[TowerTalk] In defense of crankups

[Al Williams]

It seems to me that this idea is one for the ARRL to sponsor?

k7puc


-----Original Message-----
From: Stan or Patricia Griffiths <w7ni@teleport.com>
To: Bill Heinzinger <w9ol@dataflo.net>; towertalk@contesting.com
<towertalk@contesting.com>
Date: Monday, April 17, 2000 3:19 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] In defense of crankups


>
>Hi Guys,
>
>Here is what I think would help us all out.  We need an archive of tower
failure
>stories.  I don't know much about archiving or the best way to do it and
maybe
>even the present towertalk archives are exactly what we need.  I don't
know.  In
>any case, I think factual accounts of failed towers (all kinds) would be
>extremely valuable.  They should contain a detailed description of the
tower and
>loads on it, dates of installation and how long they were up before
failure,
>details of the failure itself (ie: what happened?), weather conditions at
the
>time of failure if they had something to do with it, the best analysis of
WHY
>the failure occurred, what could have been done to prevent this failure,
etc.
>Other information such as injuries incurred, legal problems, etc. would
also be
>interesting.  I would like to see an archive of a hundred stories about
tower
>failures that would be searchable by tower type, perhaps.
>
>So if we can find someone to be the keeper of such an archive, I will write
at
>least 10 different stories about true tower failures that I have detailed
>information on.  Maybe we can get others to contribute their stories if
they can
>get past their embarrassment by realizing how telling about their bad
experience
>can be of tremendous benefit to others . . . perhaps even save a life or at
>least prevent a terrible injury.
>
>I wonder if burying this information along with all the other stuff in the
>towertalk archives will hide it too much when it needs to be extremely
visible.
>Maybe the towertalk archives are OK for this.  What do you think, Steve?
>
>Who wants to be the keeper of the stories?  I am ready to write.
>
>It is interesting to note that the people who know the most about tower
failures
>are the companies who make them but I would not expect any of them to tell
us
>anything about the failures they have full knowledge of.  That would not be
>consistant with the safety image they would like to portray.  So, there
lies, I
>am certain, a vast, untapped resource of exactly the information we would
like
>to know but will never be able to get . . . at least from that source.  It
is up
>to us to provide this data to each other.  So get over the embarrassment
and
>write your story for the benefit of your fellow hams.
>
>Stan  w7ni@teleport.com
>
>Bill Heinzinger wrote:
>
>> >
>> > >From this exchange, it would seem that Bill and Stan have, between
them,
>> a
>> > (possibly complete) list of (maybe most) crank                   up
>> hazards.
>> I don't propose to know all the hazards. I don't propose to be an expert.
>> All I tried to say was that due to circumstances I had to make a decision
as
>> to what type of tower would offer the best situation FOR ME.
>> I did not wish to divorce my wife, nor move from my location.
>> I made a decision and set certain levels of use that would offer me the
most
>> advantage and minimize risks.
>> With any tower there is risk. I set parameters that offered me the most
>> security.
>> Do I worry about my tower?
>> EVERY DAY!
>> Maybe that's why I've never had a problem.
>> Prudent decision, made after study combined with experience promote
success.
>>
>> >
>> > Would you two fellas be kind enough to stick your heads together, and,
>> Bill,
>> > you post what hazards of which you're conscious, and Stan, you post the
>> > remainder, for the rest of us?
>> >
>> > Perhaps we could then adjust our compromises and choose among them so
that
>> > at least some of us could have crank
>> ups
>> > without the burden of divorce a/o relocation a/o trying to find another
>> > ambition-of-a-lifetime hobby a/o upsetting the tower police ...
>> >
>> >
>
>
>
>
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