[TowerTalk] Motorized Crank Up Towers

[Jim Rhodes]

I guess I am never afraid to differ. I prefer to raise and lower my 
tower safely from a small distance so that I CAN see what is going on. 
When you are standing at the base of the tower you not only have a 
limited viewpoint, but spend most of your time bent over the winch. I 
can see the whole tower and any problems that might develop without 
being in the fall zone if anything unforeseen
(like a snapped cable) should happen. For me safety first!

On 5/20/2010 1:44 PM, Jim McDonald wrote:
> Though my tower has remote control (or did until my lightning strike), I
> would only lower it from inside, and I did that when I knew no cables could
> get caught in the tower.  It's especially prudent to control it at the tower
> base for a tower with positive pull-down, which my previous Hy-Gain HG70HD
> didn't have.
>
> Even being outside watching it on the way up, I've caught a ladder line
> feedline on an eave, and slopers and inverted vees can get caught too.
>
> I was always uncomfortable with my previous tower, the Hy-Gain, because I
> couldn't get it down with the manual winch if the wind was blowing too hard,
> which caused it to bind.
>
> I wouldn't buy the remote control option again.
>
> Jim N7US
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> A little late comment Steve, but you make a very good point.  My HG-70HD
> came with the motor control option but I never bothered to install it. And,
> glad I did not. Last spring, after all the winter winds, I decided to hand
> crank it back up to full height (it was at 2/3).  Did NOT notice that  a
> section of the top drooping cable had evidently been blown hard enough to
> hang up over the top coax arm.  Noticed the cranking was suddenly a little
> hard, looked up and my coax arm was bent down at almost 45 degrees.
> Necessitated cranking it back down all the way, climbing up and replacing
> the coax arm. Hate to think what might have happened if I'd had the motor
> attached and raised it from inside the shack. Lesson learned -  always do a
> close inspection of the tower if its been cranked down awhile.
>
> Don W7WLL
>
>
>    ----- Original Message -----
>
>    In a message dated 5/3/2010 12:01:23 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
> towertalk-request at contesting.com writes:
>      >   As to tower cables failing, in my 54 years of hamming, I have never
> heard
>      first hand from anyone that has had cable failure although I am sure
> this
>      has occurred, certainly there are enough stories floating around. I have
> to
>      imagine that the majority of cases was because of poor maintenance
>      procedures, pushing a reasonable replacement time limit, or undersized
> or
>      poor quality cable or improper eye swaging.
>
>          Actually the 2 I've seen were none of the above. Both cable failures
> were due to another external cable (coax, etc.) snagging on something on the
> way up and unnoticed by the owner as the tower was moving. BIG noise as the
> main haul cable snapped and everything collapsed into the tower bending
> antenna booms and creating a bit of a problem repair-wise.
>
>          This is why I discourage using any kind of remote tower control and
> strongly recommend you be at the tower watching everything whenever it's
> moving.
>
>      Cheers,
>      Steve   K7LXC
>      TOWER TECH
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