I will soon help a buddy take a long boom yagi back off the top of his
tower. We tramed the yagi up to the top with no problems. We used two tag
lines led around the elements to balance the antenna while it was being
pulled up to the top. We dropped those control/tag lines to the ground when
we had it installed.
Now we need to take it down. When I have done that with shorter boom
antennas I threw a tag line out over the end element one time to get the
control, but found that when the antenna barrel rolls or tips as it begins
its decent, the tag line _could_ come/slip off. I have also used an
aluminum hook to put the tag line out where I wanted it at the boom end and
snagged on a bolt head so it would not come loose.
My questions are:
Going up:
1.) the one problem that I have had is getting the tag lines to cleanly
release when the antenna is installed and attached to the mast. I have let
the tag lines zip out to the boom ends and down to the ground (most of the
time), but have also had the tag line foul by wrapping around an element or
snagging on a piece of hardware. How do others reduce the chance of a foul
up and get their tag lines to cleanly release and fall quietly to the
ground? (of course I could pull them back up to the top with less risk,
but I am lazy...)
Going down:
1.) How do you long boom people get the tag lines securely attached before
you begin tramming it down. My only thought is to tilt the antenna boom
down toward the tower and attach the line, and then tilt the other end of
the boom down and attach that line, and then attach the antenna to the
tram line and level it before letting it start down.... Have never done
that but that seems like it would work. What other strategies have been
used and work well?
The old adage of "all of us are smarter than any one of us alone" clearly
applies to towertalk....
Gary
W5FI
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