[TowerTalk] Erecting tower sections solo

[Chris Wynn]

I just stacked 100 feet of rohn 25 solo. I also erected a U.S. Tower TX-472 this past summer completely solo, with the exception of the concrete truck.  For the first 40 feet, I stacked the pieces without a gin pole, where I lifted each piece above my head and placed the three poles onto the mating ends simultaneously.  Back in college, I put up a 70 foot tower like this and my dad, N4YDV, bet me that I couldn't still do it at 39 years old.  Well, I got lucky and managed to stack it without incident.
When using a gin pole, rig a pulley at the  bottom of the tower and pull it up with a lawn mower (I used my commercial Toro Zero Turn).  Leave the section about 6 inches below where you need it.  Then, with the lawn mower holding the section, climb to the top.  The gin pole will have a little bit of give/ flex.  When you go to raise the section above the top to place it, the gin pole will carry most of the weight as you assist the section high enough to simultaneously mate each of the 3 sections.
Another trick is to turn the gin pole pulley where its facing AWAY from the tower.  That way, when you raise the section with the lawn mower/truck/Zamboni/etc., the section pulls slightly away from the tower and guy wires that would normally snag the section.
Good luck from a guy that literally stacked the top section of tower number two on my Saturday break from the CQWW CW.....
Chris WynnN4XFA
Christopher L. Wynn
Attorney-at-Law
Christopher L. Wynn, ESQ., P.C.
8473 Earl D. Lee, Suite 300
Douglasville, Ga., 30134
(770)942-8661 (Landline)
(770)577-1626 (Telecopier)
chris at chriswynnlaw.com 


    On Wednesday, December 2, 2015 8:52 PM, Steve Maki <lists at oakcom.org> wrote:
 

 Terry,

Rope grabs aren't all that expensive. The lower priced ones are usually 
not favored by climbers because they often don't travel downward very 
well of their own accord. Such as the top item at:

http://www.sitepro1.com/store/cart.php?m=product_list&c=72

for $68. For your purpose this one would be fine.

AFA ascenders, some require that the rope be wound thru the mechanism in 
some way, which eliminate it as a contender for your purpose. Any device 
that will grab the rope without having to bend or wind it in any way 
should work OK.

-Steve K8LX

On 12/2/2015 7:22 PM, Zivney, Terry wrote:

> Thanks for all the suggestions so far.
> Steve K8LX's suggestion to use a rope grab may
> be along the lines that I fuzzily recall.
> What is the functional difference between
> a rope grab (probably OSHA approved) and
> a rope ascender (used by climbers and substantially
> less expensive)?

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