[TowerTalk] Mast steps

[Wayne Kline]

Frist.... I have  built mast steps and used them.  I would not climb a mast that has the rotor at the first cross rung rohn 25,45 ,55
 
the mast and rotor must be inserted at least 7 or 8 ft B-4 I would attempt that. even then there is a Pucker factor involved.
 
I have in the past stepped on the boom of a tri bander etc. while installing a vhf/uhf antenna on the mast. but that mast was only 4 
 
or 5 ft out of the tower. and we are talking about real mast material  NOT water pipe :/
 
On the Rohn 65 issue , yup the steps are a challenge. it's not the right left regular climb, but for me a one step  adjust he lanyard 
 
one step again routine . with he face being 24" you lanyard  is a pita  as you go up or down .
 
 Wayne W3EA 
 
> Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 09:02:13 -0500
> From: k1ttt at verizon.net
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Mast steps
> 
> my thought would be more like... mount the top section with rotor and thrust bearing sideways and then climb out on the mast... how far would you go before the rotor or or top section or thrust bearing broke?  granted you climbing the mast won't put 100% of your weight sideways, but you are a live load and the components are  not brand new by the time you need to go fix something.  personally I always lower the antennas to me rather than climb a mast.
> 
> 
> Aug 19, 2013 09:53:38 AM, kz8e at wt.net wrote:
> 
> I also built steps for my mast when I built the tower. I haven't used them yet as I haven't needed to service the antennas above the tower yet. That's going to change soon as the top yagi is acting up. I have stepped onto the flattop of the Rohn 45 while belted to the mast but its going to take a little more mindset to start stepping up above the tower onto mast steps. Luckily I am over 6 ft tall so I don't have to go all ten feet up. As usual I am sure the first step will be the hardest. Its a Moly 4180 mast so you have to tell yourself that you could mount it horizontal by one end and be able to shinny out on the other end but somehow that is of little comfort.
> 
> I am sure it will be a new thrill.
> 
> As for spacing I was going to use the same spacing as the tower rungs.
> 
> Earl 
> N8SS
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 21:52:11 -0700
> From: "Jim Thomson" 
> To: 
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Rohn 65G climbing steps...18 inchs apart !
> Message-ID: <616B77DBDB1C4B659AED7587F6C627BB at JimPC>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> I noticed that Rohn 65G has the steps 18 inchs apart...vs the 15 inchs apart on rohn 45 + 55. 
> 18 inchs seems like a huge spread between each step....for both your feet...and hands.
> For you folks with 65G towers, are they harder to climb ? On a 100-200 ft tower, I 
> could see this being an issue. Im not planning to install any 65G... it was just a general
> observation on my part. 
> 
> On a similar note, for folks who install mast steps, how far apart are you spacing them ? 
> I see that 12 inch spacing is used on most extension ladders. I made my own mast steps,
> soon to be installed. I may build 1-2 more, just to reduce the spacing a bit between each step.
> 
> Jim VE7RF 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
> _______________________________________________
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk