Those things we do for money, Tower Dogs POST!

[frogman]

Well I figured I had a thread up already for this but I'm not finding it. Anyhow This is WHAT I do for work most days. Yeah I climb towers and fix shit.... But hey since I'm up there why not share. I will warn all that look that are afraid of heights that I WILL post stuff that if blown up will make you feel a little sick so be forewarned.

Anyhow here's the start I'll post as I go. Bare in mind this is rural Oklahoma.... and they are cell pictures so sorry they may suck but hey SOME of us have to work for a living so enjoy.

SO up TOWER This is located in Velma, OK for those that are interested.

Offending issue, shitty zipties broke

What's left of the tower from there

Other shit hanging out

My good friend

AROUND, This was just after a storm wandered through too...On a Saturday, with a hangover..

AND DOWN from say 200 feet, Yes that's my Dodge 1500 1/2 ton for reference.

Fun part is it is all hinged on ONE point, the bottom of the tower, which sits on top of a piece of concrete with a PIN in the center. It sits on that pin and if that pin fails and the wind blows she falls in a pile

Anyone wanna come play ? ;D I have plenty more where this came from. Tours are welcome, but you have to bring BRASS BALLS and leave the FEAR at the house.

And this is just the beginning, I have 50+ locations I have to look after, and they will all be photographed and the best will be listed. Can't wait for my Go PRO.

And for the madness that is please enjoy THIS in the interim to get feel for what it is LIKE. I will say this that they ride an Elevator to around 1500 feet before they start climbing, skip to around 50 seconds to start the WOW part and understand they are WAY the fuck up there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N93FpcvWGTo

 

[bradj]

You ever take a leak off that thing ill bet no i know for a fact with in a few seconds of me being up there i would at least have to talk my self outta pissing off thatbastard three times. Eight hours ha theres no way i could get thro that day with out making it rain. kool pictures man

 

[Papa O]

Hell I get woozey on a step ladder. Thanks for keeping our shit working!!

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Aswome stuff, I'm not afraid of heights... I'm terified of FALLING! I can LOOK at it but wouldn't want to DO it! ;D
Let me ask you, is it true you have to run up to the tower and jump on? I was told if you grab the tower while standing you could get electricuted by the static electricity because your grounded...

 

[Mr.E]

Very cool man! The view from up there is amazing. My first job after I turned 18 was actually with an up and coming internet provider and I got to climb towers to hang the dishes. It was fun on the nice warm days, but it only lasted a few months. Then November and sleet made me really earn the decent money I was being paid, and then the company went belly up...

 

[Tim]

The idea of doing that without safety lines because it's 'faster' is nuts. Not that it isn't faster, and more power to the people doing it, but man, you'd think a little technology and planning on those towers would allow for an efficient method of maintaining a safety line.

 

[Redbird]

Hoosier, it's not the fall that gets ya, it's that sudden stop at the bottom

Frog, I'd go up with ya in a heartbeat. Don't think I'd want to do it for a living though. I hate cold weather at ground level, and as E mentioned, I imagine it's less fun at that height.

I drive a tractor/trailer for a living. Mostly my view at work is something like this...

It has it's "exciting" moments though...

And then there's the "perks"...

Zoomed in a little... (yes, she topless)

 

[frogman]

HD, I have heard that story but in all truths most of them are so grounded to the, well for the lack of a better term GROUND, there's really very little static that comes into you. Heck that tower if you tried to jump onto it you'd probably hurt yourself. I've been on a tower when it got struck by a freak lightening bolt and that tingled a little bit.

Mr. E That is exactly what I do! Though we are not really up and coming, we cover a really huge chunk of SW Oklahoma and we service somewhere around 4000 people currently, and add something in the range of 5-10 people per day. I've been at this mess for 5 years as of the 28th and I still love the rush I get when I have to go hang out somewhere.

Swivel, the roof of my truck has a nice scar on it from when the guy I replaced dropped a BAG full of tools from around 250'. He had the decency to at least YELL something before 3 people almost died. Was fired on the SPOT, well once he got down he was. You don't almost kill the boss and get pat on the back for it. ;D There's actually a few smaller VLF structures a few miles from my house, next time I ride by I will take a picture or two, really weird looking stuff.

Yeah brad, I have pissed off quite a few of them, even had to take a shit on a water tower once, you learn to do as much of that business on the ground before you head up. ;D

 

[djelliott]

I used to help a friend doing some industrial roofing. He always said "if you fall off the roof you're fired before you hit the ground".


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk, bitches.

 

[VonYinzer]

Pretty cool man. My company manufactures and services gearboxes for industrial Wind Turbines. I haven't had to climb yet as I'm generally stuck 900 ft below ground servicing our mining equipment (just as fucking nerve wracking as being 300ft up in the air). Anyhow, I look forward to getting up there one day.

 

[bradj]

Redbird that lady is gonna catch a cold

 

[frogman]

Hey Von, that's actually sorta funny because my office manager's husband has been climbing those things for years. I get to go to work most days and stare at turbines, since there are 150 of the suckers right north of us. He keeps asking me to come up and I keep telling him I don't climb for fun. ;D

Take a climb one time, I swear if you are not scared shitless in the first 50-60 feet you will make it just fine and the view from the top is worth all the huffing and puffing to get there.

I'm gonna dig through more of the stuff I have and get them up, did have a climb a tower last weekend again with a fuking hangover but hey, pays the bills.

And Red, any time, I always tell people I will treat them nice, but I will be damned if I carry their asses OFF a tower.

 

[VonYinzer]

Ya, the turbines arent bad. The climb is assisted mechanically and some of the bigger towers actually have an elevator basket. Plus youre inside a big tower and box unless you need to climb up top. Ive always wanted to climb the shit you do. When I was younger and only slightly dumber I used to climb a radio tower by my house. You could only get about a hundred or so feet up though.

 

[Tim]

I think I might make it up, but I'd never make it back down Would need to base jump off the thing to get my ass back down. I'm not good at getting back on the ladder to come down off the roof but going up is fine.

Funny - I experience a deep sense of dread when contemplating climbing a tower like that, but I've stood on the edge of Canyon de Chelly and have bungee jumped in Nanaimo with not a care in the world. It's the transition from one 'thing' to another that gets me I think. From one section of the tower to another, from the roof to the ladder etc.

 

[frogman]

Tim, and everyone else, IN all honesty, I'm scared to death of heights, that's what keeps me safe and aware because I contemplate every hand change and step, I watch where I put my hands and my feet constantly. I block out everything else, nothing else matters in my life at that point but me and that cold steel, and we go take a walk. I have climbs that SUCK and take every once of my body, mind, and soul just to finish, and that is on a good day. DO 18" steps to 300' and tell me you are not a tired SOB by the time you get there. Then, when work is done you have to go back DOWN. I'm 5' 8" and I can tell you it sucks. Then again, I am one that will NEVER go bungee jumping or jump out of an airplane so long as it is still flyable. I have spent most of my life free climbing, I started back in Colorado climbing cliffs, rocks, and mountains all the time. I can trust in solid objects to NOT move.

Sure there is a pure rush of adrenaline that I get but most times I don't get to experience it until I'm at the top tied off or back down. Never mind the fight I have with myself just to get over the fear. Most days I can talk myself out of climbing just because I'm a straight up puss and I hate it when the wind blows. : But when it comes down to having a shit ton of people pissed at me, I go rain or shine, wind or not, and I bring a HAMMER on icy days. I've been rained on, wind blown, had to beat ICE off towers, and struck by lightening, but I still go because I love my job, I mean hell who else gets PAID to get HIGH. HAHAHAAA :

Anyhow,

Two towers I really miss are a couple of water towers that we lost leases on because the said town/city council are bunch of ______________________________ (insert explicative) money grubbing _________________________ (again) that think a tower lease should cost MORE than most of our house payments combined. They were great all weather climbs that I could take FNG's to scare them and I loved the fun that was being under that kind of water, (PUN ;D) and I would go climb them just for fun some days. This first one, well it was special in that it is a dark climb, you do 150 feet in pretty much complete darkness. Yes there is a small amount of light but your eye's are so sun burnt once you start it takes about till the top to get used to it.

This one has a hidden surprise in that it has a swimming pool at around 200 feet.

Ladder to oblivion

Looking up in the dark

NOW prelude, this is a climb 10-15 feet then get off on a landing then climb another 10-15 then get off on a landing and so on and so forth climb. Easy peasy really, cept you can't see a fuking thing until you get up to the cat walk. The cat walk that goes from the side of the tower to the center where you climb into a TUBE that goes up the center of the tank. IN THE DARK. Fun part about that is if you are claustrophobic this will get you as you have about 4 feet of space to exist in for the next 75 feet. IN THE DARK. And the smell of chlorine and water and humidity is now in your senses as you head up the tube. There are 2 doors at the top, ONE takes you to the swimming pool I mentioned, the OTHER about 15 feet above it leads outside. ALL still in the dark.

Door you come out of, this thing has a Crown that is suported by a tube...

And the view....

That's T-Moblies crap...

This was mine till we had to pull it off

Was an awesome cold morning that day but I enjoy the cold most days, you work it out in the first 30 minutes of climbing. Funny side note about this tank, someone SHOT a hole in it once and the city had to hire a DIVER to go patch the hole from the inside. Dude was PISSED when he found out he had to climb that high to go fix the hole. I have NO idea what the shooter used, but it's 1/2" steel plate.

Second tower will be next after I let that settle in. Enjoy ;D

 

[Thunderchild]

No idea that you were a tower guy! I've climbed ours a few times until the new station owners decided we didn't need to be on the tower anymore. It's an early 60's Stainless brand tower. 1000' AGL. DO you know Gordon Parkey, or any of his crew?

We just had a crew on our tower last week to replace a stick of 4" transmission line that broke right at the flange. We were off the air for about two days!

View from the top on the old RCA batwing antenna. Before we went digital.

I'm a broadcast/RF engineer.

Here's some shots of us changing out the IOT tube in our main transmitter.

Most of the days it's mundane stuff. Fixing minor problems, dealing with the idiots in the news department.

 

[rhavindog]

I have jumped out of the back of airplanes at 6 miles off the ground, so high the clouds are miles below you. (after the first few times my mask didnt get all fogged up from me freaking the fuck out....quietly)and the idea of climbing towers excites me, but I know that I would be scared shitless. I dont like edges or ledges either. that low altitude paratrooper crap freaked me out more then the high altitude HALO stuff. more room for error maybe?. shit, these days my roof creeps me out. I could get used to it probably, always have but its been so long since Ive been up high.....I dont wanna try to get used to it. You can keep it, But it sure as hell looks cool.

 

[Juggernaut]

Are you hiring? I want to do that!

 

[frogman]

TC, the name is familiar, I think his crew does work for some of the tower leases we have. We have a contract with a local guy that owns around 10 communication towers around the area and we are on or will be on 9 of them. I've run into them a time or two, if its the same guys they are a rag tag crew.

The FUN part about your job is most of your equipment is at ground level. MOST of mine is up on the towers, then we don't have the money or the resources for what it takes to push the kind of wattage you guys do, most of our stuff is run with a MAX of 1watt at the card and full output is dependent on gain on the antennas max again is 26-30dB. Most of the little omni's are around 12. With that I can still shoot line of site over 12 miles with the omni's and with good parabolic dishes we've done 35 miles. Most of my links now around around 10-20 miles but I do have a couple that are 25 and 27. SO yeah, not much but it does work well if maintained properly.

I like to think of it as one HUGE wireless computer network and really that is what it is. We have both wireless and fiber feed systems, more freaking outdoor, shielded Cat-5E than you can shake a stick at. I had to count and list all of the access points we have up since we did area changes for my install techs. Last count was 153 AP's on 51 sites, and that number will be growing to over 70 in the next year. I'm working on adding capacity to some of our older towers in the base areas as they have started to reach their full population points. Work never stops.

That's an AWESOME picture BTW, did you guys have to swap out arrays for the digital change?

Jugger, yeah we are always hiring, issue is you have to move to tornado alley. ;D

 

[Thunderchild]

Yeah, we changed out the antenna when we went digital. It's a Dielectric with a mechanical beam tilt. Major deal. Had to have a tower study done and all that.

We might know a lot of the same people in the tower business!

TC