[TowerTalk] Temporary guys

[Jim Lux]

On 3/30/11 11:33 AM, K7LXC at aol.com wrote:
> Howdy, TowerTalkians --
>
>      I just read a portion of the ARRL tower book where  the author recounts
> an episode where the temporary rope guys holding the bottom  sections of
> the tower stretched so much that he found himself laying on the  ground with
> the tower laying on top of him. Similarly, W2GD had the same  thing happen to
> him. In neither case was the climber terribly injured but they  were lucky
> to fall onto soft ground.
>
>
Also depends on the kind of rope you're using.  A non-stretchy rope 
helps a lot. A quick glance over a rope catalog or even something like 
the McMaster-Carr catalog's explanatory sections will tell you what kind 
of rope to use.
(that climbing rope designed to cushion the impact of a fall is probably 
a bad choice<grin>)

I've also used hybrid guys... a fixed length of steel cable with a rope 
to "customize" the length. (Where I used to work, we had a lot of 
pre-made steel cables with thimbles, etc. and, of course, they're never 
exactly what you need)

  Proper shackles and coupling is, of course necessary.