[CQ-Contest] Tower safety

[rjairam at gmail.com]

I have a safety cable system on my AN wireless self supporting tower. It
works very well, and the brake allows essentially the freedom of free
climbing with the safety of being attached to the tower at all times. The
cable is tensioned with a spring at the base of the tower to reduce the
possibility of swing falls and go maximize brake effectiveness if you do
fall. At the very top you have to transition to using lanyards but it’s a
lot better going up and coming down.

73
RIa
N2RJ

On Mon, Nov 18, 2019 at 9:51 PM Rich Assarabowski <konecc at snet.net> wrote:

> 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.)
>
>
>
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