[TowerTalk] Unsafe Towers @ field day

[David Robbins]

my recommendation is that your club president or the owner of the property where
the event will take place should appoint a safety chairman who has the final
word on all installations.  this should be someone familiar with towers and
ropes, preferably an engineer or professional tower person.  the field day
chairman must be told that nothing goes up and no one climbs until this person
ok's it.  that person should also be charged with checking generator grounding,
storage of gasoline, roping off and marking guy wires so visitors don't run into
them, etc. if nothing else, hold the club's liability policy(you do have
insurance don't you???) over his head and the property owners head and make sure
they know that unless it is done that way the club will not lend their name, or
insurance, to the event.

i agree with the others, nylon rope is too stretchy unless you go to large sizes
(over 1/2" twisted or solid braid, not hardware store braid over filler). 
steel, poly or dacron ropes are much prefered.  anchor stakes must be 3-4' into
the ground and be doubled... drive one in 3-4' with about 2' above ground at
about a 45 degree angle away from the tower, drive another one about 2' behind
that at the same angle... tie a rope from the top of the first one down to the
bottom of the second one.  tie the rope from the tower to the bottom of the
first stake. this is old boyscout method for tieing down tents in soft ground
and is the only decent way to guy to stakes.  environmental groups hate you to
tie on to trees. the car you guy to will always be the one that has to leave in
a hurry saturday night.  screw anchors are better, but can be a real pain to put
in and take out and must be put in all the way to be effective.

-- 
David Robbins K1TTT (ex KY1H)
k1ttt@berkshire.net   or   robbins@berkshire.net
http://www.berkshire.net/~robbins/k1ttt.html

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