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join:2002-01-09
Sykesville, MD | Can't fix stupid. Unfortunately, stupidity is not a crime. However, it is often self-correcting via Darwin principles. | |
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Corehhi
join:2002-01-28
Bluffton, SC
| Re: Can't fix stupid. said by dathing  :Unfortunately, stupidity is not a crime. However, it is often self-correcting via Darwin principles. i had a professor who said during WW2 he would stand in front of the radars in England to warm up. All the guys stationed where he was did the same thing. LOL> | |
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| | Mr Matt
join:2008-01-29
Eustis, FL
 ·Comcast
 ·Embarq
| Re: Can't fix stupid.  Did the professor die of leukemia like a friend of my fathers did. Nat was a radio engineer that wound up getting a job with Raython after graduating from college and just before WWII. He worked on a new technology called R-A-D-A-R. Unfortunately he and many of his colleges died of leukemia. The only common factor was the constant exposure to Microwave Energy during the development of the Magnetron Tube. | |
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Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY
·Qwest.net
| Re: Can't fix stupid. I work at a VA hospital, those that didn't die from leukemia have developed cataracts. They just didn't understand the danger at the time and the sure didn't do much in the way of shielding the people who operated them.
I remember watching a guided missile cruiser testing the tight beam director radar for the Standard Missile. They had it at full power and I watched pelicans fly into the beam and where instantly fried and fell into the water. They sure don't do this anymore at least where anyone can see it, PETA would poop their pants. 
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I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man's reasoning powers are not above the monkey's.
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Lil Jon
Premium
join:2006-06-26
Lawrenceville, GA
| Re: Can't fix stupid. said by Transmaster :I work at a VA hospital, those that didn't die from leukemia have developed cataracts. They just didn't understand the danger at the time and the sure didn't do much in the way of shielding the people who operated them. I remember watching a guided missile cruiser testing the tight beam director radar for the Standard Missile. They had it at full power and I watched pelicans fly into the beam and where instantly fried and fell into the water. They sure don't do this anymore at least where anyone can see it, PETA would poop their pants. wow lol... | |
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Corehhi
join:2002-01-28
Bluffton, SC
| said by Mr Matt : Did the professor die of leukemia like a friend of my fathers did. Nat was a radio engineer that wound up getting a job with Raython after graduating from college and just before WWII. He worked on a new technology called R-A-D-A-R. Unfortunately he and many of his colleges died of leukemia. The only common factor was the constant exposure to Microwave Energy during the development of the Magnetron Tube. Don't know, haven't seen the guy since 86. | |
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| id09542
join:2002-04-25
Bloomington, IL | Unfortunately, they get to vote first. | |
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ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL
| Climbing live towers I remember back when I was in college, I went home and visited the radio station where I worked during the summer. They had just moved to a new tower, and the owner was telling me about the very strange guys that worked on the tower crew. When they were about to take the antenna up the tower, he asked them if they were ready for him to call the other station that was already up there to have them shut down their transmitter, a common safety procedure. The guy he asked said that wouldn't be necessary and explained that RF radiation used to bother him, but he'd gotten used to it, and it didn't bother him anymore.
What, had he changed into some sort of radiation-absorbing mutant or something? As I recall, he was described as only having one ear and walking around in his bare feet, so maybe he had.
In any case, jumping off a tower is incredibly stupid, akin to surfing in the waves caused by a hurricane. First, you're going to get a very unhealthy dose of RF energy, and second, if the wind gets your parachute, it could blow you into the tower. Actually, that would be the better alternative, since someone might at least be able to climb the tower to get you down. A more dangerous possibility is that you'll end up snagged on a guy wire, in which case, I'm not sure how anyone is going to retrieve you without a crane, which can be extremely difficult to get out to the tower site on short notice.
So I'll have to agree with an earlier post, as well as a friend of mine. I've heard him say many times after putting someone back together in the OR, "I can't fix stupid." I suppose that natural selection is still at work, weeding these morons out of the gene pool. | |
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mlbSAE
join:2000-08-01
Dayton, OH | Darwinism at its best... That guy will almost surely never be able to father kids. That kind of radiation for any length of time (say 5 mins, maybe less) will make a guy impotent. | |
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bigunk
Gort, Klattu Birada Nikto
join:2001-02-10
Santa Clarita, CA | Re: Darwinism at its best... Or a kid with a hand coming out of his ear and a breast on his forehead. | |
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DataDoc
My avatar looks like me, if I was 2D.
Premium
join:2000-05-14
Greenville, NC | Impotency, where is thy sting? | |
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| hescominsoon
join:2003-02-18
Brunswick, MD
·Comcast
·Verizon Online DSL
| said by mlbSAE :That guy will almost surely never be able to father kids. That kind of radiation for any length of time (say 5 mins, maybe less) will make a guy impotent. Wropng. I spent many hours up on top of my shop island(where more than 3 10-40kw Radars were.) spent 4 years on that shp and many days up on top of the island..have two perfectly healthy kids(one 9 years one 17 months). | |
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| | mlbSAE
join:2000-08-01
Dayton, OH
·DONet
| Re: Darwinism at its best... said by hescominsoon :Wropng. I spent many hours up on top of my shop island(where more than 3 10-40kw Radars were.) spent 4 years on that shp and many days up on top of the island..have two perfectly healthy kids(one 9 years one 17 months). I know of 2 people who lost their ability to father kids because they went to the top of a cell phone tower when it was on. | |
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superdog
I Need A Drink
Premium,MVM
join:2001-07-13
Lebanon, PA
| Unreal! I climb towers on a regular basis for my business. What this person did was BEYOND stupid. The climber probably did it free hand and without any safety gear. That is a recipe for disaster!. Perhaps he felt safe with a parachute on his back, but if I remember correctly?, you need "X" amount of height just for the chute to come open and even slow you down. Depending on what type of transmitter was on this tower, the individual in question was in a very bad way by the time they got to the top. With enough power, your eyes will start to water and burn.
I'll bet that was fun?, trying to focus and hold on while not being able to see?.  The only positive thing from this is that with any kind of luck, his family jewels were cooked long and hard enough that reproducing is no longer an option and he won't bring any more of his kind into the world, LOL! 
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»www.wavecrazy.net
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Springbokke
join:2002-09-13
Colleyville, TX | analogous to being inside a microwave "analogous to being inside a microwave."
So does that mean the antennas fixed to the water tower behind my house is poisoning my family? | |
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DrModem
Premium
join:2006-10-19
USA
·EarthLink
 ·1and1
 ·PeoplePC
| Re: analogous to being inside a microwave said by Springbokke :"analogous to being inside a microwave." So does that mean the antennas fixed to the water tower behind my house is poisoning my family? No, you have to be right up to the antennas. | |
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| myokitis
join:2004-06-19
Alexandria, VA
| said by Springbokke :So does that mean the antennas fixed to the water tower behind my house is poisoning my family? If your family was on top of the tower right next to the actual radiating elements, then probably. But if they're safely on the ground I'd expect no worries. Radiation levels decrease exponentially (I believe) with distance. | |
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toddbs98
join:2000-07-08
North Little Rock, AR
clubs:  | Re: analogous to being inside a microwave And people will use this story to try to prove that cell phones cause brain tumors.... | |
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RedDelicious
@sbcglobal.net
| Re: analogous to being inside a microwave TV RF energy is non-ionizing, but the inverse square law applies to that as well.
Looking up the two TV and one FM on the tower, almost a half a million watts of RF is radiated just from those three stations. He's lucky WTXX doesn't have their channel 20 DTV online yet, or it would have been almost a million watts. Exposure at the antenna to that much RF has permanent repercussions. | |
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| jester121
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL
·surpasshosting
 ·ViaTalk
| said by Springbokke :So does that mean the antennas fixed to the water tower behind my house is poisoning my family? Yes, but just a little tiny bit. | |
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| ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL
| said by Springbokke :"analogous to being inside a microwave." So does that mean the antennas fixed to the water tower behind my house is poisoning my family? No, for two reasons. First, you'd only need to worry if you were right next to them. Second, it's likely those antennae are for cell phones, since few full-power broadcast stations would have their antennae on a water tower. And since there is a tremendous power difference between a TV or radio transmitter and a cell site transmitter, the power levels aren't even in the same ballpark. | |
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| | Springbokke
join:2002-09-13
Colleyville, TX
| Re: analogous to being inside a microwave said by ISurfTooMuch :said by Springbokke :"analogous to being inside a microwave." So does that mean the antennas fixed to the water tower behind my house is poisoning my family? No, for two reasons. First, you'd only need to worry if you were right next to them. Second, it's likely those antennae are for cell phones, since few full-power broadcast stations would have their antennae on a water tower. And since there is a tremendous power difference between a TV or radio transmitter and a cell site transmitter, the power levels aren't even in the same ballpark. Thanks, that makes sense. Are there consumer devices on the market to measure this? | |
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| | | ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL
| Re: analogous to being inside a microwave Not that I know of.
However, this does bring something to mind. If you want to see if a broadcast tower is putting a lot of RF energy into the area where you are, get hold of a fluorescent light bulb. If the RF levels are high enough, the bulb will light up, even without being connected to anything. Not sure if this will work with CFL bulbs or any with the new electronic ballasts, but it worked with the old ones.
If the bulb glows, you aren't necessarily in a dangerous area yet, but I wouldn't be going a whole lot closer. Now, if you can feel a buzzing in your head, from what I'm told, you might want to relocate very quickly. | |
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| | | | Springbokke
join:2002-09-13
Colleyville, TX
| Re: analogous to being inside a microwave said by ISurfTooMuch :Now, if you can feel a buzzing in your head, from what I'm told, you might want to relocate very quickly. Ok, will keep that in mind | |
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| | | thevorpal
join:2007-11-16
Alexandria, VA
| said by Springbokke :Thanks, that makes sense. Are there consumer devices on the market to measure this? On my iphone, I'm running an app that gives me the signal strength in dBm instead of the rather useless 'bars'. | |
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RedDelicious
@sbcglobal.net
| Re: analogous to being inside a microwave said by thevorpal :On my iphone, I'm running an app that gives me the signal strength in dBm That just tells you what the RF circuit in the phone sees, not what the ambient field is, and it is not calibrated. To get an accurate reading of what your body is being exposed to you need specialized equipment. | |
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pit_viper
1 Shot, 1 Kill, No Remorse, I Decide
join:2002-07-24
Play_Hockey
| said by Springbokke :said by ISurfTooMuch :said by Springbokke :"analogous to being inside a microwave." So does that mean the antennas fixed to the water tower behind my house is poisoning my family? No, for two reasons. First, you'd only need to worry if you were right next to them. Second, it's likely those antennae are for cell phones, since few full-power broadcast stations would have their antennae on a water tower. And since there is a tremendous power difference between a TV or radio transmitter and a cell site transmitter, the power levels aren't even in the same ballpark. Thanks, that makes sense. Are there consumer devices on the market to measure this? You could get a NARD alert. I am a certified climber and when climbing tranmist sites I typically climb with a NARD alert and it will alarm me if RF levels are to high and power needs to be reduced.
I paid $1500 bucks for it. | |
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| PDXPLT
join:2003-12-04
Banks, OR
1 edit | said by Springbokke :
So does that mean the antennas fixed to the water tower behind my house is poisoning my family?
No those are cell phone antennas; since cellphone is 2-way wireless communications, those antennas on the water tower put out only a little bit more power than the cellphone that you hold up to your ear.
Much different than a high-power TV transmitter, which can put out an effective radiated power of up to 1 million Watts. That's thousands of times what a microwave does, BTW. | |
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RedDelicious
@sbcglobal.net
| Re: analogous to being inside a microwave said by PDXPLT :those antennas on the water tower put out only a little bit more power than the cellphone that you hold up to your ear. Most cell sites operate at powers several magnitudes higher than what your cell phone uses. Even the lowest power PCS transmitter is 20 watts and each site has several of these running. The EiRP at the antenna is several times higher. You don't want that next to your head even for a second. Back in the AMPS days, a cell phone was only three watts at full power. | |
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Nosaj
@insightbb.com
| no big deal if you climb the inside of the tower. I used to work here and our tower crew just climbed the inside of the tower, all the antennas were facing outwards. Mine were 875' or so. I only turned off my transmitters when the got to my antennas, they were Omni directional and about 1600W@2.5G.
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Tower | |
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| Hanko
join:2001-12-28
Eatonville, WA | Re: no big deal if you climb the inside of the tower. While most omni directional antennas have a narrow vertical pattern I would still have them turned off due to the sidelobes. Unless you are working with a transmitting waveguide there is some backscatter. | |
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| ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL
| Re: Goodbye if you hit a guy. I remember reading a story in Radio World about 20 years ago about a guy who fell from a tower while working on it. The remarkable thing, and the reason for the story, was that he lived. He said that he managed to partially break his fall because he was able to grab some guy wires as he fell. He never managed to hold onto them for long, and they sliced his hands up, but they slowed him enough that he survived.
But you're absolutely right about the wires. If this moron had hit one and gotten snagged, he'd likely have died, if, for no other reason, because I have no idea how they'd have gotten him down. A crane would be the only way, and it could have been days before they could have gotten one set up.
I don't think the terms "moron" or "idiot" fully convey how stupid this person was for trying a stunt like that. After due consideration, I don't think the radiation could have harmed his brain too much, since there wasn't much there to harm in the first place. | |
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fonzbear2000
Premium
join:2005-08-09
Saint Paul, MN
| said by Thane_Bitter :Radiation hazard aside (and it did get quite a dose), the twit is lucky he didn't hit any of the guy wires which support the tower, or blow into them. Googe map link (just zoom in, the tower is very visable): » maps.google.com/maps?ll=41.69972···2.832778 I don't see it. Is it near the red A?
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»Check this out! | |
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Thane_Bitter
join:2005-01-20
London, ON
·Bell Sympatico
| Re: Goodbye if you hit a guy.
Map |
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ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL
| Maybe even worse I just noticed that the tower holds the antennae for not one but four broadcasters: three TV stations and an FM radio station. I didn't bother to look up these stations' ERP, but this guy took a tremendous dose of RF energy if all the transmitters were powered up at the time, which they likely were.
He got cooked indeed. | |
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| bac522
join:2003-08-04
Manchester, NH | Re: Maybe even worse "Hey doc...what do you mean I have terminal cancer...how did that happen?!?!?" | |
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Harddrive
Premium
join:2000-09-20
Norwich, CT | FYI: BASE jumpers aren't necessarily concerned about 'safety'. | |
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| ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL
| Re: FYI: said by Harddrive :BASE jumpers aren't necessarily concerned about 'safety'. True, but this is slightly different. It's one thing to do something dangerous, with a risk of dying, but, if you don't do the thing that kills you, then you're OK. And that'd be the case here if it weren't for all that radiation. Whether this idiot realizes it or not, he got a huge dose, possibly a lethal one. It might not kill him right now, but I'd be willing to bet that his chances of getting cancer just went off the charts.
It's one thing to be willing to take risks, but if you're going to do that, then at least know the risks you're about to take. And, as far as I'm concerned, there wasn't a _risk_ of him getting cooked. It was almost a certainty, and, unless those transmitters had been off at the time, it happened. To me, that's just plain idiotic. | |
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Its a Secret
Whatever
Premium
join:2008-02-23
U B Funny
1 edit | Re: 1/d^2 and directional That's incorrect. They put out between .3 and .6 watts for hand-helds, depending on tower proximity (in Canada, anyway). Fixed mounts are higher. | |
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RR Conductor
RailRoadDude
Premium
join:2002-04-02
Redwood Valley, CA | WOW, now that's a tall tower! A 1300 foot tower? Geez, I guess with that area being so flat they have to build them that high.
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NickD
Premium
join:2000-11-17
Princeton Junction, NJ
clubs: | Worst stunt ever At least he could have tried to find a tower with no broadcast stations on it. It's the power and frequency that determine the energy of RF waves. An FM station or a TV station below channel 13 won't be as damaging as a TV station in the UHF band. | |
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Parachutist Jumps From TV Tower
Did the parachutists apply for their free membership!
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