why crankup..Re: [TowerTalk] Looking for some tower advice

[Jim Lux]

At 02:36 PM 11/19/2004 -0500, K7LXC at aol.com wrote:


>IMO most people who buy crank-ups (or tiltovers) so that they can work on 
>them are spending money that they don't need to. There's no reason why a 
>properly installed system should need any work for years. Plus you've 
>increased the mechanical complexity significantly along with the price 
>with one.

An important reason that people buy extending towers (pneumatic,crankup, 
what have you) is because some locations make it theoretically(!) easier to 
get it permitted, because you get a special use permit that says you only 
extend it when operating, and leave it down (and inconspicuous) when not 
operating.

Steve's comment about buying one so that you can work on it, though, is 
appropriate. It makes little difference whether you climb 10 feet or 70 
from a safety standpoint.  On the other hand, my grandfather's crank up, in 
my feeble recollection, put the antenna about 2-3 feet above roof level in 
the down position, so you didn't climb the tower to work on the antenna, 
you climbed up on the roof.