He didn't die from radiation.....I've been on towers with hundreds of thousands of watts (two VHF tv stations and one UHF operating simultaneously, along with several dozen commercial two way systems). No corona, no tingle, just wind and sometimes fog (at 1500'). Therefore, no burns, either. "Hot" towers are virtually nonexistent these days, and NOBODY touches the antenna's driven elements, because they're almost impossible to get to. Well, if you worked hard you might touch one (once). A thousand feet is not a big deal. I've climbed higher (when I was over 50), and ridden elevators higher still. It takes about 60-90 minutes to climb 1000 feet, depending on the tower.
As noted on several sites, he was obviously drunk or high, and lucky he didn't fall off first. This time of year, he could easily have passed out on the platform, and died of hypothermia.
Shame.
Actually significant
misinformation here........
First.....
NOBODY is going to climb into the "aperture" of an operating 5 million watt ERP UHF television antenna without a radiation suit, unless you want to end up looking like a giant hotdog that has been in the microwave for ten minutes. Though it is true that you cannot touch a "driven element" in such an antenna due to the radome (designed to prevent ice accumulation), the "rule of squares" applies as to the radiation dose......in other words, you don't have to touch an element to receive severe RF burns, you just have to be in close proximity.
You CAN climb a tower with operating transmitters so long as you remain below the radiation pattern of the antennas. Broadcast antennas transmit a "beam" that extends outward (and slightly downward, called "beam tilt"), more or less parallel to the ground, and so long as you remain below that "beam" pattern you will not be subject to the effects of radiation (the OSHA requirement is 75 feet below the base of any radiating element). Even then it is not recommended except in an emergency, as there will be some lower levels of RF reflected from other antennas and support structures.
For tower workers to actually work in the antenna "aperature", FCC "Lock Out" rules apply, where
all transmitters are shut down, and the electrical breakers that power the transmitters are padlocked off, until the work is done, and the climbers are safe.
"Hot Towers" do exist, in fact nearly EVERY AM radio station around here uses them......typically in phased arrays of two, three, or four towers arranged in a straight line, one-half wavelength apart. You can also climb a "hot tower", the trick is to make the transition from earth to the tower without allowing the RF energy to pass through your body to ground in the process.......you basically "jump" on......once you are on the tower, your body assumes the same potential as the tower, and it therefore has no effect on the body. Further RF energy at AM radio frequencies is far less hazardous to human cellular structure as VHF (FM), and UHF (TV) frequencies are.
At the risk of being repetitive, RF energy (VHF/UHF)
CAN KILL YOU at power levels of 5 KW and above, and just like being exposed to nuclear materials, the effects are "cumulative", and at even low doses, can cause brain tumors, and bone cancer, over time.
All that said, in the case cited above, the lack of technical facts in the article leads one to only take a guess.......I'd guess that the tower in question was a FM radio structure, and that the poor victim likely died of hypothermia rather than radiation, since it is indicated that he was found on a "platform" rather than on the antenna itself.......and yeah, drugs and/or alcohol were the likely culprits.
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