[TowerTalk] Tower Accident

[Jim McDonald]

I remember being one of many "controlling" guy ropes attached to a hot air
balloon that was used to raise the heavy top section of guyed AB-105 tower
with a large monobander and prop pitch already mounted on it to the top of a
180' tower, I think.  Two friends waited at the top of the tower to bolt on
that top section.  We controlled the horizontal movement of the balloon, and
the balloonist controlled the vertical motion.

Using a crane with a professional operator who does precision lifting all
the time is one thing, but a hot air balloon that otherwise goes where the
wind pushes it is very different.

It made the cover of CQ in the late 1970s, I think.  It was a great photo
op, but I've always been thankful nothing went wrong.

I've often thought back what could have happened if there had been a gust
(or less) of wind that could have smashed the whole thing into the tower and
the two friends strapped onto the top.

But we did save money by not hiring a crane, so I need to keep everything in
perspective.

Jim N7US

 


-----Original Message-----

 
On Wed, 27 Jun 2007 21:27:52 -0500, <jacobsen_5 at msn.com> wrote:

>"For example, W7PHO had a 90
>ft Rohn 25 tower with stacked Yagi's on top.  The club lifted
>this tower off the ground in one piece in the vertical position
>with all the antennas on top and then carried it 100 feet to a
>new location, where it was lowered onto the new base.  Each guy
>wire had a person on it to keep the tower from falling over.
>We all had to walk together.  Several spotters watched the
>vertical angle and yelled commands to the guy wire pullers.
>Compared to this, N6TV's adventure looks tame."

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This has to be a hoax. Nobody could be that stupid.

Bill W6WRT
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