Man climbs radio tower

[bob_international]

PHOENIX (AP) — A man who climbed to the top of a Phoenix radio tower came down uninjured after a 2 ½ hour standoff authorities said.

 

[landtuna]

About 20 years ago another guy tried that but slipped and fell to his death. The location is in the parking lot of a mini mall called Tower Plaza as the tower belonged to an AM radio station.

 

[Mikey Radio]

When I was working in Public Safety Communications years ago, there was a television tower that stood about 700 feet tall, and one night some older teens climbed the thing because they thought they could snap some amazing photos and also for "bragging rights". Someone spotted them, called the police and one of the younger, overzealous officers drove up the access road, grabbed the the mic for his PA speaker and started yelling "You kids get the @#$% down off that tower, or I'm going to drive over there and...." Only thing is, rather than his PA mic, he'd accidentally grabbed the mic for his radio, so everyone in law enforcement and scanner land was listening to him string together an impressive selection of expletives. Luckily his dispatcher paged him to tell him he was using the wrong mic before things got really bad.

As I recall, the PD confiscated the kids' camera as 'evidence', developed the photos, the views were indeed impressive and they kept a copy for themselves and sent another set to the station that owned the tower. That was well before the age of digital cameras, drones and 'tower cams'.

 

[nd2023]

Why not have them change the lightbulb for free if they’re climbing the tower anyway

 

[landtuna]

Whatever happened to kids climbing the town water tower?

 

[Kelly A]

They call it "Urban Exploring":

 

[Mikey Radio]

They call it "Urban Exploring"

Yes, Urban Exploring. - And in today's litigious happy climate, these are the same idiots who will breach a properly installed and placarded fence, ignore all warnings and signage, they of course won't be outfitted with any type of fall protection or common safety equipment, then once they get seriously injured or worse, they'll sue the station or tower owner because somehow its their fault this happened to them and that their life is now irreparably changed.

 

[Kelly A]

Yes, Urban Exploring. - And in today's litigious happy climate, these are the same idiots who will breach a properly installed and placarded fence, ignore all warnings and signage, they of course won't be outfitted with any type of fall protection or common safety equipment, then once they get seriously injured or worse, they'll sue the station or tower owner because somehow its their fault this happened to them and that their life is now irreparably changed.

Several years ago, among other duties I managed a 603' tower site. We had a contract with a local land-mobile company who dealt with the land mobile and cell/PCS clients, then sent us a check every month. One day an 18 year old tower rookie decided to 'ride the rope' up the tower while they were winching transmission lines up, rather than climb and be tied off to the safety anti-fall protection. His supervisor was on the ground, and didn't see the ride. About 300' up, he hit his head on something and fell. Lawsuits were being handed out by the family like candy around Halloween, including toward me. Ultimately the insurance company for the land mobile provider settled with the family. The whole unfortunate fiasco took years to resolve.

 

[DrAkbar]

About 20 years ago another guy tried that but slipped and fell to his death. The location is in the parking lot of a mini mall called Tower Plaza as the tower belonged to an AM radio station.

That stick belongs to Sports Parkinglot 6~Twenty. They radiate one stick during the day, and two at night. Maybe the climber knew which one would fry his butt, and which one he could climb. Both towers are in the WalMart parking lot...just look for the flashing red lights at night!

 

[DavidEduardo]

That stick belongs to Sports Parkinglot 6~Twenty. They radiate one stick during the day, and two at night. Maybe the climber knew which one would fry his butt, and which one he could climb. Both towers are in the WalMart shopping light...just look for the flashing red lights at night!

At WEEL in Fairfax, we had a 1st ticket jock who would take the base current readings each Friday. We did not need to do that, as the CE did the readings. Finally, we realized he would go to the least visible tower and jump onto it. He'd hang on to the "live" tower for five minutes or so, and then jump off.

When questioned, he said he did that before a Friday date as he "knew" that the RF exposure would work better than a condom on his weekend dates.

 

[Deleted User]

last I heard the FCC frowned upon such things, hopefully the tower owner has proof the site was secure and it took a lot of effort to get to the tower

 

[Syfy]

When I was working in Public Safety Communications years ago, there was a television tower that stood about 700 feet tall, and one night some older teens climbed the thing because they thought they could snap some amazing photos and also for "bragging rights". Someone spotted them, called the police and one of the younger, overzealous officers drove up the access road, grabbed the the mic for his PA speaker and started yelling "You kids get the @#$% down off that tower, or I'm going to drive over there and...." Only thing is, rather than his PA mic, he'd accidentally grabbed the mic for his radio, so everyone in law enforcement and scanner land was listening to him string together an impressive selection of expletives. Luckily his dispatcher paged him to tell him he was using the wrong mic before things got really bad.

As I recall, the PD confiscated the kids' camera as 'evidence', developed the photos, the views were indeed impressive and they kept a copy for themselves and sent another set to the station that owned the tower. That was well before the age of digital cameras, drones and 'tower cams'.

Where was this?