Crankup safety

[Dave Wright]

Which to me brings up an interesting question.  How much weight can the
cables support?  I recently watched a 300lb. person climb a Tri-Ex LM354
ALMOST nested (the standoff's stop it from fully nesting) where only the
cable was supporting him.  Yes, he survived but it looked awful hairy to
me. 

73 de Dave
KB6JOX 

>----------
>From: 	dick@pobox.com[SMTP:dick@pobox.com]
>Sent: 	Thursday, February 13, 1997 2:47 PM
>To: 	towertalk@contesting.com
>Subject: 	Re: Crankup safety
>
>13 FEB - 1635 CST
>
>To All...
>
>I climb my crank-up (TRIEX DX-70) *ONLY* when it is fully retracted and 
>blocked.  I have used the ladder against the bottom section technique 
>(tower fully retracted) and have come to the conclusion there is far 
>more hazard using a ladder which can easily slide off the side of the 
>tower.  Yes, I tied the ladder to the tower after I got to the top of it 
>- but it is still an iffy proposition.
>
>As for the blockers, I use two pieces of angle iron.  It takes a few 
>minutes to work the tower slightly up and down to get the iron properly 
>placed. But when it is inserted and the tower "nudged" a wee bit lower, 
>they are locked into place and almost all of the strain is removed from 
>the cables.  One piece of angle iron is probably enough - but I believe 
>in using both a belt and suspenders - and this spreads the load across 
>two sets of the diagonal braces.
>
>FYI, my crank-up has "positive pull-down" and there is a mechanical stop 
>only for the first moving section.  The other tower sections are 
>supported by the cables full-time.
>
>73 - Dick Isely, WD9GIG
>
>
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