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Comment by ianpenney | Hacker News Reader

Oh thank you for showing up. I reckoned you’d probably see a referrer in your logs or something and clue in on this!

Ever have any crazy RF interference stories on your personal gear up there!? I heard from someone that their camera LCD went wild. Tape was fine though.

And, also, those BNC connectors on the combiner… are they spicy?

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No, not inside the transmitter rooms. They were well shielded. The copper pipes you see in some of my photos are actually huge coaxial interconnects, which are brazed and well sealed to prevent loss. I have for sure experienced that on the roof of First Canadian Place however, which also has some massive TV transmitters on it as well. I've even noticed instant slight ocular headaches when looking at such antennas at close proximity while they are in operation.

It is however interesting being up there in a lightening storm. The building rumbles whenever it is struck.

If by spicy you mean will they shock you if you disconnect one, no I haven't had that happen. But then again I never tried disconnecting them with the transmitter operating. I recall they input about 200 Watts each into the combiner which does seem like a lot for a BNC. But that power would be traveling along the surface of the center conductor.

That being said, at the AM site - you could see the fluorescent light tubes glow while they are OFF, like a VU meter and bounce back and forth to the power of the audio being broadcast. Was always cool. The general EMF there was about 140 volts per meter.

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