Fw: [TowerTalk] Tower sled systems?????????????
EUGENE SMAR
SPELUNK.SUENO@prodigy.net
Thu, 8 Mar 2001 22:54:09 -0500
TT:
I'm sure Tim is well-intentioned in his wanting to make available for
other Hams throughout the TT world ideas on fabricating towers from
locally-available materials. Not every society on the planet has the
resources and raw materials that are available to us U.S. Hams in nearly
every village, suburb and city. I think we U.S. hams often lose sight of
this simple fact of our economic system - we've got a lot of STUFF available
for purchase.
For the past three years I've been working on a telecom project in
Haiti, reputed to be the poorest country in the western hemisphere. On each
of my visits to this country I've been amazed by the resourcefulness of its
people. The Haitians are able to use available materials to build what
appear to be comfortable houses and utilitarian commercial buildings. I've
seen construction work crews there use numerous slender wooden poles to
shore up the curing concrete floors of their multi-storied buildings. I've
seen bucket brigades of men standing on ladders made of these same poles and
thin scraps of wood for rungs, handing up bucket after bucket of hand-mixed
cement to their co-workers on the floors above them. And I've seen Haitian
carpenters remove the nails from these ladders and supports and carefully
pound them straight again, for use on another building.
When I read the cautionary notes that my fellow American Hams send to
the TT many about following the rules and being safe, I applaud the writers'
conscientiousness. It certainly is better to be safe than sorry. But I
also remind myself that, for Hams of many other nationalities, buying
something factory-made may be out of the question, practically and
economically. In those cases, something homemade may be the only answer.
73 de
Gene Smar AD3F
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Rhodes <rhodes@evertek.net>
To: Guy Olinger, K2AV <k2av@contesting.com>; Tim Makins, EI8IC
<ei8ic@eircom.net>; TowerTalk <towertalk@contesting.com>
Date: Thursday, March 08, 2001 6:47 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: [TowerTalk] Tower sled systems?????????????
>I know a number of people who are not engineers who have built their own
>planes, both from kits & home built. They have them inspected along the
>way and before they fly and every one has worked out OK. I know a number of
>people who have built towers for themselves and they are all still with us.
>We are not talking about 100+ft towers with stacks of monobanders on them,
>but rather 30-40 ft towers with tribanders. Some people are curious enough
>to learn as they go. Would I build my own tower? Probably not, I lack the
>tools right now. But I would not hesitate to build a small tower by copying
>a know design.
>BTW, ball joints are much more simple than an engine overhaul. And you
>probably only need one tool - the fork to pull them out. You probably
>already have the hammer to drive them back in. Alignment I will leave to
>the pros - They have the tools for that.
>
>
>At 05:32 PM 3/8/01 -0500, Guy Olinger, K2AV wrote:
>>Homemade towers belongs in the same category as homemade airplanes.
>>
>>Since failure can cause loss of life, those who are making such need to
>>own professional skills the same as those who design and make them
>>professionally. There ARE those who are qualified. But if you are NOT an
>>airplane builder or a PE...
>>
>>WHY on earth would you put your precious (and ONLY) breakable body up on
>>something that has never had stress modeling done on it, or whose
>>structural materials are are not certified to match the materials in said
>>stress modeling? Or ... ?
>>
>>I have rebuilt three car engines myself, but there are some things I
>>simply WILL NOT EVER do myself, like ball joints, because of not owning
>>(or wanting to own) the requisite tools.
>>
>>Homemade towers is definitely on my NEVER-EVER list.
>>
>>And if you maintain a encyclopedia of same, and the unthinkable occurs on
>>one of them actually made, are you not risking being party to a lawsuit,
>>and having to spend money to fend it off? Even if you have waivers all
>>over the place, you will still have to hire the lawyer to prove in court
>>that you HAD waivers, and that they were adequate and legal.
>>
>>Scarey.
>>
>>73, y'all, Guy
>>
>>
>> >
>> > From: "Tim Makins, EI8IC" <ei8ic@eircom.net>
>> > Date: 2001/03/08 Thu AM 08:44:12 EST
>> > To: "TowerTalk" <towertalk@contesting.com>
>> > Subject: Fw: [TowerTalk] Tower sled systems?????????????
>> >
>> >
>> > There are a number of low cost towers ideas, and links to others, on my
web
>> > pages. I would be VERY grateful if anyone knows of any more to contact
me,
>> > as I would like to include as many as possible for people around the
world
>> > to reference. If there are any scanned articles available, they could
be
>> > hosted on my site too (Thanks, of course to Al.)
>> >
>> > Tim, EI8IC
>> > www.qsl.net/ei8ic/
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: "Jack" <poster@gate.net>
>> > To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
>> > Sent: 04 March 2001 23:54
>> > Subject: [TowerTalk] Tower sled systems?????????????
>> >
>> >
>> > > It would be great to see some designs of Home Made Towers ans the
>> > > diffrent desgns people come up with.
>> > > Im interested in diffrent types of sled systems that go up the side
and
>> > > some that go around the tower to raise antennas up and down the
tower.
>> > > There are also some that use cable's as a guide system too.
>> > >
>> > > Looking for any ideas people may have thought of and put into use.
>> > >
>> > > Jack
>> > > wb4roy
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
>> > Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
>> > Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
>> > Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>--
>>FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
>>Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
>>Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
>>Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
>
>
>--
>FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
>Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
>Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
>Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
>
--
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