btrogdon
Member
Hmmm Interesting. Two (2) towers were dropped by vandals in Winston-Salem, NC in January. Winston-Salem police investigating after radio towers damaged
Communications Tower Sabotaged
- Thread starter xmo
- Start date
Might have to drag one of the perps to the top with a gin pole and let him dangle for a while... oops sorry the rope broke as he makes a splat
straypacket
Newbie
I'll just say that IMO getting shot it is at least as serious as the destruction of a guyed tower. Or pretty much anything else.
The only difference is I shoot back
surfacemount
Member
The issue as I see it is threefold.
One, we live in a society where all the services are very, very centralized. You take out a single node, you can deny an entire area services.
Two, we live in a society increasingly uninterested in how the services are provided, just that they be uninterrupted. Apathy is a dangerous cancer.
Three, society has decided punishment to be differently applied than it was in the 50's. The police in the US might take a belt to your backside, THEN take you home and watch while your Dad reapplied the message. Presently... things are not so.
You have one group of people claiming we live in a buzzword-filled state like I believe exists in other countries. On the other hand, here we have a prime example of someone damaging something that is responsible for our safety and well-being, and... oh well, it's the same word they use when people spray paint on a subway car.
This is a Bad Trend, and I sincerely hope it is reversible while there is still time.
One, we live in a society where all the services are very, very centralized. You take out a single node, you can deny an entire area services.
Two, we live in a society increasingly uninterested in how the services are provided, just that they be uninterrupted. Apathy is a dangerous cancer.
Three, society has decided punishment to be differently applied than it was in the 50's. The police in the US might take a belt to your backside, THEN take you home and watch while your Dad reapplied the message. Presently... things are not so.
You have one group of people claiming we live in a buzzword-filled state like I believe exists in other countries. On the other hand, here we have a prime example of someone damaging something that is responsible for our safety and well-being, and... oh well, it's the same word they use when people spray paint on a subway car.
This is a Bad Trend, and I sincerely hope it is reversible while there is still time.
I wouldn't count on it
Yup, decades ago I was chief engineer at a 50KW directional AM station and frequently got calls about hearing it on landline phones (resonant with the handset cable length - perfect antenna, LOL) and dental work, and various other appliances (as I recall there was a toaster over in there somewhere!).
Also, vandals frequently rode dirt bikes on the property and tore up the ground plane. They'd get p*ssed when the copper wire grid (ground) would get tangled in their wheels / spokes and frequently made "U" shaped 'horseshoes' to throw away the tower Johnny balls at the base of the antenna(s) / "doghouse" and short out that antenna. Uggghh. I hope they got a tingle now and then.
I don't miss that job...
In my area, some years back (20 or more), the FORMER owner of a tower and site dropped the tower by cutting the GUY wires, over some sort of dispute he was having with the new owner. He had to pay a fine and may have spent a few months in jail. Don't have the specifics.