Many years ago, I read electric meters as a summer job. There was a television transmitter on my route and I spent some time talking to the on-site engineer. I asked him about the chain link fencing lying horizontally over the cables that ran from the transmitter building to the antenna tower, wondering whether it was some form of low-tech RF shielding. No, it was to protect the cable from ice falling off the tower. He said that he would sometimes see large sheets break off and sail for long distances across the surrounding field. Fortunately, this was in the Indiana knobs, far from most houses.
There's an ice canopy on Freedom Parkway in Atlanta (near The Carter Center) built to prevent just this kind of death-by-icicle. The danger comes from the guy wires of a giant radio tower just next to the road.
More here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSB-TV_tower
Many years ago, I read electric meters as a summer job. There was a television transmitter on my route and I spent some time talking to the on-site engineer. I asked him about the chain link fencing lying horizontally over the cables that ran from the transmitter building to the antenna tower, wondering whether it was some form of low-tech RF shielding. No, it was to protect the cable from ice falling off the tower. He said that he would sometimes see large sheets break off and sail for long distances across the surrounding field. Fortunately, this was in the Indiana knobs, far from most houses.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Thanks.
DeleteReal towers have ice bridges for this purpose. The coax is suspended underneath a metal grid.
DeleteI understood some of these words.
DeleteLooks like this is from a TV tower, not high tension power lines.
ReplyDeleteBloody impressive all the same!
There's an ice canopy on Freedom Parkway in Atlanta (near The Carter Center) built to prevent just this kind of death-by-icicle. The danger comes from the guy wires of a giant radio tower just next to the road.
ReplyDeleteMore here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSB-TV_tower