[TowerTalk] Elevated guys to a extreme

[K7LXC@aol.com]

Hiya, Jim --
 
    Tnx for your thoughtful comments in reply to  KC0ERG's email enumerating 
the potential problems with N5OT's tower  installation.
 
    The thing is that while OSHA rules are promulgated  to promote a safe 
workplace where people are getting paid to perform some sort  of tasks, in this 
case tower work. OSHA rules do NOT apply to anyone else, that  is, anyone doing 
it on their own for free. You know - amateurs! 
 
    Yes, fall arrest harnesses are a pretty good idea  and I sell lots of 
them to hams but if you want to climb with a clothesline  wrapped around your 
waist, it's (potentially) your funeral. 
 
    Mark's method of attaching the other guys to the  tower via a big metal 
plate spreads the stresses across 2 faces and since the  guys come in from 
opposite directions, the net horizontal force on the plate  should be relatively 
small since the forces most likely cancel each other out.  If he had attached 
only one set of guys directly to a leg, I would've had a BIG  problem with 
that. The way he did seems to work. Actually it's a clever  solution. I've seen 
ground guy points that had guys from several towers  attached to it but they 
were typical heavy metal (pieces of railroad track) that  didn't have any problem 
with the forces. 


 
Cheers,
Steve   K7LXC
TOWER TECH