Do you install these on your antennas?

[mmckenna]

I'm sure that professionals like you and McKenna have protocol to cya. That only makes sense.

Well, my point was that these stickers/warnings are aimed at the consumer market (Yes, that includes amateur radio, CB, scanner, GMRS, MURS, FRS, WiFi, consumer cellular products, TV, consumer satellite, XM/Sirius etc). It's aimed at those that don't do this stuff regularly and need a reminder that they aren't supposed to do stupid &#*( when installing them, and to cover the arse of the manufacturer, since they know some arse-hatt is going to do something stupid with the antenna, like drop it across a power line, or install durning a lightning storm.

We can blame all the people we want, but this goes back to the legal profession that seems to be of the attitude that if you are not making enough money, you make up stuff to sue people for.

 

[trentbob]

Well, my point was that these stickers/warnings are aimed at the consumer market (Yes, that includes amateur radio, CB, scanner, GMRS, MURS, FRS, WiFi, consumer cellular products, TV, consumer satellite, XM/Sirius etc). It's aimed at those that don't do this stuff regularly and need a reminder that they aren't supposed to do stupid &#*( when installing them, and to cover the arse of the manufacturer, since they know some arse-hatt is going to do something stupid with the antenna, like drop it across a power line, or install durning a lightning storm.

We can blame all the people we want, but this goes back to the legal profession that seems to be of the attitude that if you are not making enough money, you make up stuff to sue people for.

I respect what you do, I've been around long enough to know, you know that.

Do you not have metal signs attached to the bottom of a tower that you maintain? Doesn't that sign say basically what these labels do?

 

[mmckenna]

I respect what you do, I've been around long enough to know, you know that.

Do you not have metal signs attached to the bottom of a tower that you maintain? Doesn't that sign say basically what these labels do?

No. We have RF exposure warning signs. Basically say don't get in front of the antennas because the RF levels can exceed safe exposure limits. All towers are behind locked enclosures with no trespassing signs. If some jack-wagon is dumb enough to hop the fence and climb the tower, well, I've done my part.

 

[bharvey2]

I never saw the movie but I was in a friends recording studio while he was mixing the music down for an album release.

If you get a kick out of parody, it's a pretty funny movie. You may enjoy it. With regard to drummers, think Keith Moon/John Bonham.

 

[trentbob]

McKenna... So even though the wording is definitely different than the little stickers included in the hardware in a consumer antenna, you do have warnings of some type.

If I had a nickel for every story I did on some moron who climbed a tower and was harmed... The key to your warning signs and the little warning labels that come with a consumer antenna... you have to know how to read.

 

[bharvey2]

What a coincidence. That's the same sound you hear when your arm touches the power line.

I'll take your word for it and hopefully, you know about it second hand. I've spent a good deal of time around electrical lines and antennas. However, I don't mix them. That would make for a might grumpy bharvey2.

 

[mmckenna]

McKenna... So even though the wording is definitely different than the little stickers included in the hardware in a consumer antenna, you do have warnings of some type.

If I had a nickel for every story I did on some moron who climbed a tower and was harmed... The key to your warning signs and the little warning labels that come with a consumer antenna... you have to know how to read.

It's different than the "you can be killed if this antenna comes into contact with power lines". I've never seen those stickers included with a commercial antenna. I'm sure it's somewhere in the documentation if I looked hard enough, but no bright yellow stickers.

The signs we do have are the FCC required ones for RF exposure limits.

We also make sure our sites are secured with locked gates/barbed wire. Of course that won't stop the average idiot, but it does meet the requirements of taking appropriate steps to limit access.


In the tower climbing classes, the first couple photos they show are the "don't be this guy" pictures. Almost all of them are either mom and pop WISP installers or amateur radio operators. Usually climbing a tower with no harness, or just a waist belt. Often in tennis shoes, and some dope standing at the base of the tower looking up with no hard hat on and a stupid look on their face. Photos usually go down hill from there and usually include attached news stories and/or OSHA citations. No matter how rotund hams get, they still don't bounce when they hit the ground from 50 feet up. Usually it's more of a 'splat'. As for the small WISP's, those guys seem to attract installers that flunk out of ham radio school.

 

[GlobalNorth]

This reminds me when Ruger Firarms ruined all their guns by roll-marking some safety B.S. on all their guns, what a shame! You can't fix stupid!

This very thought came to me earlier today. Some products are inherently dangerous: gasoline, bug spray, firearms, chain saws, band saws, electricity, etc. Rational caution would dictate careful use of any of these items.

If you have a vertical in your fenced backyard to your residence, you should have no issues. If you have an antenna array on commercial property - look out. Even if one puts up ten foot high fencing, razor wire, signs in English and Spanish, and alarm the vault; it's your fault if some dang fool defeats all the deterrence measures, then climbs the tower, and does a swan dive into the ground.

Man dies in fall after scaling broadcast tower at LAPD’s Hollenbeck station in Boyle Heights

A 31-year-old man died this week after falling from a broadcast tower atop the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollenbeck station in Boyle Heights, authorities said. The death has sparked a review …

ktla.com

I can guarantee that the LA City Council will be paying anyone who is related to the fool that died after burglarizing and trespassing on government property.

 

[mmckenna]

I can guarantee that the LA City Council will be paying anyone who is related to the fool that died after burglarizing and trespassing on government property.

While I agree with what you are saying, you'd think LAPD would protect their communications assets a whole lot better than that. While it wasn't the fault of LAPD, they were stupid/negligent to have things set up that allowed someone to access their tower that easily.

 

[GlobalNorth]

While I agree with what you are saying, you'd think LAPD would protect their communications assets a whole lot better than that. While it wasn't the fault of LAPD, they were stupid/negligent to have things set up that allowed someone to access their tower that easily.

Deterrence costs money and makes no one feel good.

 

[mmckenna]

Deterrence costs money and makes no one feel good.

I concur, but an architectural design that allows anyone to climb up on to the roof, especially a police station, is very short sighted.

 

[GlobalNorth]

Sadly, architects who design for municipalities and States know little about what they are designing for. We had a police building that was "state of the art" in the late 1980s. The communications section was covered by glass on three sides of the building and subject to attack from improvised weapons, the underground garage was unsecured to a single fat terrorist with a satchel charge who merely had to jump down one floor to pancake the main floor because steel grates covering gaps were considered unnecessary, and the building was compromised by having a single internal hall with full tempered glass doors on both ends of the building - anyone with a .30-30 rifle and a box of ammo literally controlled the internal access inside the building from outside. No window tint, no blinds, nothing.

When this was pointed out to the architects and the police chief, they shrugged their shoulders and said "nothing will ever happen". When a dispatcher was nearly kidnapped at one of those doors and the installed video camera hadn't been working for a few years... then things started to improve, but everything was three times higher in cost and labor.

I've occupied four brand new police facilities in my career and not one of them was designed with operational security for employees and visitors in mind.

 

[danesgs]

Ditch the Mandolin and take up the drums. Drummers seem to get all the chicks.

Actually its the lead guitarists and the drummers come in a hot second with chicks. I was a drummer in a garage band and the guitarists (damn them) always got the girls. As to plugging anyone on my property climbing on the roof, All you need to do is spot them,creep outside and scream at the top of your lungs something crazy like "Fresh meat! baby!" The surprise alone will make them fall and save a round.

 

[Osprey1163]

Regardless of the "intended use" of those stickers, Personally I don't see a need for them because if I find someone ignorant enough to be on my roof or my towers, who could be close enough to read them, will become immediate targets for practice without question (or lawyers) just to see how many times I can plug them before they hit the ground... So to answer your question: "Watch For Wires" is the least thing to be concerned about around here so I toss them in the trash...

Don't forget to lead them a bit as they're falling......