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[TowerTalk] Installing a Long Mast.

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Installing a Long Mast.
From: ddjones@nas.com (Dale Jones K5MM)
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 1997 12:45:29 -0700 (PDT)
   
   Ron,  KU7Y wrote, and asked about installing Long Masts:

   Ron,
   For gosh sakes, don't cut the mast.  An easy solution is to tie a
   tag-line to the end of the mast you want to put down into the tower.
   Tie the tag-line about 10 to 12 inches from one end of the mast,
   using a secure non-slip knot.  You may need to install a muffler
   clamp onto the mast at this point to ensure that the tag-line rope 
   does not slip off the mast.  You will remove this muffler clamp
   before the mast is slipped into the tower top.

   This tag line should be about 30 feet long, so that you can easily
   grab it with your hands as the mast passes by you going up the
   tower on the gin-pole rope, and easily maneuver the mast once it
   is lifted to the top of the gin pole.

   The gin pole rope should be tied to the mast at a point about
   8 or 9 feet from one end.  That leaves the other side of the mast about
   15 feet long.  That spacing will then create an unbalanced situation  
   with the mast once it is lifted toward the top of the tower.  This 
   is of course okay.  The 'short' end of the mast is the
   part you want to put down into the tower.

   Use a ground crew to pull on the gin pole rope, to pull the mast up.
   If the mast is .25" wall thickness tubing, it may take 2 people to 
   pull the mast it up, because they are very heavy.

   The person at the top of the tower must grab the tag-line as the mast 
   goes by.   Note:  The heavy part of the mast (the longest part, from 
   where you tie the gin pole rope) will point down, so the tag-line will 
   go by you first.  Pull the mast all the way to the top of the gin pole.
   You must have the gin pole mounted on the highest part of the tower.

   Now, with the tag line in your hand, pull the short end of the mast 
   down toward you, and put it into the top of the tower.  Have the 
   gin-pole rope ground crew give you a little slack and the mast (because
   it is heavy) should just slip down into the tower top.  You will have 
   to untie the tag line rope fairly quickly though, because you will 
   want the mast to slip down into the tower a few feet.

   You could do this with winches more easily, but more expensively.
   It does work.

   Good luck

   73
   Dale Jones  K5MM
**************************************************************************

>Hi All,
>
>I will soon be at the point of needing to put my mast down
>into the top of the tower.
>
>I am using a Rohn gin pole which is about 11' - 12'. The
>mast is 24'.
>
>How do I keep it hanging down?? Or would I be better off
>cutting about 4' off the mast? (I only need about 20' to
>handle what I'm doing).
>
>Thanks,
>
>73, Ron,     SOWP 5545M,
>
>.........KU7Y.....ARCI #8829.....Monte "Ron" Stark.....
>....ku7y@sage.dri.edu...........Washoe Lake, Nevada....
>....QRP-L #17...ARS #49...NorCal #330.....NRA LIFE.....


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