I watched a documentary piece a while back about the transmission
station atop the empire state building and its history. I really wish I
could recall the name, but it was a while ago. It went over the history
of the building and all the different uses it had and included a segment
about the maintenance where some guys went out to work on it. They have
automatic triggers that turn of the broadcast if the door is opened, and
motion sensors. Its a tiny little door almost like a sub hatch to get up
there.
On 7/4/26 3:02 AM, TJ Trout wrote:
I watched their documentary and they definitely aren't dumb, they
probably studied the building for exploits for months or maybe years.
It's actually a really good film "skywalkers a love story" on Netflix.
They use drones to film and then break everything down into a
methodical plan.
Chuck, hypothetically speaking, if you had to climb the spire without
prior coordination how would you do it? I was thinking you could use a
RF monitor and somehow alter the SWR (jumper cables?) to trigger the
TX protections? Or would you be cooked just getting that close for a
few seconds?
On Thu, Jul 2, 2026, 6:39 AM Ken Hohhof <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
You have to wonder, did the climbers know this? Both the danger,
and the safety protocol? Or were they just dumb but lucky?
*From:*AF <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> *On Behalf Of *CBB - Jay Fuller
*Sent:* Thursday, July 2, 2026 8:28 AM
*To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
*Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] OT Empire state building
Regarding the climbing of the tower on the empire state building
today:
The antennas were not fully live while the climbers were actually
on them.
As soon as the two daredevils (identified as Russian
"rooftoppers" Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus) were spotted
climbing the spire, the building immediately triggered emergency
safety protocols.
Broadcasters quickly shifted their signals to backup auxiliary
sites (mostly located atop 4 Times Square, the Condé Nast
Building) for about an hour to avoid injuring or killing the
climbers with extreme RF (radio frequency) radiation.
They returned to normal operations once the NYPD took the couple
into custody around 1:00 PM.
What Stations Broadcast from Those Antennas?
The Empire State Building is one of the most critical broadcast
hubs in North America. To reach the very peak where they unfurled
their peace banner and staged their marriage proposal, the couple
had to scale directly past equipment used by a massive lineup of
New York City stations.
The primary stations affected and forced to temporarily use
backup transmitters include:
FM Radio Stations (The Master & "Mini" Master Antennas)
The couple had to climb past the main master antenna—home to 15
major NYC FM stations—as well as the "Mini" master antenna.
Some of the most notable radio stations transmitting from the
spire include:
WCBS (101.1 FM)
WQHT (Hot 97.1 FM)
WPLJ (95.5 FM)
Plus over a dozen other major commercial FM stations covering the
tri-state area.
Television Stations (VHF & DTV Master Antennas)
They also scaled past the high-power digital and VHF television
transmitters, which include major local network anchors:
WCBS-TV (CBS New York)
WABC-TV (ABC 7)
WPIX (PIX11)
WXTV (Univision 41)
WFUT (UniMás 68)
The very top tip where they hung their banner was the old
top-mount master antenna, which historically serviced the analog
signals for WNBC and WNYW (Fox 5).
Why Shutting Down Was Critical
Broadcast engineers and former chiefs noted after the incident
that climbing a live master antenna array without specialized
protection is incredibly lethal. The sheer amount of concentrated
electrical and electromagnetic energy on the spire can cause
massive internal RF burns to human tissue within minutes.
Broadcasters acted instantly to drop power and reroute the
market's airwaves until the NYPD Emergency Services Unit safely
escorted the couple down
----- Reply message -----
From: "[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>"
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
To: "AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group" <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
Subject: [AFMUG] OT Empire state building
Date: Wed, Jul 1, 2026 2:28 PM
How did those two climbers not get cooked by the bat wing tv
transmission antennas they had to climb. Say those were 25kW
stations, they would have over 1kV at the feed points.
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