>>2503525>Is there any danger in being so close to the antennas?The 2way/LMR stuff isn't too bad. 100 watts or so with a couple dB antenna gain on it. Unless you're really close to it or working on the specific antenna when it's still lit up, there's not much of an exposure hazard. Those duty-cycle too, they're only on when someone's using the talk path, so overall exposure is reduced because of the time factor.
Dishes or directional antennas focus that energy in one direction; while they usually have less power into them, all that power is directed one way. Don't stand or work in front of those.
Broadcast transmitters are the scary ones. Lots of power, 100% duty cycle, and they're usually in bands that the body absorbs easily.
The tower in >picrel is AM broadcast, the tower structure is the antenna and it's electrically hot. Knocked power down while we were on it, less for exposure and more to minimize the risk of RF burns in case of accidental contact with the grounded cables I was installing. See
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9UO9tn4MpIOn top of that tower was a 10-element FM broadcast array with about 50kW out of it.
When I climbed up to set an anchor the day before the install, knowing the two of us were only going to be up there for a short time, we didn't mess with the FM power levels. My alarm got real alarmy up there because of that exposure. The next day during the install, I coordinated with station engineer to ramp down power on that transmitter to acceptable levels while I was working ~15ft below that array.
Part of my pre-climb safety assessment includes RF exposure considerations.
