Fwd: Re: [TowerTalk] Safety Device for Trylon Tower?

[Dave N6NZ]

forgot to copy reflector -- n6nz
>Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 00:25:32 -0700
>To: Dan Levin <djl@andlev.com>
>From: Dave N6NZ <n6nz@n6nz.net>
>Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Safety Device for Trylon Tower?
>
>A commercially available solution is a "cam lock rope grab" -- $50 to $150 
>or so for OSHA approved units -- you run 3-strand 5/8" rope top to bottom 
>and clip onto it with the rope grab.  If you fall, your weight engages the 
>cam and grabs the rope.
>
>73, N6NZ
>
>At 09:53 PM 6/26/01 -0700, you wrote:
>>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
>>
>>List Sponsor: Are you thinking about installing a tower this summer? Call us
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>>
>>-----
>>FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
>>Submissions:              towertalk@contesting.com
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>>Problems:                 owner-towertalk@contesting.com


List Sponsor: Are you thinking about installing a tower this summer? Call us
for information on our fabulous Trylon Titan self-supporting towers - up to
96-feet for less than $2000! at 888-833-3104 <A HREF="http://www.ChampionRadio.com">
www.ChampionRadio.com</A>

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