[TowerTalk] Temporary Guys

[Charlie Gallo]

On 4/2/2011 John Crovelli wrote:

>  THINK TWICE BEFORE TAKING ANY ACTION THAT COULD PUT YOUR LIFE
> UNNECESSARILY IN HARMS WAY (CAPS used for emphasis).

Heck - THINK twice even when doing 'easy' things

Back in college, I was helping string an 80m dipole - dead simple job, we were setting it on a slope, and everything was on flat roofs, with parapet walls, and walk out doors

Drilled the parapets for the anchors for the ends of the antenna, hooked everything up, and was pulling the antenna up.  What I did wrong (totally MY fault) is that I didn't see a nasty burr in the turnbuckle eye, and I didn't have an eyeloop inside the fixed end of the turnbuckle.   The cable  parted, and even without the antenna being fully tight, there was oh, 30/40 lbs of pull on the rope - that turnbuckle came up and hit me in the mouth (luckily it wasn't the EYES - but yes, I was wearing safety glasses).  I ended up spitting out the fragments of two teeth

It's always stupid stuff, stuff you don't double and triple check

Right now, I'm talking with John about a small job at my shack - and when John said "I don't like roofs" I told him I don't blame him, and said "That's fine, I'll bring in a manlift"  The few $$$ is a LOT cheaper than any insurance claims, and never mind that, on MY conscience

Frankly, it seems like as hams, we tend to cut a lot of corners.  Yes, you can get away with it, 99% of the time, but when something goes wrong, they can go really wrong

There is a reason the pros do things the way they do, where they have the budget.  Personally, I'd rather live with a smaller antenna setup, and save up till I can afford to do it RIGHT.  I may not have as big a signal as I could because of it, but I get to sleep at night
-- 
73 de KG2V - Charles Gallo
Quality Custom Machine-shop work for the radio amateur (sm)