[TowerTalk] risky business

[Jim Jarvis]

Back in my broadcast days, I regularly climbed 190' sticks
to change out lightbulbs.  It was work, but they were solid
as rocks.  

The scariest moment?  Helping K2BMI put up 100' of rohn 25.

We'd get 3 sections up, above the guyset, and then have to
attach the next guys.  That stuff is elastic as all get-out,
and with two 150 lb kids on it, I found it scary as hell.
That load is outside the spec-envelope.  

Only time that was worse, I was taking down a 100' rohn 25 stick
in the poconos, at 1800' a.s.l.;  It ALWAYS blew 30 kts there, and
your tag line would flow out horizontally, if not heavily weighted.

We got the 2 el 40 and kt34xa off ok and down the tramway.  But
when it came to disassembly, I threw in the towel.  We tied one
guyset to a pickup truck for a dead-man, cut one leg with a hacksaw, 
notched the other two, and pulled it over with the tagline.  Once we 
got past 45 degrees, the tower pulled the truck along right smart-like!  

We dropped it in a flat spot, nothing bent, and we had it disassembled
and loaded in the truck in less than two hours.  

The guys were made of vinyl coated aircraft cable, held by friction
clamps.  Distinctly unsafe looking.

OH...I tore my shoulder horsing the beams onto the tramway, in
the winds.  Physical therapy cost me over $2k.  Used towers aren't
cheap.  I climb smarter these days, if at all.

N2EA