[TowerTalk] Crank-ups

[Alan NV8A]

On 06/15/06 12:18 pm K7LXC at aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 6/11/2006 9:01:34 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
> towertalk-request at contesting.com writes:
> 
>>  My XYL is urging me to consider a crank-up (and possibly a  tilt-over 
> crank-up) to avoid the necessity of climbing the thing, and also  partly 
> for a more neighbor-friendly installation.
> 
>>  1.  Does anybody have any experience or opinions of the Heights aluminum  
>> towers? -- in addition to the reviews on eham.net.

>     I'm not a big fan of aluminum towers - and  crank-ups in particular. I 
> just helped a guy crank up a 100-footer.  IMO some of the hardware is pretty 
> small compared to other  manufacturers; it wasn't really confidence instilling. 
> It has to be guyed at  each section, thus putting lots more strain on the main 
> cables. You have to  crank the whole thing up before you can attach the guys 
> and it's a pretty  scary proposition. We had comealongs attached to the guys at 
> one level and you  have to do it on a totally windless day. He'd have been 
> much better off - and  saved thousands of dollars - by putting up 45G or some 
> other tower. 

What I'm looking at is a self-supporting tower: 4-section 55ft mounted 
on a 4ft "stand"; it tilts over at that point.

>     BTW it's also the same big chore and a  couple of hours to crank it down 
> so once it's up - it's up for the duration.  

They tell me 20-30min by hand, but I'll probably get the electric winch 
option for cranking up and down and leave the tilt-over mechanism (used 
less often) hand operated.

>>  2. If a crank-up lattice tower gets iced up, is it pretty  much stuck at 
> its current height until the thaw sets  in?

>         Yessireebob.

Other people have written privately to say that it depends on how much 
ice and whether the tower has a positive pull-down mechanism.

>         If you're going to get a  crank-up, I'd recommend one of the steel 
> ones by US Towers. You can crank it up  and down any time you want, ice loading 
> aside. 

I looked at the Heights towers again after reading the lousy reports on 
the US Tower products (especially inadequate installations and other 
documentation); one private email referred to them as "US Trouble."

73

Alan NV8A