[CQ-Contest] Tower safety

[Rich Assarabowski]

I agree 100% with Dick WC1M's assessment below of tower climbing gear and
the issues.   There are two issues involving tower climbing that have been
particularly troublesome to me:

 

1)       Getting around obstacles like ring rotors is particularly
challenging as we get older.   Unbuckling yourself and swinging around a
large ring rotor is not something I envision doing any more.    Maybe when
you're 35 years old, not 35 years later L    That is why on my planned tower
I am looking into swinging arm rotators, except that it seems no one is
making them anymore, at least not ones that are capable of turning a larger
antenna.    I've used them in the past with good success with smaller
antennas.   If anyone has a sources or leads, I'd be interested.   I've
written several e-mails to K0XG who advertises one but have not received any
reply from him and have never seen a picture of it .     K7PN at Rotating
Tower Systems no longer makes them.

 

2)      The issue of exactly what happens If you were to slip and fall in a
full-body harness is not something that's often discussed.   I happened to
be talking to a professional antenna installer recently who slipped and fell
off a roof while installing a repeater antenna.   The fall arrest harness
did indeed stop him and the energy-absorbing lanyard did cushion the impact,
but not entirely.   He suffered lower spine damage as a result.  He
described the fall as an incredible jolt on the body, like getting hit by a
truck, with incredible pressure on the thighs from the harness.   I think
most of us are in agreement that a full-body harness is superior to our
traditional positioning belt, but there are additional  factors that need to
be considered - the proper fitting of the harness, the design and the length
of the energy-absorbing lanyard, it's attachment location, etc.    If you
think about it, a fall of just several feet results in a lot of force that
the energy-absorbing lanyard must cushion over a very short distance of its
extension.   I've tossed around the idea of trying out a fall from a few
feet, just to see how well these body harnesses and fall arresters work and
what it feels like, but he definitely talked me out of that idea!!

 

3)      I think the ideal situation would be to have a safety cable
permanently attached to the tower, such that you have very little slack in
the the fall-arrest lanyard at all times.  That would minimize the forces
involved if you were to fall.   I've never seen or heard of an amateur radio
tower with such a system, which is common in commercial tower installations.
With rotating side-mount antennas, a permanent safety cable is not feasible.


 

--- Rich K1CC

 

>As I get older I've been looking for ways to reduce the energy expended on
the tower. I climb with a fall-arrest Y-lanyard, but it takes considerable
energy to hook and unhook the leads every three steps. For that reason I've
>been looking into installing a safety cable, such as a Tuf-Tug. May be
problematic with three Tic rings on the tower, which will still have to be
climbed over, but I believe it will make climbing faster, easier and safer.
Expensive? >Somewhat, but not relative to the cost of the tower, antennas
and my life. And no, free-climbing is not the solution for me.

 

>I don't want to get in the middle of the full-body harness vs belt debate,
but will just state that I use a Petzel full-body harness designed for
industrial uses with the aforementioned fall-arrest Y-lanyard, a Petzel
adjustable >positioning lanyard and a short strap/carabiner attached to the
waist ring for quickly clipping to the tower before placing the positioning
lanyard. Weight carried up/down the tower is a big factor. The harness is
lightweight >compared with other industrial harnesses I've tried. I've also
reduced the weight of the Y-lanyard by using a "Via Ferrata" lanyard with
lighter hooks and elastic straps. I don't know if anyone climbs without a
helmet these days, >but if so I'd I strongly recommend against it. And it's
just as important for every member of the ground crew to wear a safety
helmet. I can't count the number of times I've bumped my head hard on
something on the tower or >dropped a tool with a crew member near the base
of the tower (though I always tell them to

> stay away from the base unless absolutely necessary.)