Basejumper.com - archive

What are the criteria for determining if an antenna is safe to climb without giving you a shock. Is there a a trend for guyed or not guyed to be dangerous or not. Does the red and white painting have any specific meaning.

Most of what you asked has one answer. No. Guyed, freestander, painting...they don't have anything to do with it. When it comes down to it there are a few ways to tell. The easiest thing to do would be to cruise up to it and look at it. If it has an insulator at the mounting point...stay off it.

check out the pictures. the guyed is very obvious. you have to look at each corner of the base on the freestander. you'll notice that there's a loop where the antenna rests on the insulator.

one other thing. am towers will have nothing on them. because the tower is the antenna, nothing else should be on it. if it looks just too clean...it might just be too good to be true.

hope this helps.

Awesome. That helps a lot. It rules out one i was looking at. One more question though. If there are multiple antennas at the top of a tower or discs on the way up the structure, is that a good indicator it is safe?

On a guyed AM tower will the wires have any insulation at the base of them?

Not nessacarily. I've seen insulators on the wires themselves with the main insulator at the base of the tower.

Avenfoto used to have a page up that expained what all too look for on towers. But I can't find the link.

You know the best way to determine this is to go to the gate on the access road and read the signs posted if not there, then on the fence that surrounds the compound.

Also, the aircraft warning lights are usually stuck out away from the actual antenna itself and the power cables for them are out away and insulated from the A.

-OR- just ask some of the local population, the people living real close to it, talk to them and see if they seem alright or not, if not, you got yourself an AM antenna!

Also, on the main entrance gate, the antenna should have an FCC registration number, most antennas are listed on the antenna site registry, and should have info there of whether they are fm, am etc

are you sure?

well you'd be the expert, but I know i've seen a good number of registrations listing their type, not all, but a good number

well, if you can find that info then great... but i would suggest not trusting everything in the FCC's database. that is all.

trust your eyes, and stay away from AM towers, unless you just gotta jump that thing because it's the sweetest thing you've ever seen. even standing near an AM tower you're getting radiated with it's broadcast since it has a metal grid that runs along the ground. it's probably not healthy to be there.

also, if you are going to jump one, do it at night, as the power output is usually switched down to something considerably lower.

oh and here are some examples of sketchy AM towers...

i really hate them and personally avoid them all together. i never liked working on them either.

in 141 you can see the insulator located about 15ft off the ground. makes for an interesting transition.

i think that was bazil actually...
http://www.chrisbazil.com/tower_basics.htm

but it looks like he took it down...

the only archive, i found is from 2007....

http://web.archive.org/...com/tower_basics.htm

Edit: fotos down, but you see some additional info....if you clic the big pic