[TowerTalk] raising a tower

[K7LXC at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/21/04 7:28:39 AM Pacific Daylight Time, isp at bnjcomp.com 
writes:

> I have built towers using gin poles and it is going ok yet a bit slow.  I
>  have to build another tower and have learned that people build them on the
>  ground and use a crane or similar to raise them in the air.  So I called a
>  crain company that does tower raises for a local professional tower company
>  to see what it would cost to do so. The cost was very acceptable and wanted
>  to do it that way.  They said that they need to be given the "pick" point
>  for the tower so they knew where to hook on without damaging the tower.  So
>  I called the manufactuer (NELLO) to ask.  They won't give pick points for
>  thier towers and say it is the tower installers responsibility.  How do I
>  find these "pick" points?  It is a 125' nello 45 N tower.

    First, tower manufacturing companies are insurance driven enterprises due 
to potential liability issues so it's SOP for them to NOT give out any kind 
of information. Besides, they aren't professional tower riggers anyway. 

    I'd say that 90% of all tower picks are done from overhead so that the 
tower sections are hanging dead vertical; anything not plumb will be more 
difficult to install. I use three 3-foot slings and attach one to each leg. The loop 
on the other end goes on the crane hook and you're ready to hoist. 

    How many sections you hoist is up to you. I'd do it in segments with the 
top of the segment being where the guys attach which in this case is about 3 
or so sections. The crane holds it while you attach the guys - pretty simple. 
Using a crane is the fastest, easiest, and safest way to stack a tower - it's 
my prefered method! 

Cheers,
Steve     K7LXC
TOWER TECH -
Professional tower services for commercial and amateur 
888-833-3104