[TowerTalk] Re: TowerTalk Digest, Vol 23, Issue 47

[KJ0M]

>
>Message: 1
>Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 08:49:13 -0500
>From: "Pat Chiles" <chilesp at adelphia.net>
>Subject: [TowerTalk] US Tower Raising Fixture Question
>To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
>Message-ID: <001d01c4c8be$65045260$0200a8c0 at PATXP>
>Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"

Pat Chiles, chilesp at adelphia.net wrote:

>
>I took delivery of my new tower yesterday and with the help of Pete, 
>N4ZR, and a neighbor who owns a front loader I now have it standing 
>on the pad and plumbed up.
>
>Cranking this tower (HDX 555) from horizontal to vertical was 
>unexpectedly very hard.  The only additional weight was a 140 lb 
>mast snuggled inside the tower.  I could only do about 10 complete 
>rotations and then had to take a break and I am a fairly big boy and 
>in fair shape.
>
>My question is what have others done to lessen this burden?  Is 
>there a better winch or rigging scheme to gain mechanical advantage? 
>My tower has two side-by-side pulleys on the tower, but only one is 
>used.

Both are used on my tower.

>  The raising fixture only has one pulley.

Mine has 2 on the fixture also.

>The cable goes over the pulley at the raising fixture, around one of 
>the pulleys at the tower, and back to the raising fixture where it 
>is terminated on a bolt.  We have it rigged per the instructions.

Mine goes back again to the tower through a second pulley on the 
fixture, to the second pulley on the tower and then back to the 
fixture terminated with a bolt, as you see. This appears to double 
the mechanical advantage? Physics types could tell you.

I can crank my tower (TX-472) very easily with one hand without a 
break. It comes up very slowly, but that's due to the mechanical 
advantage of the pulleys. I have a Force 12-5BA (~85 pounds) and 
Force 12-240/230 (~50#) and a mast of over 100# on my tower. I've 
even had my wife crank the fixture just to show her how easy it was.

Perhaps they only use 1 pulley because you've got 1 less section with 
a 555 vs a 472 tower? Only guessing, but I would think the extra 
advantage of the second pulley would make all the difference in the 
world.

-- 

73,

de KJ0M
Jim
._._.