I agree with most of the replies. Myself have never been up A tower. While I did not expect it to be a training video, the only real bit on safety was the "Inspection". It showed a barrel full of "Junk" (Did NOT pass Inspection) safety gear but she passed with flying colors?
I think it was MUCH more "SHOW" than "Reality". Just what is required for any TV show, A few colorful characters, A pretty girl or 2, A job of some kind to do and Human Interaction. Very little "Job". Maybe Discovery will pick it up and run it more like "Ice Road Truckers" and the other "Dirty Jobs" type shows they do. Still lots of on-the-job friction required for "good TV" but A lot less Fluff and Junk! Bruce KE5TPN ----- Original Message ----- From: Paul Plack To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 12:32 PM Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] So I watched it NBC Dateline story on Tower Climbers Don, You always have to approach watching these things with the understanding that "done the industry a better service" is not among their goals. It's all about telling the viewer an interesting story. Even "reality TV" shows have writers! In this case, they seemed to be aiming more toward a plot that would make a good country song. 73, Paul, AE4KR ----- Original Message ----- From: de W5DK To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 9:47 AM Subject: RE: [Repeater-Builder] So I watched it NBC Dateline story on Tower Climbers Good help is hard to find in every trade nowadays. I could have done without the adult day care angle, we all see it every day with current work ethics and morals. They could have done the industry a better service with more facts and public service links to safety training. I think it highlights the industry problem with subcontractors and poor safety training along with energetic young personalities. Or the "I can drink till 10 o'clock" guy. Seems like a good deal for the carriers and a bad deal for the widows and family left behind. I'm not in the industry so that's just my opinion and I know training will only get you so far. Some people are un-trainable. Some of us hams have climbed allot compared to others, unfortunately most all of us with ZERO safety training. Except for what I read in "Tune in the World" or ARRL antenna books, I have no training. I have climbed with others and watched and corrected unsafe moves. I get more nervous watching others than climbing myself. The main things I took away from all this reading and discussion was that all the deaths were preventable and 100% tied off needs to be preached. I can't find the NATE training link I saw yesterday. It would be good for the amateur community to be exposed to better safety materials. Maybe I just haven't looked hard enough. I also need to upgrade to newer better safety gear. 73 Don Kirchner W5DK
