height.....just remember this ....One and Half front Somersault then lay it out in the Pike position.  Go for points on form and difficulty cause your only going to get one chance at this dive.
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billt

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Re: 1,700 Foot TV Tower Climb!
« Reply #17 on: October 06, 2010, 09:45:50 PM »
I can't imagine how they paint the Golden Gate Bridge, or the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan. The weather is so foul in both places you would think they would never get done, and what they did wouldn't have enough time to dry with all of the rain, humidity, and fog.  Bill T.

TAB

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Re: 1,700 Foot TV Tower Climb!
« Reply #18 on: October 07, 2010, 03:51:27 AM »
I can't imagine how they paint the Golden Gate Bridge, or the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan. The weather is so foul in both places you would think they would never get done, and what they did wouldn't have enough time to dry with all of the rain, humidity, and fog.  Bill T.


having done that, I can tell you exactly how its done.  Sections are tented off, air handling/fliter units are put in place.  its then sand blasted. primed and repainted.  You then go to the next section.  by the time you get done with that, you start over.  The cables and the like are painted form a harness.  never actually did that, but I've heard you get blown all over the place doing it.  The worst part is tenting it off.
I always break all the clay pigeons,  some times its even with lead.

crusader rabbit

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Re: 1,700 Foot TV Tower Climb!
« Reply #19 on: October 07, 2010, 07:40:53 AM »
I can't imagine how they paint the Golden Gate Bridge, or the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan. The weather is so foul in both places you would think they would never get done, and what they did wouldn't have enough time to dry with all of the rain, humidity, and fog.  Bill T.

Don't know about the Mackinac, but the Golden Gate never gets done being painted.  The paint crew works all year long and there is no end, because by the time they finish, it's time to start over, chipping and painting.  It is certainly interesting to watch.
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