[TowerTalk] Worm Gears

[n0tt1 at juno.com]

> If you are using a spur gear winch without the brake engaged, watch 
> out 
> for the drive handle when it starts to spin, it can be back-driven 
> to 
> extremely high rpms and cause you damage!

That's very true.  

Long ago there was an article in QST...might
have been by/for KH6IJ, about his method to control that spin....IIRC, he
attached a cord to the brake latch and the other end to a brick.
The idea was that if he lost control of the handle when cranking
the tower "down", he would drop the brick to set the brake latch.

I adopted that method except that I use a spring to normally
keep the latched engaged, then attach a cord to the latch
itself and pull it in order to un-latch the latch when I need
to.

I'm not saying either method is perfect, but that's what I
do when I'm tilting over my old EZ-way 50-footer.  So far,
so good.

73,
Charlie, N0TT