[TowerTalk] HDX-555

[Patrick Greenlee]

Manual or electric crank up/down??

A thunderstorm or other situation develops with possible high winds. Would 
you rather throw a switch from inside the shack or go out in the rain/hail 
and risk electrocution to lower the tower for better survival odds?

You get up early and want to ham it up a bit so you dress warmly and slog 
out through the snow (cold and damp, dew, cold wind, or whatever) to crank 
up the tower.

You are finished with your station for the day.  It is late and you are 
tired. Do you leave the tower up to risk damage if a storm brews up or do 
you do the prudent thing and go out into the night to lower it.

Electric remote crank up/down isn't just a luxury, as given human nature you 
will rationalize risking leaving the tower up instead of going out in the 
extant conditions which may be uncomfortable to get a workout.  If you have 
remote electric you can leave the tower down and safe when not being used 
and not have to agonize over whether you will "take care of business" and do 
the right thing or just take your chances. Auto-Electric is terrific tower 
insurance as with it you will lower the tower for best survival whereas 
without it you will eventually tire of the hassle and just leave it up. 
Maybe you will be lucky... and maybe not.  Many of us owe our existence to 
wishful thinking and lack of proper preparation.

If you buy a tower of sufficient strength (wind rating) to not need to lower 
it for strong winds you may spend more than a "standard" tower with remote 
electric up/down.

Yesterday I was at the QTH of an older ham (80+) along with a couple other 
volunteer hams to put up an antenna mast and install an antenna, run coax, 
pound ground rods, etc..  The weather.com hour by hour forecast I got 15 min 
before I left home was for 0% rain through early afternoon and then an 
increase to 10, 20, 30, and 40% 2-5PM.  The thunderstorm hit at about 10:00. 
Nearest lightning strike was a couple hundred yards away. Very spectacular. 
We prudently cancelled and stayed off the roof of the metal bld and did not 
raise the 34 ft mast.  My point?  Ma Nature can be sneaky, forecasts are not 
100% reliable, so there is no way to be sure when it is safe to leave the 
tower up in much of our areas.

Feel lucky, do ya?

73

Patrick AF5CK