[TowerTalk] Climber/caver/towers

[John Lyles]

Yes I am, Steve.  I was in South Dakota a month ago, helping to explore the 150th mile in Jewel Cave, 2nd longest in the world. I spend most of my spare time in New Mexico in Lechuguilla Cave, which we have surveyed to
128 miles long now. Its very vertical, lots of rope work in it. We wear a climbing harness all the time in there. Having dug into and opened a lot of cave passages that have rocks in the way, I've tried a lot of techniques. 
I still like bullpins as its pretty safe, but it does ding them up and bend them if you are impatient with them. However, they are quite cheap, so I like 'em. Chemical persuasion is fun, but I don't care for the risks and 
it is also noisy and can raise attention. "Hmm...what was that noise over there, smoke coming out of a rabbit hole?" 

The reason I haven't put my Tennedyne T10 up on my 45 foot 25G is that I keep going underground instead. I got the tower up a year ago, and the second hand antenna needs rework first. My other tower is a
Universal 30 foot un-guyed with an ancient Cushcraft ATB34 on it. I just got offered a TH7DX second hand by a guy who cannot put it on his house, no space. He wants my Cushcraft, so it's a sweet trade. I have to get it
down this summer and make the swap. Its time anyway to check the traps on the -34 as they may be all rotted out (the fiberglass). NM sun is pretty harsh on materials. I made a ginpole last year, which works great. 
Before that, I was able to lift the ATB34 by hand 15 years ago, but not anymore. I got a tiny bit more brains than strength I guess, using a ginpole. On top of the 25G, though, it was the only way to be safe. 

The urge for mountain climbing, caving, and tower climbing must all stem from a similar portion in the brain! 
73
John 
K5PRO


> Message: 3
> Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 07:47:50 EDT
> From: K7LXC at aol.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] TowerTalk Digest, Vol 88, Issue 5
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Hi, John --
>  
>     Tnx for the comments. Of course I use bullpins in  my tower work so 
> that's the easy part - hi. 
>  
>     Are you a caver? Is that why you knew about that  aspect? I was a 
> mountain climber for years and the 2 activities have a lot in  common.
>  
> Cheers,
> Steve    K7LXC
> TOWER TECH