[TowerTalk] Gin Pole and Rope Economy

[Stan or Patricia Griffiths]

Hi Ron,

I think you meant for this post to go to the whole reflector and not just me.
Anyway, I have a comment and will send your original and my comment to the
entire reflector.

I think your comments are very well put.  I would certianly agree that more
clubs ought to get into the act of investing in some of the more expensive tools
for putting up towers and share them among members.

I think the key word in your post is "capstan winch" which, if I understand what
you are talking about, is really a "power assisted" arrangement using a capstan
but still allowing the user to feel if anything gets "hung up" so you don't
apply so much pull that things break and crash.  Some really nasty accidents
have occurred using powered winches without any clutch arrangement to allow
slippage if something hangs up or using a vehicle on the pull rope.  I simply
will NOT work on a tower where a vehicle or a powered winch without an
adjustable clutch is used to pull things up the tower.  I am convinced that is
why I am still here to talk about it . . .

I apologize if you did not intend for your message to go to all of towertalk,
but I thought it had some valuable information in it we could all benefit from .
. .

Stan
w7ni@easystreet.com

Ronald Anderson wrote:

> Hi folks:
> I do not understand why you are buying so much rope.  #1.  Build yourself a
> good gin pole.  #2  find yourself a good capstan winch, I just bought a 50:1
> gear box which will take a 3/4 HP electric motor.  Mount it on flat piece of
> steel, weld on a square piece of tubing that is the same size as a trailer
> hitch, put it in the trailer hitch, put a "good" pulley at the bottom of the
> tower, then a good gin pole at the top.  All you need is to use that thing
> on your shoulders and you don't have to spend a lot of money.  That 3/4 HP
> will lift more weight that the tower will ever handle.  Where are the clubs
> in this?
> if everyone would pitch in and a little money in you could have a gin pole,
> capstan, and ropes for very little money and everyone can use it.  When new
> or outside members want to use it charge them 5-10 bucks and help them get
> the tower up.  If you go and look at the tower on my web page both of them
> you will see fellow hams around and helping and those that can not
> help work as gophers.  At my place one of them cooked the brats, hamburgers,
> and hotdogs while the rest of use worked on the tower, someone tagged it,
> others hooked it up, others carried the antennas from he front yard to the
> back.   Anyway that's my 2 cents worth.  :-)
> At least it is a good discussion for a change.....
>
> Ron Anderson - WA9PAM
> http://webpages.charter.net/ronald




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