[TowerTalk] Lifting 90' of 45G

[K7LXC@aol.com]

Hiya, TowerTalkians --

    Several weeks ago I asked if anyone had lifted 100' of 45G in one piece; 
I was going to put up 100' of 45G and a MonstIR on top and wanted to see if we 
could save a bunch of time by installing it in one piece with a crane. I got 
some good feedback on the feasibility of the tower erection and proceeded with 
that in mind. We sank one section in the concrete so the lift was actually 
90' of 45G and not 100'. We got all set up and the crane lifted it up a couple 
of feet. There was 12 to 18 inches of deflection in the middle of the tower and 
we decided that was acceptable, particularly since the first part of the lift 
exerts the most stress on the tower, so we went for it. And it went up easily 
and dropped into place with no problems. Hooray! We spent the next hour or 
two installing the guys and then the MonstIR. This was the second MonstIR I've 
installed with this crane operator so we had the system down and everything 
went with no problem. 

    BTW these were real Radian/Rohn sections and they went together easily 
with no problem. This was unlike my recent experience with Nello 45N that was a 
real battle - I had to use two comealongs and a TowerJack on one section to 
get it to pull down - yuck. :-(

    Something I found out - hey, I don't know everything! - is that there is 
a little tab welded towards the bottom of each section between 2 of the 
braces. These are added when the first face is put into the welding jig during 
manufacturing. The tower should be constructed so that these tabs line up on the 
same face. We did and it works. In some circles this would be a big DUH! but in 
other cases it's a learning experience - hi!

    I guess the moral of this story is that when it comes to a BIG antenna 
like the MonstIR, using a crane makes it easy, safe, and fast.  

Cheers,
Steve    K7LXC
TOWER TECH -
Professional tower services for commercial and amateur
Cell: 206-890-4188