Cell Towers/Antennas

[hotwiretamer]

I was asked this week to take the crew to a cell sight and let some cell co. go up in the bucket with us so they could upgrade some antennas. There was a Micro-wave dish on the other side of the structure. Obviously we stayed away from it. I noticed that there were no warning signs of any kind on the dish, or the antennas that we were changing out. We were also relying on someone in the control house to tell us when he had the antenna off so we knew when we could change it out. Are cell towers behind on regs? I wasn't real comfortable with the process. Our sister company actually rents out transmission poles for communications. Anybody familiar with the hazards of RF's?

[heelwinch]

Any of the RF towers I ever worked around had placards right on the tower or the fence that surrounded them, that stated the health risks of working in close proximitey to the antennas....
We used to climb towers for the TV guys on the side to change bulbs for beer money.... back in the day.

I certainely never lost any sleep from the limited exposure we ever got ... but I suppose it's like anything else we had to deal with, there is always a risk.

[electriklady]

Heel is right......I used to have to go into em on a pretty regular basis(damn pains in the arses)....all the ones I have been to in our area have the RF warning placard posted on the outside of the fence.........



I have often wondered about the "risks" involved, course I am never in there as long as you guys might be....dont take long to change a meter.........I suppose it is akin to the risks of talking on a cell phone....magnified by a "kazillion"

[CPOPE]

Heel is right..I have often wondered about the "risks" involved, course I am never in there as long as you guys might be....dont take long to change a meter.........I suppose it is akin to the risks of talking on a cell phone....magnified by a "kazillion"

Interesting, Here is some links on the subject.....


http://transition.fcc.gov/oet/rfsafety/rf-faqs.html

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...nugY0A&cad=rja

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/radiofreque...ion/index.html

[Fast duck]

Oh finally one i can give some input on.
So when climbing on a cell tower you should stay away from all devices that transmit the rf. It's not real bad to climb past it but not a good place to be for a while (min or two). What happens if you stay around the device to long is it will actually cook you from the inside out. just like a microwave! I'm not informed with the osha regulations. I hate cell towers put me in my hooks over that any day of the week!!

[Trojan]

Eyeballs and testicles are particularly affected by rf radiation. No kidding!
Guess you can end up cock-eyed. (kidding!)

[hotwiretamer]

Eyeballs and testicles are particularly affected by rf radiation. No kidding!
Guess you can end up cock-eyed. (kidding!)

I've heard that it messes with your sperm count, but have never heard anything about your eyes!

As far as how you can end up, that explains a lot about the communications contractor we were assisting!!

[Trojan]

I guess the microwaves cook those two (actually four if you got standard issue) body parts first.