on 3/4/03 10:39 AM, w3wv@att.net at w3wv@att.net wrote:
> Beating up on people almost never works nearly as well as treating them as if
> they are doing the best they can at the time; after all, they are. Aren't
> you? Even when *you* do "dumb things?"
Beating up on people doesn't work unless they willfully do the same thing
after being instructed properly.
However, treating them as though they are doing their best all the time is a
recipe for failure as well. I always expect people to be able to do better
than they do. I think that not properly consulting engineering manuals and
not properly examining forces and loads before putting up a tower is NOT
doing your best. It's called making short cuts. I don't think he was
putting forth his best effort when he put that tower up. Nothing can
convince me otherwise. Not thinking and using cheap hardware is NOT doing
your best. One has to be careful when putting up something that you can get
killed or kill someone else with. There is NO excuse for not getting
properly educated.
That said, calling him a dumb a** won't help. Giving him a little guidance
and elmering will. However, I'm afraid he still hasn't learned his lesson
as he is using the same anchors and the same turnbuckles. Next time, it
won't be saturated soil, but perhaps a tornado or other strong wind that
will cause his hardware to fail. The amount of forces on a 150 tower are
big. Look at the Rohn spec sheets. I have bigger hardware than he does on
my 53 footer.
And this guy has a link on his web page on tower safety! Come on. If he
goes through the trouble to talk about tower safety on his web page, he
could have read up and asked questions about the sort of hardware to use.
We have to be honest with people when they do dumb things, but nicely. It's
clear that this guy put up his tower as an amateur radio operator in the
true spirit of the word "amateur." Lack of planning is not doing one's
best. I refuse to accept mediocrity in anyone.
73,
Jon
NA9D
-------------------------------------
Jon Ogden
NA9D (ex: KE9NA)
Citizen of the People's Democratic Republik of Illinois
Life Member: ARRL, NRA
Member: AMSAT, DXCC
http://www.qsl.net/na9d <- Updated on 1/22/03!!!
"A life lived in fear is a life half lived."
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