[TowerTalk] W2GD tower accident

[Dick Green WC1M]

Thank goodness it wasn't more serious. Hope he gets well soon. W2GD is one
of the best contesters around.

Hope we get some details on what happened. I can only think the temporary
guys weren't tight enough, or the material stretched more than anticipated,
causing the tower sections to tilt and sway off the pin. Scary.

I worried over the temporary guys for my Rohn 55 tower. Per Rohn spec, the
first set of permanent guys was at 33'. That meant four sections had to go
up on temporary guys. I wasn't comfortable with rope. Wasn't sure I could
pull it tight enough. They had to hold 600 lbs of weight: 400 lbs of
sections, about 30 lbs for the guy bracket and 170 lbs for me and my gear. I
didn't have enough spare EHS and guy grips to go that route, so I settled on
guy sets from an AB-577 that had previously been installed at the same
location as the new tower. They're made up of 1/8" stainless steel wire
rope, with "snubbers" that allow the guys to be easily attached to an anchor
and pulled plenty snug. 

One look at the 100 lb sections convinced me to temporarily guy them one at
a time instead of two people trying to raise 20 or 30 feet 200-300 lbs) of
tower and hold it in place with one set of guys.  The plan was to tilt the
first section onto the base with one set of AB-577 guys, attach and snug the
guys, climb up and attach the gin pole, raise the second section, and guy
the second section with a second set of guys. Then the third section would
be raised and the bottom set of guys would be transferred to the top of the
third section before the fourth section was raised, so the structure would
be double guyed.

Since two of my guy anchors are uphill from the base, the guys on the first
section would have been either horizontal or tilted slightly uphill. I
didn't like that, so I connected the first set of guys to the 3' screw-in
anchors that had been holding up my 75' AB-577 for almost 10 years. Those
anchors were much closer to the base. I felt they would be fine for holding
the first section in place while I installed the second section. Once the
second section was up, the tower was high enough so the permanent anchors
were well beneath the guy attachment points. I wanted to use the permanent
guy anchors because I wasn't sure how much the AB-577 anchors could hold,
and didn't want to find out. They probably could have done the job, but why
risk it? The AB-577 guy sets weren't long enough to reach the permanent guy
anchors, so I had to string two sets together.

All this worked out well, but the structure was still a bit wobbly as I
worked on the fourth section. It got real stable after the first set of
permanent guys went up, which was a real relief.

There are a few pictures on my website, www.wc1m.com. Click on Stacking and
Guying at the left. I have a lot more pics of the project to post, if I ever
find enough time.

73, Dick WC1M

> -----Original Message-----
> From: K7LXC at aol.com [mailto:K7LXC at aol.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 4:22 PM
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: [TowerTalk] W2GD tower accident
> 
> I got this via K1DG. John is a very good tower guy  and I'm sorry to
> hear
> about this. Even experienced guys can have  accidents.
> 
> Cheers & climb safe,
> Steve     K7LXC
> TOWER TECH
> 
> >  W2GD was on a 30' tower going up at K8PO's new station in Maine
> when the
> temporary guying allowed the pier pin to slip off the base and he
> rode it
> down.  Deep mud broke the fall, but he has a cracked pelvis,  there
> was a
> torn artery, and a minor back injury.  Full recovery  expected, but it
> will
> be a while before he is 100%.
> 
> He is in the ICU  at Maine Medical Center in Portland, ME now.  No
> word on
> how long he'll  be in there - probably at least today in the ICU, then
> in a
> regular bed for  at least a couple of days.  I'm sure he's one sore
> puppy.
> 
> Maine  Medical Center
> 22 Bramhall Street
> Portland, ME 04102
> 207-662-0111,  1-877-339-3107
> 
> Probably not taking any calls, but cards would be welcome,  I'm sure.
> 
> 
> 
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