[TowerTalk] Safety Device for Trylon Tower?

[Dan Levin]

I am putting up a T400-80 Trylon 80 foot freestanding 
tower in a few weeks.  I'd like to be as safe as 
possible when climbing it, but I am also a cheap 
SOB.  So I am thinking about installing a very simple 
fall protection system.

My idea is to take 6 pieces of 1/4"x2"x2" or so angle 
iron, and drill a 1/2" hole about 2" from one end.  I 
would bolt these pieces horizontally onto 2 legs of 
the tower about every 10 feet, with the end with the 
hole sticking out from the tower 6" or so and with 
the hole facing up and down.  Then I would attach one 
end of an 80 foot long piece of 1/4" wire rope to the 
top of the tower, and thread it down through the 
holes in the pieces of angle iron and then attach it 
to the bottom of the tower.  So I would have a wire 
rope running up the tower, spaced off the tower 6" by 
these pieces of angle iron every 10 feet.

The idea is that I would clip my fall arrest lanyard 
to the wire rope as I climb up or down.  Every 10 
feet, I would come to one of the pieces of angle 
iron, and I would have to unclip from the wire rope 
on one side of the iron and re-clip to the wire rope 
on the other side.  Other than that, while I am 
climbing the lanyard clasp would just slide on the 
wire rope.

If I fall, the lanyard clasp would slide down the 
wire rope until it got to the nearest piece of angle 
iron where it would stop.  The angle iron would catch 
the lanyard, and the lanyard would arrest my fall.  
In essence, I would be clipped in to the next lowest 
angle iron.  My fall would never be more than 10 feet 
plus the length of my lanyard.

Does this make any sense at all?  It would be cheap 
(1/4" stainless cable is pretty cheap, and so is the 
angle) and doesn't require any special 'trolley' or 
ratchet to work.  It seems like it would be 
effective, and I am much more likely to use it than I 
am to clip on to the tower itself every 4'.

Thoughts?  Suggestions?  Am I crazy?  Is every 10' 
too often - can I get away with every 20'?

Thanks much as always,

               ***dan, K6IF

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