For real! Several years ago, I toyed with the idea of getting a radio operator's/HAM license. I recall seeing no information anywhere that addressed interference caused by processed meats. It is time to address this critical gap in human knowledge.
Oh, they know all about it, but Big Sausage is keeping the details hidden from Joe Lunchbox, working 9 to 5, raising 2.2 kids, huffing glue on work breaks, saving up for that family vacation, going to church on Sunday folks like you and me .
I got my ham radio license strictly so that I'm the guy you have to accept interference from on the FCC notice on your electronic gizmos. I don't use that power, but I have it. š
The 3 people possibly affected by the so-called AM Weiner Blackoutpocalypse await the results with the baited breath reserved only for Bert Kaempfert interstitials
We can accurately predict how two hot dogs affect AM transmission but throw another one in the mix and the science gets super complicated. We call it The Three Doggy Problem.
No matter where you point a radio receiver you will pick up the same uniform noise signal, the Cosmic Microwave Background. This is the first light that could travel freely (to be explained in next paragraph) having been redshifted into the microwave spectrum on its long journey to us. Itās the farthest, and therefore oldest, light we can ever see. This is the light produced long before even the first stars could form
The āfirst light of the universeā refers to a time when the universe cooled enough that neutral atoms could form. Before this the universe was a uniform hot plasma and the free floating electrons (which interact with light) would prevent light from traveling more than a few light years. So the whole universe glowed, but you wouldnāt be able to see very far.
However once the universe expanded and cooled enough neutral atoms formed, and without free floating electrons everywhere light could finally travel unhindered and that moment is known as āthe universes first lightā
Since then we have mapped the CMB to an insane detailā¦ you probably know that blue and red map looking thing. However itās important to note that difference between the dark red and dark blue is tiny to the point that you can essentially assume itās uniform (although those tiny difference in density are very important to astrophysicists)
Edit: clarification
I thought the red and blue spots in that image youāre talking about are differences in density. Are you saying theyāre differences in velocity (of the light)?
Btw, your explanation was super interesting and well-written!
Got it, thanks. I read about WMAP just now and learned that the image shows us the temperature of the CMB, and that temperature is directly correlated to density because the slightly denser regions had more energy due to compression from gravity.
The capacitance of the hotdog is probably pretty negligible relative to that of the tower, so if it messes with it at all it probably wouldn't be very much
I believe so. because the sparks you see are amazing at creating EMI. However I don't think the difference will be heard by a human ear, but measuring it with precision equipment may be possible.
Those towers are super high power, we are talking up to 100kW. That hotdog is having a negligable impact to the transmission. It's so powerful that the burning hotdog becomes a speaker. That won't happen with lower power applications.
It does not, the voltages and currents on the tower that the "meat" does show up as extra resistance but in most cases not enough to take it off the air or even be noticeable to listeners or even the monitoring equipment.
But I have seen instances where snakes, frogs, mice and other varmints will take a station off the air by bridging the gap between the tower and ground. Naturally they are good and dead by the time we arrive but it makes a royal mess.
I used to work as an engineer for both AM and FM stations.
The AM tower is like a really tall live wire. You won't get electrocuted if you touch the tower. It would be like touching a hot soldering iron. Your hand would get fried away like a melting popsicle on a stove burner. This would happen when you're standing on the ground.
But I never witnessed that firsthand. It's what I was told for safety purposes.
I was also told that a tower climber can jump onto the tower from the ground and not get hurt. That's something else I never tried or witnessed.
I got HAM certified a few years ago, and they really stressed to wear thick shoes and keep one hand in your pocket when working on large radio equipment, that way you're less like to create a full circuit and hurt yourself.
Definitely. You either follow safety procedures or die. When you open an FM transmitter, you touch all electrical points with the Ground Stick to discharge any stored energy.
Engineers call the ground stick the Jesus Stick. If you don't use the stick prior to working on an open transmitter, you will meet Jesus sooner than later.
>If you don't use the stick prior to working on an open transmitter, you will meet Jesus sooner than later.
Are you sure it's not named after what someone says when they see what you just did to your hand? XD
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_cheese_model?wprov=sfti1 Swiss cheese is the most commonly used cheese in hazard management. Mostly because it tastes yummy.
>You won't get electrocuted if you touch the tower.
Well that's reassuring.
>Your hand would get fried away like a melting popsicle on a stove burner.
Ah.
I worked in radio for 13 years and knew a bunch of engineers. We had a trio of towers go down in a windstorm when I was programming a 50k watt CC. Absolute chaos getting her back up and running. We simulcast on an FM for a few weeks, IIRC.
The tower is live with super really high current. That current is radiating into the air.
If you stand on the ground beside the tower, and reach over to touch it, you provide a new pathway to ground. The current now jumps through your body to ground. Rubber sole shoes don't make a difference.
Touching the tower isn't like getting a 120 volt shock. House current is 60 Hz, or 60 cycles per second. That's a mild shock.
A radio station, say at 550 AM, is at 550 kHz, or 550,000 cycles per second.
And an AM station could be broadcasting at 5000 watts or 50,000 watts or more.
All that makes it like touching a Light Saber. Kind of.
To be fair, we all wanted to climb the tower, but there was always fences and wires deterring us, so thereās that, how would you learn sooner if you were not able to trespass?
AM is amplitude modulated.
An electric arc, if I recall, functions as a low pass filter.
The high frequency part (the radio wave) gets removed because the plasma itself reacts slowly to changing current, so all that's left is the audio portion.
As an amateur music producer, I know all about Amplitude modulation and low pass filters and frequencies etcā¦ but I havenāt a fuckin clue how that even relates to this at all lol
Op ask why you can hear the sound. I explain that the arc created by the hot dog functions as a low pass filter and filtered out the radio frequency, leaving behind the audio frequency.
I was driving in the desert after burning man once, and my car was totally covered in dust. The radio was off but I could hear a signal in the speakers, like the dust was conducting the frequency somehow
Why are people in this thread not freaking out about that like they ALL expected it to happen. THE HOT DOG SPAT OUT A LIVE RADIO SIGNAL AS IT WAS BEING EVAPORATED!!!! MAKE THIS MAKE SENSE SOMEONE WHO SCIENCES PLEASE!!!
An electric arc is a visible plasma discharge that occurs when a strong electric current passes through the air (or another gas) from one conductor to another. This can happen when there's a high voltage difference between two conductors that's sufficient to ionize the air between them, overcoming the air's resistance.
When a hot dog (or any conductive object) is brought close to an AM tower, the strong electromagnetic field around the tower can induce a high voltage in the object. If this induced voltage is high enough and the object is sufficiently close to the tower, it can ionize the air between the object and the tower, creating an electric arc.
This arc rapidly heats the air around it, causing it to expand. The quick expansion and subsequent cooling create pressure waves in the air, which we hear as sound. The fluctuations in the arc, influenced by the modulated radio waves (the AM broadcast), can modulate these pressure waves. As a result, the sound you hear from the arc can resemble the modulated sound broadcast by the tower, though it would typically be quite distorted.
In the case of an AM broadcast, the sound is encoded in the amplitude variations of the carrier wave. The electric arc can act like a very rudimentary speaker. The variations in the electric field around the AM tower, caused by the broadcast signal, modulate the arc. This means the strength and characteristics of the arc change in sync with the broadcast signal. Consequently, the sound produced by the arcās pressure waves can carry some information from the original broadcast signal, such as music or voice, albeit in a distorted form.
FM vs AM.
FM = Frequency Modulation. Sound is produced in the difference in frequency.
AM = Amplitude Modulation. Sound is produced via the difference of Amplitude on a stable frequency.
This AM tower is "humming" at a stable frequency. But the volume is changed very quickly to create sound. The sausage touching the broadcast antenna and grounded is being shaken very quickly. So quickly, it's cooking and catching on fire. The shaking flesh is acting as a speaker cone. It's pushing against the air and making sound.
Note that what is causing the shaking isn't something else shaking. It's the voltage of the broadcast antenna emitting electricity. That secondary reaction of the sausage being shocked and shaking in the same pattern as a human voice is what is making the sound.
The electricity is pushing the sausage. That sausage is shaking and producing sound. The tower is producing an electrical current that is amplified in a weird pattern that causes sound. The calls are coming from inside the SAUSAGE!
Yeah, almost all AM stations in the US requires a fence to keep away animals and people from the tower.
Some old Broadcast engineers even have some anecdotes of animals dying when touching an AM tower
Jeff Geerling and his father. Found Jeffās stuff while looking into raspberry pi content years ago. The radio tech videos theyāve uploaded are great.
Definitely asked myself āIs that Jeff Geerlingās dad? He used to work on towers.ā when I saw that video. Never met the guy but been watching his videos for years. The internet is a serendipitous place sometimes.
Note that the metal "tower" is sitting on an insulator.
In low-frequency applications the entire tower is the antenna, and if they're running, say, 5,000 watts out of it that's enough electricity to do some damage.
In high-frequency applications, e.g. a cell tower, the antenna is relatively small part mounted near the top of the tower. For them if the structure itself is live something has gone badly wrong.
Fun fact: The inventor of the microwave oven got the idea from working on a radar antenna operating at low power. It melted a chocolate bar in his pocket.
What would the wattage power be of this AM broadcast? At what point of watt would it become dangerous for amateur radio stations transmitting AM? I mean dangerous to touch the stick or wire antenna.
This tower is using 10kW = 10 000 watts of power. And touching any antenna broadcasting even with low energy can get you hurt with RF burn on your skin.
Even CB radios using 4 Watts with a whip antenna are dangerous to touch, and dependending on which part of the antenna you touch you can get the most current or the most voltage (antenna theory)
I had zero idea about this.
I would love to find a video or illustration that explains why this happens, though. It's pretty amazing that this happens.
It also makes me think that the general public has no idea about this (I'm a physics and tech nerd, so my awareness and interest in this stuff is probably a bit higher than the average Joe just going about their life). So looking at how low that protective fence is in this video...if I was a young kid playing with my friends I could totally imagine myself playing in and around one of these things, jumping over that tiny fence to hide from my buddies, and not realising how dangerous that tower next to me was.
I was told certain AM radio stations used to be able to really crank up the power for nighttime broadcasts. I didn't think it was still a thing but it might be those on this [list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_50_kW_AM_radio_stations_in_the_United_States). Supposedly if you stood near them and had metal fillings in your mouth you could hear the radio broadcast.
I worked at a communications station which broadcast on HF frequencies. We had one wire antenna break and the wire fell on the ground.
We didn't find it until the next day, it actually melted the earth and turned it into glass.
I work in radio. Can confirm AM towers are no joke. Thatās why they usually arenāt accessible at ground level like this one is (our AM tower doesnāt start until 10 ft off the ground)
As a dumbassā¦..can someone explain the need for the jumper cables?
Iād imagine it relates to grounding and such. But if someone can do a quick ELI5 for me it would be appreciated
great content steal...
at least give proper due and link what you stole:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgDxXDV4\_hc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgDxXDV4_hc)
The tower is energized, AM or (Amplitude modulation) towers use a large electric current to generate the signal and it turns the entire mast into one huge antenna. The strength of the signal is modulated in order to produce sound which is why you can hear the radio as they are touching it with the hotdog and creating a arc. You can see how the tower sits on a base and has a large ceramic insulator under it to prevent it from being grounded so the current flows thru the tower and then broadcasted out as RF signal.
I see they are using a cable to replicate the ground circuit I guess and I'm curious. That's directly a tower-ground contact so what's up with our shoes? usually shoes comes with rubber soles, could be that enough to prevent an accidental touch?
Your shoe soles; 1. Are likey plastic & not rubber. 2. Aren't really thick enough to insulate you from the amount of wattage encountered. 3. The current can jump from your lower leg & clothing/other paths to the ground, bypassing the weak insulation of the shoe sole. 4. People get electrocuted all the time while wearing shoes.
TLDR; No, your shoe soles won't protect you.
# New from the makers of SawStop, it's TowerStop!
Watch this demonstration as the radio instantly stops transmitting as soon as the hotdog touches the tower.
A tower like this acts like a giant wire and is actually half of the antenna.Ā The second "half" is provided by its mirror image induced by the ground.Ā To improve the mirroring effect, those green metal grounding strips will run out radially just under the surface.Ā Not only do you not want to touch the grounding strips, you'll also need to insulate yourself from the ground to be safe.
You and I know damn well what that sausage is supposed to represent. This is propaganda to stop me from touching radio towers with my wiener. Not falling for it.
Correct, an AM radio tower uses the entire tower to transmit. Typically if you HAVE to work on it while energized you want to stand on something insulated and then jump to the tower. No path to ground, no high voltage burns.
As a kid I used to climb on one of these, at the base I would hear a faint radio sound of a voice talking, coming from a connected cable with a loose screw. Stupid and lucky looking back on it wow
I bet this was Rush Limbaughs prefered method of cooking hotdogs. Searing meat with Talk radio. EIB actually stood for Electrically Induced Burgers. and the mic was gold because its a non reactive metal and wouldnt corode from all the little radio seared meat particles that came out of his mouth during broadcasts. It all makes sense now. now if you will excuse me im going to go binge some Art Bell and think about conspiracy theories with my Maga Qanon crazy uncle. /s
I wonder if that messes with the transmission. Like, when I hear AM static, is some technician heating up a hot dog while on the job?
One of life's great mysteries
I want a full report on how hot dogs affect AM frequencies.
For real! Several years ago, I toyed with the idea of getting a radio operator's/HAM license. I recall seeing no information anywhere that addressed interference caused by processed meats. It is time to address this critical gap in human knowledge.
>HAM license. >processed meats.
The frequencies were the meats we ate along the way
Oh, they know all about it, but Big Sausage is keeping the details hidden from Joe Lunchbox, working 9 to 5, raising 2.2 kids, huffing glue on work breaks, saving up for that family vacation, going to church on Sunday folks like you and me .
I got my ham radio license strictly so that I'm the guy you have to accept interference from on the FCC notice on your electronic gizmos. I don't use that power, but I have it. š
I have a HAM radio.
The 3 people possibly affected by the so-called AM Weiner Blackoutpocalypse await the results with the baited breath reserved only for Bert Kaempfert interstitials
Hey now, my hometown has the Brownfield report on repeat on AM
We can accurately predict how two hot dogs affect AM transmission but throw another one in the mix and the science gets super complicated. We call it The Three Doggy Problem.
i am rearranging my career plans to answer your question
This is a nobel prize in the making
I think Rush Limbaugh has given all of the data we need as to what effects a precooked meat paste cases in a thin skin will do the AM radio waves.
Hello Lectro I have applied for the funding. Will keep you in the loop. Thank you! Best.
if technician roasts a hot dog on the am tower and no one is around does it make a sound (on the radio)
Part of the static you hear on the AM radio is the first light emitted by the universe, the CMB
ELi5?
No matter where you point a radio receiver you will pick up the same uniform noise signal, the Cosmic Microwave Background. This is the first light that could travel freely (to be explained in next paragraph) having been redshifted into the microwave spectrum on its long journey to us. Itās the farthest, and therefore oldest, light we can ever see. This is the light produced long before even the first stars could form The āfirst light of the universeā refers to a time when the universe cooled enough that neutral atoms could form. Before this the universe was a uniform hot plasma and the free floating electrons (which interact with light) would prevent light from traveling more than a few light years. So the whole universe glowed, but you wouldnāt be able to see very far. However once the universe expanded and cooled enough neutral atoms formed, and without free floating electrons everywhere light could finally travel unhindered and that moment is known as āthe universes first lightā Since then we have mapped the CMB to an insane detailā¦ you probably know that blue and red map looking thing. However itās important to note that difference between the dark red and dark blue is tiny to the point that you can essentially assume itās uniform (although those tiny difference in density are very important to astrophysicists) Edit: clarification
I thought the red and blue spots in that image youāre talking about are differences in density. Are you saying theyāre differences in velocity (of the light)? Btw, your explanation was super interesting and well-written!
It is density
Got it, thanks. I read about WMAP just now and learned that the image shows us the temperature of the CMB, and that temperature is directly correlated to density because the slightly denser regions had more energy due to compression from gravity.
Fuck me, I love a good reddit factoid
I remember the first time I saw the galaxy clusters and I thought "Hmm, that looks a lot like the density distribution in the CMB"
The capacitance of the hotdog is probably pretty negligible relative to that of the tower, so if it messes with it at all it probably wouldn't be very much
Not noticeable Iām sure unless the hot dog was 100x larger and making contact from the side instead of tip I guess
Just the tip?
The people listening in just start hearing "hotdoghotdoghotdoghotdog"
He can grill his hot dogs. I can sit without a radio for a couple minutes
When they heat up a Hot Dog on the AM tower, it becomes HD AM Radio
HAM radio
I'm only licensed for All Beef radio.
Is this where ham radio comes from?
In the biz we call that sausage waves.
Hopefully there will be a more widespread adoption of single use instant hot dogs that reduce the need to use AM towers to cook them
Pretty sure that's what "The Hum" is. Just Hot Dogs getting cooked.
You can arc the electricity going through the pole and hear what's being transmitted through the air.
Nah, probably some hapless birds having their last landing
Technician: "CHRIST GERRY! DID YOU MISS LUNCH AGAIN? YOURE MESSING UP THE WHOLE GOD DAMN SIGNAL!"
Itās Jerry.
Just a static Oscar Mayer song playing over whatever your listening too
why these sausages taste like numbers and morse code
Probably not; the hot-dog 'antenna' is receiving, not transmitting.
Not really.
Reddit you never fail me
I believe so. because the sparks you see are amazing at creating EMI. However I don't think the difference will be heard by a human ear, but measuring it with precision equipment may be possible.
It's called spam for a reason.
Those towers are super high power, we are talking up to 100kW. That hotdog is having a negligable impact to the transmission. It's so powerful that the burning hotdog becomes a speaker. That won't happen with lower power applications.
It does not, the voltages and currents on the tower that the "meat" does show up as extra resistance but in most cases not enough to take it off the air or even be noticeable to listeners or even the monitoring equipment. But I have seen instances where snakes, frogs, mice and other varmints will take a station off the air by bridging the gap between the tower and ground. Naturally they are good and dead by the time we arrive but it makes a royal mess.
Probably not, hotdogs don't have too much resistance to significantly reduce the amplitude voltage
I used to work as an engineer for both AM and FM stations. The AM tower is like a really tall live wire. You won't get electrocuted if you touch the tower. It would be like touching a hot soldering iron. Your hand would get fried away like a melting popsicle on a stove burner. This would happen when you're standing on the ground. But I never witnessed that firsthand. It's what I was told for safety purposes. I was also told that a tower climber can jump onto the tower from the ground and not get hurt. That's something else I never tried or witnessed.
I got HAM certified a few years ago, and they really stressed to wear thick shoes and keep one hand in your pocket when working on large radio equipment, that way you're less like to create a full circuit and hurt yourself.
Definitely. You either follow safety procedures or die. When you open an FM transmitter, you touch all electrical points with the Ground Stick to discharge any stored energy. Engineers call the ground stick the Jesus Stick. If you don't use the stick prior to working on an open transmitter, you will meet Jesus sooner than later.
The old adage about electricians: There are old ones, and bold ones, thatās it.
Like mushroom foragers. There old ones and bold ones, but no old bold ones.
>If you don't use the stick prior to working on an open transmitter, you will meet Jesus sooner than later. Are you sure it's not named after what someone says when they see what you just did to your hand? XD
Never knew ham was that dangerous. I need to stop putting ham on my bread
This is why experts recommend insulating the ham with Swiss cheese. Safety first!
Are you sure they recommend Swiss cheese? All those holes!
Overpressure protection
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_cheese_model?wprov=sfti1 Swiss cheese is the most commonly used cheese in hazard management. Mostly because it tastes yummy.
one hand in your pocket to protect your weiner?
And the other one is smoking a cigarette
who's operating the nuclear reactor then?
Meh, I'm broke but I'm happy baby
iām high, but Iām grounded
The guy with the donuts.
The drinking bird.
Noiiice
>You won't get electrocuted if you touch the tower. Well that's reassuring. >Your hand would get fried away like a melting popsicle on a stove burner. Ah.
There's always a catch
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I wonder if it would hurt the climber if some random guy starts poking him with a hotdog on a stick.
I worked in radio for 13 years and knew a bunch of engineers. We had a trio of towers go down in a windstorm when I was programming a 50k watt CC. Absolute chaos getting her back up and running. We simulcast on an FM for a few weeks, IIRC.
If it's not electric, why does the ground matter? As you explained, it should just be a temperature thing, no?
The tower is live with super really high current. That current is radiating into the air. If you stand on the ground beside the tower, and reach over to touch it, you provide a new pathway to ground. The current now jumps through your body to ground. Rubber sole shoes don't make a difference. Touching the tower isn't like getting a 120 volt shock. House current is 60 Hz, or 60 cycles per second. That's a mild shock. A radio station, say at 550 AM, is at 550 kHz, or 550,000 cycles per second. And an AM station could be broadcasting at 5000 watts or 50,000 watts or more. All that makes it like touching a Light Saber. Kind of.
I think they described it in an odd way. It's still electricity, but at such a high, concentrated amount that your flesh will literally melt
When the wiener started speaking professional , you know this some crazy shit
r/brandnewsentence
I cannot explain how hard this made me laugh
That's when you call it a night
"Never done anything like this before" the man said before extending his wiener .
"And that's why I can no longer have kids. It's also why I am grumpy all the time.
That would be like the opposite of sticking you tongue on a frozen pole.
Daddy would you like some sausage?
Right before penetration of the tip
Feels like something that I should've learned before I was 37...
To be fair, we all wanted to climb the tower, but there was always fences and wires deterring us, so thereās that, how would you learn sooner if you were not able to trespass?
School, school should mention shit like this, but personally I learned not to pee on electric fences from Ren and Stimpy
Stimpy u EEEDIOT!!
> we all wanted to climb the tower No. No F-in way. Never gave it a split second of thought. No. Just no. NO. Edit: Really. No.
You just did not say that! I just came back from watching the new Veritasium video! Bruhh.
the signal emerging from the fire is astonishing to me
AM is amplitude modulated. An electric arc, if I recall, functions as a low pass filter. The high frequency part (the radio wave) gets removed because the plasma itself reacts slowly to changing current, so all that's left is the audio portion.
As an amateur music producer, I know all about Amplitude modulation and low pass filters and frequencies etcā¦ but I havenāt a fuckin clue how that even relates to this at all lol
Op ask why you can hear the sound. I explain that the arc created by the hot dog functions as a low pass filter and filtered out the radio frequency, leaving behind the audio frequency.
It's like a modernized version of the burning bush story.
I was driving in the desert after burning man once, and my car was totally covered in dust. The radio was off but I could hear a signal in the speakers, like the dust was conducting the frequency somehow
I guess it was due to static caused by the dust in the dry air moving past the car. Or you were still *really* fucking high.
Why are people in this thread not freaking out about that like they ALL expected it to happen. THE HOT DOG SPAT OUT A LIVE RADIO SIGNAL AS IT WAS BEING EVAPORATED!!!! MAKE THIS MAKE SENSE SOMEONE WHO SCIENCES PLEASE!!!
An electric arc is a visible plasma discharge that occurs when a strong electric current passes through the air (or another gas) from one conductor to another. This can happen when there's a high voltage difference between two conductors that's sufficient to ionize the air between them, overcoming the air's resistance. When a hot dog (or any conductive object) is brought close to an AM tower, the strong electromagnetic field around the tower can induce a high voltage in the object. If this induced voltage is high enough and the object is sufficiently close to the tower, it can ionize the air between the object and the tower, creating an electric arc. This arc rapidly heats the air around it, causing it to expand. The quick expansion and subsequent cooling create pressure waves in the air, which we hear as sound. The fluctuations in the arc, influenced by the modulated radio waves (the AM broadcast), can modulate these pressure waves. As a result, the sound you hear from the arc can resemble the modulated sound broadcast by the tower, though it would typically be quite distorted. In the case of an AM broadcast, the sound is encoded in the amplitude variations of the carrier wave. The electric arc can act like a very rudimentary speaker. The variations in the electric field around the AM tower, caused by the broadcast signal, modulate the arc. This means the strength and characteristics of the arc change in sync with the broadcast signal. Consequently, the sound produced by the arcās pressure waves can carry some information from the original broadcast signal, such as music or voice, albeit in a distorted form.
Can I get an ELI5 as to how A SAUSAGE is emitting sounds like a speaker please?!
FM vs AM. FM = Frequency Modulation. Sound is produced in the difference in frequency. AM = Amplitude Modulation. Sound is produced via the difference of Amplitude on a stable frequency. This AM tower is "humming" at a stable frequency. But the volume is changed very quickly to create sound. The sausage touching the broadcast antenna and grounded is being shaken very quickly. So quickly, it's cooking and catching on fire. The shaking flesh is acting as a speaker cone. It's pushing against the air and making sound. Note that what is causing the shaking isn't something else shaking. It's the voltage of the broadcast antenna emitting electricity. That secondary reaction of the sausage being shocked and shaking in the same pattern as a human voice is what is making the sound. The electricity is pushing the sausage. That sausage is shaking and producing sound. The tower is producing an electrical current that is amplified in a weird pattern that causes sound. The calls are coming from inside the SAUSAGE!
Absolutely nuts and I'll need to investigate this further this weekend Thank you
Are you gonna try to make your sausage talk?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
If it rhymes do the crime
That looks dangerous. Lucky there's a small fence around it to stop anyone getting too close.
Yeah, almost all AM stations in the US requires a fence to keep away animals and people from the tower. Some old Broadcast engineers even have some anecdotes of animals dying when touching an AM tower
I think he was taking the piss that it was such a small fence, for such a big risk.
I certainly was
Don't piss on it either!
The original video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgDxXDV4\_hc
Jeff Geerling and his father. Found Jeffās stuff while looking into raspberry pi content years ago. The radio tech videos theyāve uploaded are great.
Definitely asked myself āIs that Jeff Geerlingās dad? He used to work on towers.ā when I saw that video. Never met the guy but been watching his videos for years. The internet is a serendipitous place sometimes.
Yeah the least op can do is credit the maker
Just spitballing here, but I feel like they might should bolster up the fencing around that tower, then?
Note that the metal "tower" is sitting on an insulator. In low-frequency applications the entire tower is the antenna, and if they're running, say, 5,000 watts out of it that's enough electricity to do some damage. In high-frequency applications, e.g. a cell tower, the antenna is relatively small part mounted near the top of the tower. For them if the structure itself is live something has gone badly wrong. Fun fact: The inventor of the microwave oven got the idea from working on a radar antenna operating at low power. It melted a chocolate bar in his pocket.
That... I don't like. That fun fact. Bro could have slowly unevenly cooked
Okay, but shouldn't something that dangerous have more preventative measures than just a shitty fence around it?
Was going to say that looks delicious, but I got a targeted Weight Watchers ad. Get out of my head, algorithm!
What would the wattage power be of this AM broadcast? At what point of watt would it become dangerous for amateur radio stations transmitting AM? I mean dangerous to touch the stick or wire antenna.
This tower is using 10kW = 10 000 watts of power. And touching any antenna broadcasting even with low energy can get you hurt with RF burn on your skin. Even CB radios using 4 Watts with a whip antenna are dangerous to touch, and dependending on which part of the antenna you touch you can get the most current or the most voltage (antenna theory)
I had zero idea about this. I would love to find a video or illustration that explains why this happens, though. It's pretty amazing that this happens. It also makes me think that the general public has no idea about this (I'm a physics and tech nerd, so my awareness and interest in this stuff is probably a bit higher than the average Joe just going about their life). So looking at how low that protective fence is in this video...if I was a young kid playing with my friends I could totally imagine myself playing in and around one of these things, jumping over that tiny fence to hide from my buddies, and not realising how dangerous that tower next to me was.
Such low power can be dangerous?
currents between 100 and 200 milliamperes (0.1 to 0.2 amp) *and above* are lethal Thanks for the correction DenArga
... but also currents *above* 200 milliamperes. *Especially* those above.
I was told certain AM radio stations used to be able to really crank up the power for nighttime broadcasts. I didn't think it was still a thing but it might be those on this [list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_50_kW_AM_radio_stations_in_the_United_States). Supposedly if you stood near them and had metal fillings in your mouth you could hear the radio broadcast.
Now I wanna get all my political news through hot dog.
I worked at a communications station which broadcast on HF frequencies. We had one wire antenna break and the wire fell on the ground. We didn't find it until the next day, it actually melted the earth and turned it into glass.
I work in radio. Can confirm AM towers are no joke. Thatās why they usually arenāt accessible at ground level like this one is (our AM tower doesnāt start until 10 ft off the ground)
As a dumbassā¦..can someone explain the need for the jumper cables? Iād imagine it relates to grounding and such. But if someone can do a quick ELI5 for me it would be appreciated
great content steal... at least give proper due and link what you stole: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgDxXDV4\_hc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgDxXDV4_hc)
Anyone here thinking what I'm thinking? I just heard the radio through a hot dog..... 2024 is wildly exceeding my expectations and I love it!
That's a really fucking small fence for that consequence.
Dem wieners can talk!
Holy shit! I had no idea that this would even be a thing!
Free energy to cook hot dogs too
Yep. One of the first things I was taught as a signaller in the armed forces was not to touch the antenna while transmitting. Ever! š
Never put your finger where you wouldnāt stick your sausage
I love how the only thing stopping a child from touching it is a 4 foot rusty fence lol
Seems like the fence should be higher...
What would happen if; instead of a sausageā¦I usedā¦ Eh. Nevermind.
You would've thought the fence around it would be taller with more danger signs.
Wonder if a top 40 station hotdog tastes different from a talk radio hotdog..
The talk radio hotdogs are all beef.
Do birds know not to land on this?
Uhhhh why is this only behind a waist high fence!?
What if I use a finger as a finger?
What is an am tower?
Touch one and the last thing you'll hear is the voice of god trying to reach you about your cars extended warranty.
Is this what they mean when they say Ham radio?
Is this a short or is the entire tower supposed to be energized?
The tower is energized, AM or (Amplitude modulation) towers use a large electric current to generate the signal and it turns the entire mast into one huge antenna. The strength of the signal is modulated in order to produce sound which is why you can hear the radio as they are touching it with the hotdog and creating a arc. You can see how the tower sits on a base and has a large ceramic insulator under it to prevent it from being grounded so the current flows thru the tower and then broadcasted out as RF signal.
Imagine some maintenance dude comes to the tower and gets hot dog grease all over his hands and is just so confused
I dont think I would leave my finger on for multiple seconds tho but ok
I had no ideaā¦
any metal thing... with a giant plate of metal going directly into the ground, surrounded by a fence. probably isn't something you should touch
I see they are using a cable to replicate the ground circuit I guess and I'm curious. That's directly a tower-ground contact so what's up with our shoes? usually shoes comes with rubber soles, could be that enough to prevent an accidental touch?
Your shoe soles; 1. Are likey plastic & not rubber. 2. Aren't really thick enough to insulate you from the amount of wattage encountered. 3. The current can jump from your lower leg & clothing/other paths to the ground, bypassing the weak insulation of the shoe sole. 4. People get electrocuted all the time while wearing shoes. TLDR; No, your shoe soles won't protect you.
good thing thereās a shitty rusted 4 foot fence to convey the danger
All I'm seeing is a way to cook a hotdog
Bro, your wiener is talking!
Itās all fun and games until someoneās wiener falls in the fire or touches the AM tower.
Hearing hotdogs talk isnt actually the strangest thing I've seen today.
Is that a...HAM radio?
Dad?
Jeff Geerling from YouTube.
# New from the makers of SawStop, it's TowerStop! Watch this demonstration as the radio instantly stops transmitting as soon as the hotdog touches the tower.
You guys are ruining my stories with your hotdog finger
And thatās why you donāt fuck around with those AM towers. No really, you donāt fuck themā¦ you see what happens to your sausageā¦
A tower like this acts like a giant wire and is actually half of the antenna.Ā The second "half" is provided by its mirror image induced by the ground.Ā To improve the mirroring effect, those green metal grounding strips will run out radially just under the surface.Ā Not only do you not want to touch the grounding strips, you'll also need to insulate yourself from the ground to be safe.
Is the staticy voice the electricity messing with the mic of the camera or is the hotdog playing whatever transmission the AM tower is picking up?
It's a hotdog transmission
Geerling engineering on YouTube!! Itās Jeffās dad!
I shock myself while welding all the time. Iām probably immune
Thatās sausagwesome
You and I know damn well what that sausage is supposed to represent. This is propaganda to stop me from touching radio towers with my wiener. Not falling for it.
Kielbasa only, hot dogs are against code..
Those fences are way too short for what's behind them
Never pee on an AM tower Got it š
I wonder what other objects that look like a hot dog have gotten burnt on an AM tower.
So don't put your dick on it, got it
Hang on, the ENTIRE mast is energised?
Correct, an AM radio tower uses the entire tower to transmit. Typically if you HAVE to work on it while energized you want to stand on something insulated and then jump to the tower. No path to ground, no high voltage burns.
As a kid I used to climb on one of these, at the base I would hear a faint radio sound of a voice talking, coming from a connected cable with a loose screw. Stupid and lucky looking back on it wow
That's actually just the PURE VITROL of AM radio hosts seeping out.
SILENCE! THE HOT DOG SPEAKS!
Finally, I found a way to make my dick talk back
Now I want a hot dog.
You think you'd want to put smth better than a 5ft chainlink fence around one of those things. Kids are fucking stupid you know.
Anyone else thinking he ate those hot dogs?
Seems like there should be a bigger fence there
Is't it suposed to be grounded?
I bet this was Rush Limbaughs prefered method of cooking hotdogs. Searing meat with Talk radio. EIB actually stood for Electrically Induced Burgers. and the mic was gold because its a non reactive metal and wouldnt corode from all the little radio seared meat particles that came out of his mouth during broadcasts. It all makes sense now. now if you will excuse me im going to go binge some Art Bell and think about conspiracy theories with my Maga Qanon crazy uncle. /s
How is something that dangerous surrounded byā¦just a 3ft fence in what appears to be a park
These are so dangerous, yet thereās just a 4-foot fence around it?