At 08:32 PM 2/16/96 -0500, ralph h young wrote:
...
>Anyway, I had been thinking about a big crank-up, but now I'm having second
>thoughts. I always worndered what you did if it got hung up and you could
>not get it down. Now it seems that I have three choices - pay some one else
>to climb the tower (I'll be darned if I'm going to ask another ham to climb
>a tower that I wont't), or get something like one of the Heights fold overs
>or put up one of the HAZER towers that Glen Martin Engineering sells. Two
>local hams have the Heights fold over towers (with TH6/7's on top) and I
>have worked on one 25 G Hazer. I'm thinking about his M1870A 70 foot model
>with something like a Force 12 5BA or C4XL. YOUR COMMENTS PLEASE!
FWIW, I am planning a tower installation too. I saw a US Tower TX-472
installation last week that really impressed me. I have some of the
components to make a Rohn Foldover tower, too. I would like to hear more
about tilt-over towers from those who have direct experience.
Here's my thoughts: Every accident I've heard about (so far) with crank up
towers has resulted from someone(s) not following standard safety
procedures. These may include (but not be limited too): ensuring proper
maintenance of raising-lowering systems, NOT climbing extendable towers (at
least not when extended), observing manufacturers ratings, etc.,etc.
I don't see what is the difference between accidents occurring because
someone failed to be safe on a fixed, guyed, tower, and accidents occurring
because someone made a mistake with an extendable. Seems to me the big
difference is that, if I'm on the ground, and the dam thing starts coming
down, I at least have some chance to escape. Not so if I mess up at high
altitude.
I'd appreciate some objective commentary on pros and cons of both setups.
Right now I'm leaning toward a Rohn tiltover for the low beams, and guyed
55G for the big stuff.
73, John
|