The Fascinating Anatomy of Radio Towers 

I am a former ROHN engineer and have designed guyed towers up to 1000’. The guyed tower is the most complicated structure I know of. To analyze a guyed tower, you first have to analyze it for the gravity loads and the guy loads. These gravity loads shorten the tower and slack the guys. Then you have to take those results and apply the wind and/or ice loads. This analysis is done with custom software. We once had GT Strudl come and interview us on how we modeled the guy wires. Guy wires creep as loads are applied and the guys do not return to their original length when unloaded.

When I was growing up in the Detroit area in the 1960s, there was an FM station in Oak Park, WLDM (Lincoln Broadcasting), that very much had a homebrew feel to it. For example, when they started broadcasting in stereo, they bolted a couple of stereo faders to their mono broadcast console for the turntables. Advertisements were played on mono Ampex reel-to-reel tape decks, and the microphones were all mono. They had a freestanding tower; it looked kind of like the Eiffel Tower (and had no safety fence around it). To hoist stuff up the tower, they had a hook hanging from a big ball (probably a weight to make sure the hook came down easily when empty). The cable went up to a pulley at the top of the tower, down to a pulley anchored to the ground, and over to an old pickup truck that had had one of its rear wheels replaced with a large spool for the cable. I never saw the setup in use; I am really hoping that the did not hoist people that way. Eventually they got bought out by a large radio chain, who tore out all the homebrew stuff and replaced it with "best practices" engineering.

My buddy Patrick Griffith was an expert at all things radio. He wrote a book on all of this and AM radio towers. He knew every radio tower West of the Misssissippi. He was based in Denver and worked as a Firefighters/EMT. Miss that guy alot. RIP

All extremely interesting and informative. During the 1980s I worked at a TV station, and I knew the engineers. Some of what you covered, I already knew from being around them. One night during storm season, our local power grid took a hit and knocked out the power for the lights on the tower. The chief engineer was there because it was a pretty bad storm, and he notified the FAA immediately. Tower height was (still is) 1,602 ft. Things were resolved with no incidents after it was over. They took me up the tower in the small elevator one time, I wish I'd had my camera with me. Elevator topped out at 1,492 ft. Later, they showed me a complete diagram of the tower with everything mounted on it; station equipment, lights, color banding lengths, other companies' lights...literally everything. I had no idea. I was impressed. Towers never look as big in size from a distance as they really are. Triangle shaped with a 8 or 10 ft spread between the legs (it's been so many years) with a small two-man 'box' for the elevator in the middle. Now, as a licensed amateur radio operator (yes, I'm a ham), our towers are not nearly as massive or complex as broadcast towers, but there are similarities on a smaller scale. But even when we need to do tower work, the most important factor is SAFETY. Not only for the climber, but also for the ground crew. I will share this video to our local ham clubs' Facebook pages.

Interesting. I wondered about grounding towers, as I've observed sparks upon disconnecting coaxial connector when it's windy, obviously static. I would imagine that one of those sticks would aquire quite a charge, setting RF aside! I would like to see a video on directional arrays, suppression to protect orher stations, and the like. I realize that might not be an easy subject to cover in one video... All the Best! 73 DE W8LV BILL

Having dealt with NOTAMs, they are easy to do but easy to overlook and/or forget.

Thank you, I learned something today being an AM radio junkie for 60 years I did not know the entire tower is charged. That is amazing.

@15:28 ...are these ground balls also known as Corona balls....I'm waiting for Alex Baldwin to tell us about his "Schwedde Balls" from SNL

Great timing. Sunday I took a drive to the transmitter site of an AM station I used to run. Phased array, AM 5KW day 1KW night. I was reminising about the time I spent maintaining it and the associated equipment. Before modern air navigation systems were introduced we were the station used to navigate cross country and to the local airport. Fun memories.

I remember watching a movie from a couple of years back called Fall about two women who climb a 2000' broadcast tower and get stranded on top of it. Stuff of nightmares.

Thank you for posting. I am retired from radio after a 48 year career. This is good info for the public in general who otherwise would not be aware of the dangers associated with these sites. Standing under guy wires can even be a hazard where melting ice or in some cases hardware can fall off causing serious injury or death.

I noticed Magnum Towers in Sacto is still in business. I built a number of TV stations with them in the 80's. Proper tall tower site operation takes a lot of management and money. Mt Sutro, was my favorite.

We used to climb those in my youth. The ATT long lines had tons of microwave antennas in horns or "drums" That if you stood of in front too long you would get a head ache any candy in your pocket melted and the fun part of having you nose and ears bleed and one time my friends eyes bleed, but not really any pain. .

I have a quesion and a suggestion. How do AM stations change their daytime/nighttime patterns? I'm guessing that it's done with relays to specific radials. I also watch another RU-vidr, Jeff Geerling, He does a computer oriented channel, his father is, or was, the engineer for KMOX in St Louis. He had an interesting video of some of the KMOX radio transmitter equipment. Perhaps you could include him in an episode.

Wow 8 hundred thousand feet tower. That's huge. Thanks for the great video tho. I don't know why but towers that are higher than a certain amount scare me. I can be mikes away and just looking at them they freak me out

Excellent and very informative. Thank you.

Good video. I worked in two-way communications for years. I still learn stuff!

Fascinating topic. Thank you

In college I remember a large FM broadcast tower that fell across the street from my dorm. One moment it was standing up, then, it was gone! Someone had cut a guy wire and caused its collapse.

Cool. Thanks for sharing.

Worked at an electric company and it was frustrating that the orange red marking paint would fade and need repainting every 10 years. Bad enough to do it once but worse over and over. There was a color chart to see if it had faded.

Very interesting. Very well presented.

So glad you said guy lines instead of guide lines like so many people do. I've been a subcriber for a long time. I like to learn things from people who know what there're talking about.

When I was in electronics school back in the 80's I learned that TV broadcast was done through a port-hole from a tube. I also learned that CB radios don't have much power on their antenna when under broadcast but no voice. Start speaking and the wave peaks around 400V. That'll brighten your day!

Interesting. Thanks

Very interesting information for a lay man. I live over the big pond in the UK. Near my locality is a Tv/radio mast called Winter Hill just outside of a small town called Egerton. There is also a aircraft crash site a few hundred yards away. The aircraft did not strike the mast but I believe it was bad weather that caused the incident. You learn something every day. Thanks for the great video 👍

In the 90s a small tornado hit cedar rapids Iowa and felled a 400 foot guy tower across the parking lot and back of the building where they made universal gym equipment. 15 cars were flattened and 2 people were killed. We had to go and move the mangled tower to a nearby field and put up a new one. Start to finish 6 days.

I recognize the two towers at the beginning of the video. They are 20ish miles north northwest of Denver International Airport. Towers can actually be difficult to see from the air, they can blend in with the ground under certain lighting conditions.

The Tower !!! The Tower !!! Rapunzel Rapunzel we're going to the tower !!!

I am a recent convert to DXing, mostly AM radio. I have begun to notice every tower I see on my truck route along coastal South Carolina. I never realized the complexity in a tower structure nor the challenges that must be overcome to maintain its integrity. How tall can a tower be erected without use of a sky crane helicopter?

Some towers are both AM and FM. The FM antenna will be mounted at or near the top.

I worked somewhat near a series of tall transmission towers well fenced in without much built up around them. I had a coworker who grew up closer to them, and who said sadly that she’d watched one tower fall during the build. She reported seeing workers fall, apparently not tethered, not that it would matter at that moment… We also had railroad tracks by the worksite, and a switching yard was almost in the backyard of her family home. One day early in my employment at the job I commented upon the series of black painted rail tanks rolling by. My coworker asked if I knew what was in the tanks. I hadn’t read the white lettering, and stated that I didn’t know. “Anhydrous ammonia. That stuff will burn out your lungs if the tank leaks!” YIKES!! Only decades(!) later, after thousands of those A.A. tank cars had creaked past the facility the employer instituted safety drills in the event of a rail accident; where to go, what to shut and shut off, who to call, etc. One thing noted about the antenna guy-lines are the weights riding upon the lower limit of the cable before they terminate at the anchors! We have snow and ice here in winter. Obviously there is much wind at heights. Temperature contracts and expands material. I have long wondered how much “give & take” any particular guy line is subject to!! Great episode!

Nice Job thank you for your hard work 😅

Thanks Marcus, and as well that often towers also carry lots of other services on them, so climbing them more than a foot above the ground also requires that the other co users also are notified, and that they also safe their equipment. especially true for climbers, but even you could be just on the base connecting a new cable to your side, and the RF is not the greatest thing to have.

Damn, your audio is great. Thank you.

Against my best advice, my friend touched an energized one of the two WIP am towers at their tx site in NJ. We had to call an emergency squad from Westville to keep him alive. Fortunately he learned his lesson. I keep telling people to just stay away from these places! Look but just don't touch!

How RU-vid didn’t recommend this channel is beyond me. When a local cell tower was being built close to my house nearly 20 years ago, I’d go over at least once a week (I’m 39). I got to know some of the tower crew, and shed engineers. Sadly I never kept in touch much. But I still will stop at the tower if folks are working on it, and ones near by it too.

And then there are the _ham_ radio towers.

Lots of AM broadcast towers are also the supports for multiple unrelated and electrically isolated antennas.

I didn't realize that AM radio towers were that dangerous! Good to know! I do have a question, though. The RF energy being transmitted at a radio station, can it have negative affects on the human body when one is very close to them while they are operational? For both AM and FM. I know microwave transmitters have the capacity to cook a body like our home microwaves do for our food when one is in direct line with the antenna, but I am curious if that is possible at AM or FM frequencies.

The FAA rules on tower paint don't specify color other than red. Most are painted aviation orange. Which looks red. If the tower is on a flight path and over 200 feet it must be painted and lit. The rule is 7 bands with red at bottom and top. The beacons,( flashing lights) must be red at night and white during the day. The non flashing lights in between the beacons are side marker lights. Beacons must be 200 feet apart.

Very interesting,here in Ireland,the lights flash at night, theyre red, and the two other lights in between are red but steady

Always attach the ground side first!!!

Close caption made it read guidelines and not guy lines hahahaha

I've subscribed

The guys are there to transfer lateral movement into vertical. Think about a right angle triangle rotating and it becomes clear.

Thanks for the video I always wanted to build a radio tower maybe you could tell me some tips to build a model one I'm making a small model one so I know what it looks like in the future

At 6:48, why did the red flashing obstruction light above your left shoulder stop flashing?

I might be doing some maintenance on an LP FM antenna. Is there any danger whatsoever in maintaining one of these?

I went back into the woods after they put a new tower up and i found a red Pyrex glass light cover laying in garbage that had been left around

I think the 15 day rule is no more. When I have needed to get a NOTAM, they have asked how long I want it for. My chief has us ask for 30 days. Anyway great info.

Have you been following the missing tower at the Alabama radio station? Any thoughts about that?

What about Shortwave radio antennas?

Who can a civilian call to report a tower light out? One of the local radio stations (FM) has the top light out. Middle is still flashing. I used antenna search to find an email address. I sent an email telling them. It's been over a month. Light is still out.

Who is responsible for lighting maintenance for silent stations? If the tower owner has no money, how do the lights get changed?

Towers aren't guyed. Masts are guyed.

*DUH* 🤪

Kfi tower now short

Just an update: "NOTAM" was originally "Notice to Air MEN", but with the larger number of female pilots, and remote-controlled craft (i.e. drones) they have changed the definition. It is now: "Notice to Air Missions" Thanks, Marcus.

WNPB -TV (Old WWVU-TV) Morgantown, WV Had a plane strike it's tower in the 1980's, I think. Light Twin, fog, pilot dead. Tower did not collapse, was rebuilt and life went on. 15 or 20 years later, BAM. Light twin,, fog, Pilot dead. tower did not fall. I think it is 700 foot Stainless G-5. Tower was rebuilt and it is still in use on DTV-33. TOUGH OLD TOWER.

Marcus, the FAA has recently changed the definition of NOTAM. It now stands for NOtice To Air Missions. I think it's about being politically correct.

**THE GUYLINE BASES GO DOWN 6000 FEET BELOW THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH!!**

You are absolutely wrong, if they are beyond the fence and not suppose to be there regardless of what type of stick it is, go ahead and touch it....

Oh yeah, Towers. I love them. They are incredible structures. I was a Top Broadcast Engineer for NBC-TV News. In, Washington DC. For 20 years. And we had our original tower. I think it was 850 feet? But then one day. A crew arrived. And they would be assembling. A brand-new, bigger, better, taller, tower. That I think was about 1100 feet high. It was an incredible thing. Watching these Steeple jacks. Build this incredible tower. These guys are Fearless. They are Unique. And they have No Life Insurance. Oh my God! Their jobs are more than Death Defying. Especially when a breeze comes in. Holy crap! But that tower went up. It instills. An incredible feeling of Accomplishment. And we did absolutely nothing. They did everything. And while I was not a Transmitter, person, myself, per se. I was a Studio Engineer, mostly. I did pay a couple of visits To, our, AM, Transmitter Site. When, Darius. Told me to climb the, tower. What? Are you kidding me? He said no. And do not touch, the tower. When you are still on the ground. You'll die. Because it still on. Oh my God! And he showed me. How you kind of had to, hop. Onto the structure. So you wouldn't get zapped. Holy crap! I did not like climbing the tower. I saw no reason, to climb the tower. No light needed to be replaced. Darius, just wanted to make me, climb the tower. Ugh! I liked, FM better. It was high fidelity. It was stereo. And it did not fade. We had a 4 tower array for the letter a M, Station. And at that time. We were all New stock. But I was an, FM Engineer. Mostly. And I preferred the music over News Talk. Though that was also interesting. We had great talk show hosts. And I did learn a bit. Of what makes our Government. Better than most every other Government around the world. We are Unique. But we have a Faction of Extremist, religious zealot crazies. That want to destroy our country. For their own ill-gotten gains. And to destroy the Rights, Freedoms and Liberties of Americans. THEY DON'T LIKE! And so they have actually Declared War. Upon the USA. And upon the, American Citizens. There is no other way to define nor describe this, coups d'état. They are, Insurrectionists. Through and through. And they have to be dealt with. Partially. Severely. Painfully. And completely Shut Down. These Homo sapiens are no longer Americans. Yet. They Demand, their rights! And hey. Insurrectionists, . Have No Rights, in the USA. So, I don't know what they are, shouting and protesting about? They are Insurrectionist. They are no longer Americans. They have given up their American Citizenship. By attacking innocent Americans. So these moron idiots. Have made a Dreadful Mistake. A Mistake. That will mark their end. And we will end them.. It's necessary. They are wreaking havoc on everyone. They have no rights to do this. We have to take them out. They won't like it. Too bad. This is what happens to Stupids. And they want to be, Stupid. Because they don't want to be Woke. And so I don't think we should put up with this anymore. We have to take Action. They won't like. RemyRAD

The tower and it's anchors experience force not stress. Pilots fly by maps that indicates all obstructions to air navigation. NOTAM means NOTice To AirMen. Ron W4BIN