[TowerTalk] Crank-up Tower - Ladder to Platform

[n5ar]

Fred: I have been doing this for 13 years and think it is the perfect way to

deal with a crankup tower. It would seem that tilting the tower over to work

on antennas is desirable but it is not the easy way. Lots of work on the
winch doing this and you cannot rotate the beam to access various points.
  Using the ladder, you can either tilt the beam if not using stacked
monobanders, or simply lower it to the ground with a pulley attached to the
mast above the beam. I have lowered a large 4 el 15m monobander, changed the

element tip settings, and replaced it in 45 mins total time.
  I use a 20 ft x 0.25 mast extending  about 16 ft out. I step off the top
of the ladder to stand on the top of the tower when removing the other 2
beams in a monoband stack. I have a couple of steps on the mast made of 6
inch aluminum channel material with 2 muffler clamps to attach to the mast.
This allows me to reach a 2 el 20  in the middle and a light 3 el 10 at the
top.
  My ladder is a 32 ft aluminum extension job. It rests with the base about
8 ft out from the tower. Climbing it is very similar to climbing up stairs
and you feel quit safe, even when you remove your hands from it.
  There is some chance of the ladder sliding sideways at the top where it
touches the tower. To avoid this, I have a pulley attached at the top of the

tower bottom section. A rope thru this connects to the ladder top rung and
extends to the ground. I pull this taut and tie to the tilt over fixture  or

the base of the tower. Most ladders are not wide enough at the top to
straddle the tower and have a tendency to move around. A person could  buy
one of those U shaped yokes like painters use for the top of the tower to
keep the ladder from slipping sideways. I see them at Home Depot and similar

stores.
  It is important to not let the ladder top slip inside the tower structure
or it will prevent raising the tower. I leave my ladder on the tower year
round.

Good Luck, 73, Dan, N5AR



Frederick Toth wrote:

> I have a crank up tower from US Tower and I am considering putting up an
> external ladder to provide (slightly safer!) access to the tower
> platform.  If you have any suggestions on ladders or an opinion about
> this idea, please let me know.
>
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