IIT Tower Roof

The roof of IIT Tower is the highest point on campus and offers spectacular views of the IIT campus and Chicago skyline. Additionally, the IIT tower roof is home to a series of RF links, some of which are used by IIT as well as others which carry IP based video streams from Chicago Police street view cameras. Access is relatively straightforward and can be obtained by carefully unbolting the handle on the roof hatch which allows the hatch lock to be bypassed. Alarms are present but appear to be nonfunctional. Any added risk as a result of the alarm being potentially repaired can be completely mitigated via the application of some basic electrical knowledge. While spectacular, exploration of the roof of IIT Tower carries a considerably higher risk of detection than other locations. Stairwells are excellent conduits for noise and your activities will be audible several floors away, even if you think you are being quiet. Keeping the 20th floor door open and being ready to leave at a moment's notice is critical. Finally, the temperature difference and windiness from the hatch being open is also easily noticeable throughout most of the stairwell. Therefore, it is advisable to not keep the hatch open for extended periods but to instead use a means such as a c-clamp to allow the hatch to be closed but prevent it from potentially locking. Finally, there is a considerable amount of RF research equipment near the center of the roof area that is extremely fragile and may be affected by bringing RF emitting devices near the equipment. Therefore, I strongly advise keeping your distance from such equipment and never physically touching or otherwise disturbing it.