I noticed that Luso has counterweights on their big boy towers. How nice would
it be to have the counterweight totally balance the tower so you could push the
tower up and down by hand, like a garage door? It wouldn't take much of a
motor/winch to raise the tower, and it could go up and down real fast.
Chris
On Aug 2, 2013, at 22:10 , Grant Saviers wrote:
My thinking about locks - every item has a failure mode and locks are no
exception. What if the lock won't disengage or worse snags with the tower up
or partially down? How does one safely disengage the lock with the tower
weight on it and perhaps the pull down cable also tensioned? Would you climb
that tower? Rent a bucket truck or boom lift and work under the antennas that
could come down on you? (boom lifts go to over 100' so removing all antennas
first is probably an answer).
It seems to me that locks create another complex set of trade-offs. Well
maintained cables and winches are one answer, but stuff happens even then.
Maybe a simple redundant or "safety" cable would be a better alternative. Then
one more item to maintain and fail. An inertial lock like safety belts if the
tower descends to fast? (loop to the above issues).
OTOH, I think Luso and I know Will-Burt make locking mechanisms for their
towers and tallest pneumatic masts, respectively. Anyone know how they work?
How you get the tower/mast down if a lock fails?
Grant KZ1W
I own 4 crank ups & 2 Will-Burt masts
On 8/2/2013 5:41 AM, Jim Thomson wrote:
> Date: Thu, 1 Aug 2013 20:13:45 -0400
> From: Mickey Baker <fishflorida@gmail.com>
> To: "towertalk@contesting.com" <towertalk@contesting.com>
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Crankup tower safety question... (Crankup
> Danger!)
>
> Patrick, AF5CK's thread on his tower raised an issue that I really don't
> understand...
>
> Why isn't there a "lock" mechanism on crank up towers?
>
> We spend lots of money on these things, and, basically, they hang there
> suspended by a single cable. We all have either known someone or have had
> our own tower's cable (or winch) fail and the tower crashes, with great
> damage to tower and antennas.
>
> I could thing of a number of gadgets that could be made to work:
>
> - A solenoid locking bolt
> - A brake mechanism (Electronically controlled?)
> - Stops every few feet requiring a raise then lower like a safety ladder.
>
> But here I am, about to step off into yet another $10k tower project with
> another tower hanging by a cable. (I feel like Homer Simpson - Doh!)
>
> I realize that the market is small and price sensitive for these towers,
> but certainly this has been recognized as a problem.
>
> Isn't there a better way? If there is, and I can implement it, I'd do so,
> simply for the purpose of making the tower safer for me and my antennas.
>
> Thoughts?
>
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|