How Long Does it Take Part 2

This is the second part of my unedited series. From the mid-tier of marker lights to the beacon, another 17 minute video of everyone's favorite, changing lamps. How many college graduates does it take to change a lamp? In my case, just one.

[@skygh]

I am happy to report that after watching many tower videos I no longer break out in a cold sweat when looking down from the top. It's great to be wearing big boy pants and I could probably even stand near to a tower and not pass out.

[@SW-jw6il]

i can barely stand to look @ the top !! let alone climb to it … Bravo Gentlemen 🇺🇸

[@scottrobbins6216]

John you’re the best .... your techniques can be used in many areas of everyday life. Slow, steady methodical, think and most important it’s OK to talk to yourself.

[@dougtaylor7724]

Those triangular towers with the tabs welded on the outside with step bolts looks like a bad place to glance a back or leg off in a fall. The first one I saw made me go, dang that would hurt. When you were talking about a fall that made me remember them.

[@shaunboast3867]

Nice John, as an Arborist I have climbed a few trees but don't think I would have the nerve to do what your doing. Love your explanation on the safety gear, I think the word you were looking for was fall "arrest". Cool stuff mate!

[@ET_Don]

Using your example John, if I had a steel wire attached to my dorsal D ring, and fell, at my weight the shock load would bring the tower down! lol Love your videos John.

[@johnteague136]

You make it look so easy,, I'm 56, that would be a dream job, I've been at my job since 1985, I program CNC punching machines ...I would love to be a bulb changer on the weekends... 👍....there is a lot to learn to do what you do...I've done my research...good job.

[@alandoherty8279]

Hi John, great video as usual (grunts and all).. I would like to see more of your every day ground work as well, building and testing antennas etc. Cheers

[@Fireship1]

Nice job John. The unedited videos are nice to see. I used to wear similar fall arrest protection when I used to be on the tops of large airplanes. Fall Tech was the name of the harness and “arrester”. Nowadays I’m in the cabin and a newer and younger person is on top of the aircraft. I always thought to myself if I did fall, I’d smack up against the side of the aircraft and probably break bones in addition to putting the plane out of service from dents. Thank god it never came to that. Like you, falling was not an option for me!

[@dennisqwertyuiop]

Great video, sounds ok be careful , no broken noise ! thanks John

[@infinitecanadian]

Very informative about the difference between fall protection and fall prevention.

[@stevep2325]

John, I amazed at your age and how you still climb those towers. me, I go up a ladder and scared to death. Love your videos, keep them coming...

[@TexasRailfan2008]

I live the older style beacons, they took down a tower near me that had one but they took the beacon off and locked it the transmitter shack, I contacted the county and they said if they weren’t gonna reuse the tower they might sell some of it to me..

[@Lcapone]

Hi John! You are in best physical form;) ..and rear fall protection we call " mustache" )) is convenient)

[@jhettish]

Hello Alexander. Good to hear from you. Mustache. That' good. We tend to call the dual fall lanyards split tails. I often call them a nuisance when they get in the way but I know they're there for a reason. John

[@lewiemcneely9143]

Audio and everything is fINE and this is from a hearing impaired nutcase! I like the running commentary. Helps me figure out what's going on and yep, those stretch falling helpers are a one shot deal. Take care!

[@jhettish]

Hi Lewie, I liked your description. I too am a nutcase. John

[@lewiemcneely9143]

In our own right! WE earned the title long ago. The Best 2 U John!

[@gzappa]

Well done John, appreciate all your videos although my legs always go into spasm watching them.

[@jhettish]

If there's an inspiration then it would have to be "don't stop doing physical things just because you're getting old." I continue to have fun and that's what counts to me. Today I watched a guy work on a radio system I'm tasked with maintaining. We did it all from my office on a virtual private network. All of a sudden things stopped working properly so we get to do it again tomorrow. John

[@Northerncalwolf]

Great video John!

[@jhettish]

Just remember, Falling is not an Option, at least in my company. Just because a person climbs a tower does not mean they're required to fall off. In nearly 46 years I've never come close to falling. I've never treated tower work like some sort of thrill sport. Working at height, and getting the job done as close to perfect as possible is and has always been my goal. John

[@royamberg9177]

Never bored here either

[@thelightninghunter23]

Found a tower where they wired the FTB324 in reverse. Has a red strobe in the day and a white beacon at night. Funny stuff.

[@jhettish]

If you can get an FCC number or coordinates within a mile either you or I can report it to the owner of the tower. We'd rather see them fix a problem than get the feds involved. I believe they switched the black and purple leads in the power converter. Sometimes we troubleshoot beacons by switching leads so that we can actually tell if the strobe tube in the red portion of the beacon is working. When switching the leads the red is now at 20,000 candella and can be seen during daylight hours. When in the night mode during the day the red beacon is very difficult to see so simply switching to night mode in the controller isn't always a good troubleshooting tool. John

[@waynehoch3009]

Have you ever fallen and obviously caught by your fall lanyards?

[@jhettish]

No I haven't fallen from or on a tower. I have fallen from or with ladders but not while on a tower. I would hate to be caught by my fall lanyards because I might be injured by slamming into things below me and I'd have to replace the fall lanyards. They're expensive. John

[@neillsmart213]

Good commentary and info

[@jhettish]

Thanks Neil. I got to thinking that if I put parts one and two together then added what may become part three I'd have a documentary. Not an exciting documentary; just a documentary. :-) John

[@wolfguardian8312]

Whew!! Not a job for the faint of heart...I watch some dudes climb a 1500 Ft tower and get anxious just watching...What happens if you forgot that 9/16 wrench and 'yer at the top?? Dooh! I have a 100 foot winch - up tower for my Amateur Radio antennas. Tower is 100 Ft in 20 Ft sections and antennas are on a Tail-Twister rotator & mast +6 Ft above. I live in close enough proximity to a rural airport where I must have a tower top beacon as specified by the FCC. Fortunately, I can lower the tower and fold it over to a working height of 20 feet AGL to change the strobe lamp....Easy for me to do w/ myself and a helper....Just stand in the bucket of my JD tractor & have a friend raise it to the level I can access the strobe lamp. No sweating or straining, Easy-Peasy... Good video John....Thank you for taking the time and effort to record this for us chicken-shits...LoL

[@robertonegron776]

Awesome

[@hankhound]

I like your positioning setup. Is that a GriGri? Spreaderbar pelican + adjustable side d ring positioning. That would've made my tower climbing days more fun (and by fun I mean less ssttreaching)

[@steelem422]

Nice first to say hello John!

[@Archlegan]

These are some of the best and most informative tower technician videos on KZbin. Well done sir. What is your company called? And why don't you apply dielectric grease on the bulb socket to prevent sticking?

[@jhettish]

Usually don't think of grease. It might help. That was the first lamp I had stick in years. I just don't expect things like that. I had a tower crew paint that tower a number of years before and they may have relamped the tower. For years I relamped towers where the lamps had been installed by others. These days we were usually the original installers. Could be something in the way others twist the lamps and it could be the brand of lamps they choose. I use the expensive lamps and get quite a long life from them. General Electric lamps will usually crap out in a year. We don't need that type of recurrent business. Ours last at least two years and sometimes up to five years. Duromexs (built from the Durotest patent with Pyrex glass) John

[@isettech]

Tower tuning is 1/3 science and 2/3rds art for AM since most towers are shorter than 1/4 wavelength for AM radio.

[@jhettish]

You can go to the FCC database and determine the length of the antenna. That doesn't exactly mean the length of the tower though. Some AM antennas end before reaching the top of the tower, especially unipoles or co-located structures. In order to recon a job at a site I haven't been to before I will look at the database, check the frequency of the station, check the FCC license as to how many "degrees" the antenna is listed as then convert 360 degrees to feet per degrees. The calculation gets me close to the length of the antenna but not with complete accuracy. Some towers might be 1/2 wave also. If I'm sending the guys I can give them an idea of the height of the tower based on FCC calculations. It keeps me in practice also. AM towers that are base fed (the tower is the antenna) are not too difficult to figure out. AM towers with different methods of feed (like unipoles) can be more difficult but if they're over 200 feet they are going to be registered and the registration number is usually supplied (as a link)in the station's license. I look up the Antenna Site Registration Number (ASRN), convert it from metric to imperial and know the length/height. I have links to the database on my company web site (first page) making locating the stations in the database much easier. The FCC web site is quite difficult to navigate so I supply access to the databases from my site. John (www.mt2w.com)

[@stevep2325]

how often are those safety harnesses tested please?

[@royamberg9177]

Have you ever done something that didn't have a glitch to it.generally never goes perfect but the outcome is good. Keep up the good work

[@jhettish]

Glitches are common. That's one thing I like about my job. The work we do is never identical to a previous job. We don't know one day to the next what we're going to be doing. Never bored with the work. John

[@UNcommonSenseAUS]

is there good money in this ? Im already a climber (ticketed for rope access, climbing, rigging & dogman)

[@lburgess8263]

that's the whimpburger of towers on the KZbin system... no offense, you really taught me about the clips................

[@jhettish]

I finally found your comment. It seems you have either no experience with Rohn towers. This particular tower is Rohn 45 and some of the strongest stuff made. It was put up in the late 70s and is still strong today. It can have it's problem but the only time I've seen a Rohn tower come to the ground due to environmental issues has been a tree falling on a guy wire or some other failure of a guy wire. I heard a story of two guys dispatched to drop a 150 foot tall Rohn tower that was no longer needed. The guys thought it would be easy so they went out with a saw and cut one of the anchor rods. The tower, with five levels of guy wires, just stood there. They cut another anchor rod and the tower continued to stand. They cut third rod and the tower was still standing, unguyed a week later. The finally had to notch the legs and pull the tower over with one of their trucks. The base of the tower had been a section buried four feet deep and encased in concrete. I've only rarely seen a Rohn 45 that was not considered overloaded and still standing after thirty years or more. I have no trouble climbing and doing work on those structures. John

[@PkwyDrive13]

How tall was that one? I wasn't counting the sections..I definitely never position to the thin crossbars on any rohn/smaller guy towers, that one looked more solid though than most. I usually position to one of the legs or around two back to myself

[@jhettish]

I believe the tower is exactly 200 feet tall but it didn't really matter. It had lights, the lights were not up to snuff and customer wanted me to change them. I have no problem using the horizontal rods for positioning. It would take a lot more than 200 pounds to break one and I only use them for fall prevention. The lanyards go around the legs with enough stuff to at least slow me up if I were dumb enough to fall. In my world "Falling is not an Option". Feel free to quote me. :-) I have a ham radio friend who used to say whenever he climbed he had two hooks connected to the structure, a positioning lanyard around the structure and two hands on the tower. My question to him was, "Why are you up there with all the connections you mention, especially the hands? Doing all that means you can't do any work so there's no reason to be there." John

[@SivertOnGopro1080p]

Hey john, that rope part you used at the top we use the same way like you use your big hook, we swing it twise over a bar, feel like it gives a bit more movement and easyer to climb with. Is there a particular reason for using the big hook? And good safe work as always happy to see. -Sivert

[@jhettish]

The hook on the spreader is just a preference. I use the adjustable lanyard like you described in certain situations. I also use it like a descent line when working on certain towers. I removed the big hook and attach one end of my adjustable lanyard, the end with the adjustable grab, where the big hook had been. I then attach the other end of the lanyard somewhere above me on the tower. I have about 3 meters of rope(approximately 11 feet) so it can go a pretty good distance above me. I can then move up or down in the work area and continue to be attached by my fall prevention equipment. Sometimes I have a requirement to move a few feet or even a few inches up or down in order to make a connection to an antenna like the one in the video. With my method I don't have to completely disconnect my positioning equipment and then reconnect it a foot away from where I'd just been. I'll try to remember to demonstrate this in one of my videos. John

[@SivertOnGopro1080p]

John Hettish that would be great, always looking for ways to improve and you are a great inspirasjon!

[@EastAngliaUK]

so that why its not on high ground as its a relay tower.

[@user-oy2bz5wm2b]

John, how come no cable from top to bottom of tower for fall arrests? Instead of having to clip in every 5 feet....

[@21Brian07]

Not all towers have a cable grab or cable climb system. It’s up to the tower owner to install or have one installed.

[@wideslammer]

John, I would guess you like rubber-soled shoes for their grip, but it seems to me that they would be kind of hard on your feet when climbing on such narrow rungs. Would a stiffer sole be better? This is, of course, is from someone who knows NOTHING of what it's like to be a tower technician. I do enjoy watching your videos, unedited or not.

[@21Brian07]

Ron J I know this is a year later but I thought I’d answer your question since I too climb towers for a living. We have thick sole boots with a steel plate that is built into the sole. It’s called a “shank”. Keeps some but not all the pressure off your arch.

[@lackeydehackey405]

You have a 12kilobuck anritsu and moving the tap doesnt tell which direction to go from there??

[@jhettish]

My Anritsu doesn't go low enough for the AM broadcast band. However, consider that physics requires a lot of math and seems to be absolute. Do exactly what the equation says and everything will be fine. Now consider when all the math and physics is applied to a real item made of steel, anything but perfect, and standing on a piece of concrete with 120 copper wire radials, each supposed to be 20 degrees from it's neighbor. There are a couple of factors being considered when the antenna taps are established. While it might be possible to make the Antenna Tuning Unit create a low vswr on the input end, thus satisfying the transmitter, the ultimate efficiency of the antenna is the goal so that the station meets its licensed coverage area. Basically the engineer gets the taps in the ball park and takes a reading with the equipment he's using. He sees the results and often is not satisfied. He recalculates and asks the guy on the tower to move the tap up or down six inches and takes another reading. After the tap has been moved several times he sees the results he was looking for. After all that the engineer get in his car and take signal strength readings at certain pre-determined points at varying distance from the transmitter. If they're not satisfied with that there may be more calculating and tap moving. FM antennas are a bit easier to deal with low VSWR at their point of resonance. Sometimes there is a multi-bay FM antenna with all the right measurements and an excellent VSWR but it just doesn't cover as advertised. Usually that ends up with a lot of conversations with the manufacturer. I find it all exciting in a nerd sense. :-) John

[@appleman1999]

Great video! I do have a question, is there a rule on how many beacons a tower needs to have and why do some have read beacons and others have white strobes? Thanks

[@thelightninghunter23]

appleman1999 The number of beacons has to do with the height and there are hard breakpoints. I've been wondering about the white/red ... i think it has to do with background city/suburban lighting but some municipalities hate white strobes apparently.

[@jhettish]

Rather long reply. I hope you read the whole thing. Current Rules here: www.mt2w.com/Files/AC_70_7460-1L_.pdf 1. Currently towers above 350 feet tall must have two beacons half way up and one beacon at the top. If the tower is unpainted it can use white strobes or LED for daytime operation. The owner will not have to paint the tower, a very costly enterprise. 2. If the tower is painted and higher than 350 feet currently it must have red beacons for night operation and no lighting during the day. The red beacons can contain two of the lamps like you saw in the video or they may be LED or Xenon Gas Strobe with a red filter. 3. The current rules allow owners to turn off the steady burning "marker" lights. (There's more) Older towers are governed by the Federal Aviation Agency rules at the time they were constructed. The rules are determined by a Hazard to Air Navigation study. If the owner of the older tower requests another hazard study they will have to light and/or paint to the new rules which could mean double beacons below the top and no marker lights.

[@jhettish]

Thanks James. I appreciate the comment. John

[@jhettish]

The only wind turbines where I repaired strobe lights had two beacons at the top. Since I hold a pilot's license I know that wind farms are clearly marked on the navigational maps. Your comment caused me to check the rules out of curiosity. If the blades highest point is 499 feet or less there must be one red light at the top. If the blade height is higher than 499 feet there must be two beacons on the nacelle. That's not a complete answer. I didn't have time to read the entire thing and I haven't worked on a wind turbine in more than 15 years. At that time the owners only had three wind turbines, all with dual beacons flashing white during day and red at night. The wind farm has grown to more than 20 wind turbines since I was there sometime around 2003. The site is called Buffalo Mountain and it's in Tennessee. Another thing about the wind farms is that the rules say all the wind turbines do not have to be lighted unless they're a certain distance from the cluster. The FAA calls for lighting the perimeter of the cluster and installing beacons on certain of the turbines. There's a lot more to it and if you're interested, here's a link to the rules. www.mt2w.com/Files/AC_70_7460-1L_.pdf

[@appleman1999]

John Hettish thanks John, for a long time I found those towers interesting. There is a large TV tower between Muskogee and Tulsa that has an insane amount of red beacons on it and my dad and I always talk about it when we drive past it going to Tulsa. I’ll read that article, thanks again!

[@ErikPAPATIE]

Hey no test of the beacon and im listerning all ting you said to fail prévention Nice im waitting this second video

[@jhettish]

The station engineer was on the phone so I tested when I got back on the ground. My tests are not so much about seeing red light but by measuring the current being used by the lamps. the two 620 watt lamps draw nearly 10 amps. When one burns out you see around 5 amps and you know something is wrong. The marker lamps draw about 2 amps if both are working. Everything tested properly when I tested it. The main theme of the video had to do with safety and why I do things the way I do them. John

[@ErikPAPATIE]

John Hettish great im waching this morning and you old and not scared Nice job and are you many job or no

[@midcenturymodern9330]

Can we just use LED bulbs that last a decade?

[@replynotificationsdisabled]

Less than an hour

[@charlesevett5396]

You need to talk little louder