My good friend and tower man Clint W4PY and yours truly decided to put up
the first of my 105CAS stacks Monday Dec-30. It went up to the top mast at
92' via 2 parallel ropes we had fastened to a 2"x 10' aluminum pipe at the
top, and our pick-up bumpers at the bottom. We lay the 105 boom on the
ropes with the elements held more or less in line with a rope harness. We
pulled the beam up the parallel ropes with a third 1/2" nylon line that was
through a pulley just above the tram boom. The tram parallel ropes were
also 1/2" nylon about 150" long.
The beam slid up the ropes smooth as silk, and Clint didn't even have to
touch it till it toped the tower and started to level off. He reached out
and grabed the boom and "ZAP" he was hit with a static discharge that could
be heard on the ground. It made his hand and fingers numb for a few
seconds, and surprised the heck out of all of us.
LESSON: When sliding an antenna up a long parallel run of nylon rope,
discharge it with a grounding wire before touching it.
LESSON 2: When working at 92' never assume anything. Check and double check
everything, the thing you least expect will jump up and bite you.
73, And be safe.....Mick...W4YV
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