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[TowerTalk] Raising mast?

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Subject: [TowerTalk] Raising mast?
From: kn6di@groupone.net (Dan Arney)
Date: Sat, 23 May 1998 19:29:55 -0700
I made up a plate and used a boat anchor winch rated at 2500# added a pulley
4" in front of the winch to match where I had drilled a hole in the plate
blo the the top plate with the TB. Took the hook off of the cable and put it
through  the hole in the plate and fished it down to the bottom of the mast.
I drilled a hole in the mast and put a strong eye bolt through the mast
reinstalled the hook on the cable and proceed to raise the mast as required
to place 7 yagis on the mast by myself. I have a work platform on a TRI-EX.
Everything worked just fine, with the exception that I had to take the
eyebolt out and put the hook in the bottom of the mast so I could get the
mast high enough to get the rotator into place. Locked the TB to take the
hook out and released t he tension on the TB to let it settle into place. No
problem. Right!! Wrong when the Santa Annas came up the mast was swaying a
lot so I let the tower down. At 4:20 in the AM,  MR. Murphy came along and
let me know that He had control of the situation. As I sat at the computer
listening to the wind blow, all of a sudden I heard a godawful noise of
crunch clang bang and not so much of a Thank you Maam. Went out into the
dark and guess what???? My mast had fallen down onto my 12' satellite dish
over my carport and had missed the Hi tension wires in  front of my house by
30'. Had 5 yagis and a 6M vertical on it above where the mast BROKE. Guess
where it broke! In the hole for the eyebolt. Which was 3" above the 3 ele
15M RAIbeam yagi. That is what is up now. with 3" of mast. Stupid me used 2"
waterpipe a big NO NO Yep I knew better. Everything is now 2" chromemolly
with 1/4 and 1/2" galvanized wall thickness. As the ole saying goes you LIVE
& LEARN Hi.
I am back into cranes PERIOD. I am in the process of putting up 1 quad 4 ele
5 band 1 4 ele 2Mquad,6 M vertical. 2M/440 Vertical, KT-34xA, and the
following RAIbeam monobanders. 2 ele 75m, 3 ele 40M 4 ele 20M, 3 ele 15 M, 2
ele 17M, 4 ele 10M, 4 ele 6M, plus will put in a 2 or 3 ele 12m. All of that
work with a crane and full body harness, belts etc. on 3 towers.
Hank KN6DI


Stan wrote:

> BILL.MADDOCK@fluordaniel.com wrote:
>
> >      I will be trying to raise a 24 ft long mast 2" OD 1/4" wall to
> > the top
> >      of my tower Rohn 45. The mast is already inside the tower it will
> > just
> >      need to be raised up! I have a Rohn 25/45 ginpole, will this be
> > strong
> >      enough for the job or should I look for another means? The mast
> > weighs
> >      about 130 pounds.
> >
> >      73's and Thanks
> >
> >      Bill N4ZI Atoka, TN
>
> I erected my 70' of ROHN 45 by myself  and it was fun.
>
> My mast was 15' of steel with the bottom 10' reinforced, weight was
> about 55 pounds.
>
> On tower assembly, the mast was inserted into the tower when I had 20'
> erected...
>
> after the tpwer was topped off, I pulled the mast up with a boat trailer
> hand crank winch and it worked well. My first attempt to pull the mast
> up by hand was too difficult because of the limited range of pull I
> could apply through the tower section.. I pooped out quickly..
>
> I fabricated a box from construction lumber with the crank winch inside,
> the handle side and the bottom of the bosx was open.. I set the box on
> top of the flat top section cranked out the 3/16"
> line down to the mast..... then cranked it up.   was reasonably
> painless.....
>
> After it was raised  above the lower rotator plate,    I anchored it,
> removed the winch and box
> and manually raised the mast to the level need to start installing
> antennas...
>
> Stan, WA1ECF   Cape Cod, MA   FN41sr
>
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