[TowerTalk] More Rohn

Bill K2OWR k2owr at comcast.net
Tue Jan 5 15:55:52 PST 2010


:::: Actually I put that same tower back up at my new qth about 6 months 
later. It was not damaged seriously.
It was dumb how it happened. I was down to the last 4 sections, where the 
first set of guys were, and in a fit of sheer "stupid" it seemed like a good 
idea,
as long as I was up there, to unhook the guy cable over the leg of that 
section, then climb down and initiate a sort of controlled fall to speed up 
the process.
Thankfully the tower had a concrete base that was lodged in muddy soil and 
did not fall like a rock, but still pretty fast.
Had it not been for the giant wrench in my hip pocket, which broke the bone, 
I would have come out of it with only a serious shoulder sprain.
The lesson learned? Plan every detail, in logical order, and think about 
what you're doing.

This was 28 years ago and 7 more towers since, without incident. In fact, 
I'm about to erect my new 80' tower in the spring.
I'm 67 now and at the gym almost every day......good thing :-)

BILL K2OWR

> Man, you rode a 40 footer down?  That had to have been a ground kissing
> experience.  How long after that did you decide to get back on that 
> horse?>
> Bob-
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Bill K2OWR
> Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 4:17 PM
> To: Wilson Lamb
> Cc: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] More Rohn
>
> :::: I raise the first 20' all at once, then send up the 3rd. section with
> the guys dangling from it, then connect them.
>>From that point I risk climbing the next section unguyed, then the next
> goes
> up with guys dangling, actually intended for the section after that and 
> the
> whole process is repeated, guying every 30', but never climbing more than
> one section unguyed.
>
> I used to climb two sections unguyed though, and never really felt
> unsecure......but not on a windy day :-)
> I would not risk more than that. Temporarily guying every single section,
> then moving them is really being very safe.
> Look at it this way, once you've constructed more than 30', you're going 
> to
> break a lot of bones if it comes down.
> I know this because I rode a 40' R25 down and broke my pelvis.....I was
> lucky.
> BTW, that time I was actually taking down the tower and I find that's when
> you get stupider (?)
>
> BILL K2OWR
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Wilson Lamb" <infomet at embarqmail.com>
> To: <TowerTalk at contesting.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 15:57
> Subject: [TowerTalk] More Rohn
>
>
>> Assembly question:
>> Does everyone work above the guywires to stack higher sections?
>> Rohn says point blank that 25 is not self supporting "at any height" and
>> that temporary guys should be attached as one goes up.  But I know lots 
>> of
>> people stack all the way to the next guypoint without temporaries.
>> What do YOU do?
>>
>> Wilson
>> W4BOH
>>
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