How Dangerous Is AM Radio? (video)

[derek20la]

I came across a YouTube video on the Geerling Engineering channel that shows why you never want to touch a live AM tower, because of the RF burns that will result. It was on one of the towers of KHOJ 1460 St. Charles/St. Louis. They used a bratwurst, corndog, and a pickle attached to a wooden stick to contact the tower. It was interesting how the audio of the station could be heard when touched to the tower. I understand the sound is from plasma gas expanding and contracting rapidly in tune with the modulation. They even got the DJ to speak a few lines in German at the moment they used the bratwurst.

Safety protocols were respected and they obviously had permission for the test.

 

[davideduardo]

I have several burn scars on my hands from coming too close to a coil in the ATU, the tower base itself or RF in the final tank of a transmitter, What everyone I know who has gotten an RF burn says about it is that it smells absolutely horrible.

While burning the sausage may be amusing, RF is a real danger to people working on towers. My CE at WUNO in San Juan had previously worked at TV. He was doing work in front of a microwave antenna, and as a precaution put a note on the microwave transmitter saying not to turn it back on until work was finished. An idiot did not realize that the "work" was on the roof, not in the rack, and turned it back on. My friend got severe internal bleeding and was in the hospital for several weeks. He made a full recovery and lived another 40 years or so, but after that he knew not to trust idiots with safety issues. That is why the plastic wraps on our new UPS tells us not to wear the wrapper on our face; there are idiots who will do that and they become leading candidates for Darwin Awards (usually given posthumously).

 

[kevtronics]

 

[bigdonho]

I was measuring continuity of a tally circuit for the contactor at the base of a 50 kW AM. In the process, my shoulder came into contact with one of the inductors. Felt a tingle and the smell of bacon frying. It burned a hole in my arm that took 40 stitches to close. My wife complained that I had ruined a perfectly good shirt. Priorities!

 

[davideduardo]

I was measuring continuity of a tally circuit for the contactor at the base of a 50 kW AM. In the process, my shoulder came into contact with one of the inductors. Felt a tingle and the smell of bacon frying. It burned a hole in my arm that took 40 stitches to close. My wife complained that I had ruined a perfectly good shirt. Priorities!

The strange thing is that you don't feel them like a burn from a kitchen burner or utensil. The smell is worse... but to me it is more like the pig's excrement frying than nice juicy bacon.

 

[yeoldeschool]

While burning the sausage may be amusing, RF is a real danger to people working on towers. My CE at WUNO in San Juan had previously worked at TV. He was doing work in front of a microwave antenna, and as a precaution put a note on the microwave transmitter saying not to turn it back on until work was finished. An idiot did not realize that the "work" was on the roof, not in the rack, and turned it back on. My friend got severe internal bleeding and was in the hospital for several weeks. He made a full recovery and lived another 40 years or so, but after that he knew not to trust idiots with safety issues.

That's absolutely awful. Was he alerted by any sensations and able to descend quickly? Or did all that damage come from being none the wiser until things began going wrong much later?

 

[Bongwater]

You know, in the old days could this have worked?: Expand that fenced area around the daytime tower. Attach a grilling platform to the tower, slap down some burgers and dogs and serve up "Grilled by Rock N' Roll Radio" beach food.

Put up a big awesome sign explaining how the station chief engineer (by day, as far as anybody knows) single handedly harnessed The Power of Rock N' Roll, The Magic of Radio and The Triple Forces of Bacon, Swiss and Avocado to create The WWUW Radio 147 Big Broadcaster Burger: The Burger 100% Grilled By Rock N' Roll Radio.

Every kid from the '50s to the '70s would have been down with that! Every single one!

If your tower was on a semi-public beach (like KVI back in the 1980s when it was Oldies), one could have really made nice side $$$ from Boomer parents who would have remembered stations doing that during the summer. If the rules allowed it...

Oh, the opportunities, just squandered....(Sigh!)

 

[davideduardo]

That's absolutely awful. Was he alerted by any sensations and able to descend quickly? Or did all that damage come from being none the wiser until things began going wrong much later?

He realized something was wrong when he went to turn the microwave back on and found it already turned on and the sign gone. In a few days, he was finding blood in his urine and went to a doctor who told him to "wait and see" as there was nothing to be done... it was in the early 60's. He recovered, and was fine for four more decades!

 

[radiofan2023]

He realized something was wrong when he went to turn the microwave back on and found it already turned on and the sign gone. In a few days, he was finding blood in his urine and went to a doctor who told him to "wait and see" as there was nothing to be done... it was in the early 60's. He recovered, and was fine for four more decades!

Glad it turned out ok

 

[davideduardo]

Glad it turned out ok

We all were... great guy and I love having him as my CE at WUNO.

 

[yeoldeschool]

Put up a big awesome sign explaining how the station chief engineer (by day, as far as anybody knows) single handedly harnessed The Power of Rock N' Roll, The Magic of Radio and The Triple Forces of Bacon, Swiss and Avocado to create The WWUW Radio 147 Big Broadcaster Burger: The Burger 100% Grilled By Rock N' Roll Radio.

Wouldn't that have made him the Chef Engineer?

 

[TexasTom]

I have several burn scars on my hands from coming too close to a coil in the ATU, the tower base itself or RF in the final tank of a transmitter, What everyone I know who has gotten an RF burn says about it is that it smells absolutely horrible.

While burning the sausage may be amusing, RF is a real danger to people working on towers. My CE at WUNO in San Juan had previously worked at TV. He was doing work in front of a microwave antenna, and as a precaution put a note on the microwave transmitter saying not to turn it back on until work was finished. An idiot did not realize that the "work" was on the roof, not in the rack, and turned it back on. My friend got severe internal bleeding and was in the hospital for several weeks. He made a full recovery and lived another 40 years or so, but after that he knew not to trust idiots with safety issues. That is why the plastic wraps on our new UPS tells us not to wear the wrapper on our face; there are idiots who will do that and they become leading candidates for Darwin Awards (usually given posthumously).

My career was primarily in airborne radars and we had some really strict controls for just that reason. When testing, we had to get clearance from facilities who would verify that the areas where safe field strength limits were exceeded were cleared of people, and in actual operation interlocks were built into our radar systems to ensure that they could not radiate while the aircraft was on the ground.

So, yeah...RF exposure is definitely something that needs to be taken seriously when the power levels are sufficient to cause real injuries. That said, some of the paranoia in pop culture about RF radiation is just ridiculous. In particular, that nonsense a few years back where some idiots claimed that 5G cell towers were causing Covid was just ridiculous and completely unsupported by any actual science.