Crankup safety

[Ron Dohmen]

> 
> Terry Dunlap wrote:
> > Those certainly sound like good rules to me but I'm still in the dark
about
> > safe alternatives.  Do you crank the tower all the way down and use an
> > extension ladder to reach the mast/rotor/antennas?  Do you still block
the
> > tower when using a ladder and if so how do you safely block it before
using
> > a ladder???
> 
> I use an extention ladder while the tower is "fully retracted".  I lower 
> the
> tower as far as the limit switch will allow, then I place the ladder on 
> the
> lowest section, and never on any of the higher ones for fear it may put 
> a
> wierd strain on the cable etc and casue the tower to shift.  I do not 
> block
> the tower when I'm doing this kind of work. (probably should though)  
> Then I
> climb the ladder to work on boom/mast connection, switch box, feed line
> checks, etc.  If I have to do anything that requires touching the tower
> sections themselves or reachign inside the sections (i.e. rotor work,
> tightening u-bolts on boom for inverted V's or the switchbox) I tilt the 
> tower
> over and then I put a large 12x12 beam that is about 5 feet tall under 
> the
> tower to take th strain off the raising fixture.  Then I extend the 
> sections
> out enough to work on the rotor and block the sections so they won't 
> slide
> back.
> 
> That's my method, anybody else have any hints, suggestions, criticisms?
> 

I rent three sections of scaffold.  I can set it up around the base of the
tower
to work on the mast or rotor.  Or I set it up out from the tower to work on
the
driven element or end elements. 

Ron -  N0AT

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