[TowerTalk] TowerTalk Digest, Vol 176, Issue 15

Sun Aug 6 23:21:30 EDT 2017

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    On Sunday, August 6, 2017 8:47 PM, "towertalk-request at contesting.com" <towertalk-request at contesting.com> wrote:

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Today's Topics:

  1. Re: Climbing advice (Wayne Kline)
  2. Re: Climbing advice (Steve Maki)
  3. Climbing towers (greenacres113 at charter.net)
  4. Re: Climbing advice (J. Hunt)
  5. Wire antenna in trees? (Jim Thomson)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2017 00:40:53 +0000
From: Wayne Kline <w3ea at hotmail.com>
To: Mike Ricketts <mike.nd9g at gmail.com>, towertalk
    <towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Climbing advice
Message-ID:
    <DM5PR20MB1593D304F77FCF22A9D2FDC88FB50 at DM5PR20MB1593.namprd20.prod.outlook.com>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Mike,

  Not 100% what's triggering your fear,  IMO if is debilitating ... DO not Climb.

If  the tower is UP  try just going 20 ft at a time. building your confidence in the structure and    then in your Safety  Equipment .

To climb and work at height you need to be 110%  at ease have that be 20 ft. or 120 ft.

If your  "white  knuckled "  it's best IMO  to call it like it is ..

GL and remember this is a HOBBY  not the X games

Wayne W3EA

________________________________
From: TowerTalk <towertalk-bounces at contesting.com> on behalf of Mike Ricketts <mike.nd9g at gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 6, 2017 6:07 PM
To: towertalk
Subject: [TowerTalk] Climbing advice

Hello all,

I was finally able to get my tower upright. It's 50' and 54' to the top of
the mast, freestanding. Nothing big by many of your standards, but it's a
city lot, so have some limitations.

My problem is that I'm having difficulty climbing it. I used to climb, when
I was younger and a little less wise (teens), but it's been about 25 years
since I've done it. I'm still plenty young enough to do this physically,
but just can't seem to get myself up high enough to be useful.

I can easily pay someone to come out and do the work to get the antennas
and stuff up there, which is fine. However, i feel that I should at least
be able to do some of my own work for maintenance and such, and not always
paying someone to climb it for me.

Do any of you climbers have any advice that could possibly help me get over
this thing in my head?

73,
Mike ND9G
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TowerTalk is for discussion of tower and HF antenna construction topics. TT members have lots of helpful information and are happy to share it.

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2017 20:53:44 -0400
From: Steve Maki <lists at oakcom.org>
To: towertalk <towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Climbing advice
Message-ID: <dc8c5a82-b3f6-3567-edc5-0c673ac5da79 at oakcom.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed

Advice I got while in my teens, and it's stuck with me (I'm now 68), is 
don't look down while you're climbing. Look straight ahead, think about 
where each hand is going, that's all. and while you're working, think 
about what you're doing; the task at hand. That's all. Of course you'll 
need to look down to your ground crew, etc., at some point, but if you 
make it to your working height and get a breather, you'll be fine. If 
not, call it a day on your climbing days.

-Steve K8LX

On 8/6/2017 18:07 PM, Mike Ricketts wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> I was finally able to get my tower upright. It's 50' and 54' to the top of
> the mast, freestanding. Nothing big by many of your standards, but it's a
> city lot, so have some limitations.
> 
> My problem is that I'm having difficulty climbing it. I used to climb, when
> I was younger and a little less wise (teens), but it's been about 25 years
> since I've done it. I'm still plenty young enough to do this physically,
> but just can't seem to get myself up high enough to be useful.
> 
> I can easily pay someone to come out and do the work to get the antennas
> and stuff up there, which is fine. However, i feel that I should at least
> be able to do some of my own work for maintenance and such, and not always
> paying someone to climb it for me.
> 
> Do any of you climbers have any advice that could possibly help me get over
> this thing in my head?

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Sun, 06 Aug 2017 20:09:59 -0500
From: greenacres113 at charter.net
To: "'towertalk at contesting.com'" <towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Climbing towers
Message-ID: <u19z1v0071jaDM80119zYL at charter.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

    At 71 my climbing days are over. Two yr.s ago the last tower went up.
50" of Rohn 45 Tiltover. I rented a boom lift & it was delivered to me
on a flat bed semi. With help from a friend we stacked 5 sections of
R45 , attached the tilt arm and installed the ant & rotor over a
weekend. The boom lift carried us & tower sections as we stacked it.
The lift also lifted the tilt arm into place. It is heavier than tower
sections. No injuries or damage. I plan on using another lift if I
need to work on some of my other towers that aren't tilt overs. It's
not cheap but as my Ham XYL said: no one was hurt & the rental cost
would have been what you would pay in the insurance deductible! Plus
no long recovery!

    I felt a lot more relaxed in the lift cage rather than being strapped
to the tower. Also everything is at eye level or lower in the boom
lift. No doing things over your head.

    K9IL

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2017 01:26:11 +0000 (UTC)
From: "J. Hunt" <ki5dq at yahoo.com>
To: towertalk <towertalk at contesting.com>, Steve Maki
    <lists at oakcom.org>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Climbing advice
Message-ID: <854763669.790506.1502069171389 at mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

Ive been doing tower work >30 years and plan on at least another 15 years.
Heights don't bother me, was at a 600' + agl level about a month ago.
Yes - I use full OSHA gear, have the training/credentials/physical strength. 

But seriously though, if anyone has doubts on heights, please do not climb towers or anything else.
Tower work is a very dangerous profession.

Cheers,
James
ki5dq
--------------------------------------------
On Sun, 8/6/17, Steve Maki <lists at oakcom.org> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Climbing advice
 To: "towertalk" <towertalk at contesting.com>
 Date: Sunday, August 6, 2017, 7:53 PM

 Advice I got while in my teens, and it's stuck with me (I'm now 68), is  don't look down while you're climbing.
 Look straight ahead, think about  where  hand is going, that's all. and while you're working, think 
 about what you're doing; the task at hand. That's all. Of course you'll  need to look down to your ground crew, etc., at
 some point, but if you  make it to your working height and get a breather, you'll be fine. If  not, call it a day on your climbing
 days.

 -Steve K8LX

 On 8/6/2017 18:07 PM, Mike Ricketts wrote:
 > Hello all,
 > 
 > I was finally able to get my tower upright. It's 50' and 54' to the top of
 > the mast, freestanding. Nothing big by many of your standards, but it's a city lot, so have some limitations.
 > 
 > My problem is that I'm having difficulty climbing it. I used to climb, when I was younger and a little less wise
 (teens), but it's been about 25 years since I've done it. I'm still plenty young enough to do this physically,
 > but just can't seem to get myself up high enough to be useful.
 > 
 > I can easily pay someone to come out and do the work to get the antennas and stuff up there, which is fine. However, i feel that I should at least be able to do some of my own work for maintenance and such, and not always paying someone to climb it for me.
 > 
 > Do any of you climbers have any advice that could possibly help me get over this thing in my head?

 _______________________________________________

 _______________________________________________
 TowerTalk mailing list
 TowerTalk at contesting.com
 http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk

------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2017 18:44:45 -0700
From: "Jim Thomson" <jim.thom at telus.net>
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Wire antenna in trees?
Message-ID: <47CEAF6E05064657B2D7B27255B7F7F0 at JimPC>
Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="iso-8859-1"

Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2017 16:49:09 -0400
From: <john at kk9a.com>
To: "'Grant Saviers'" <grants2 at pacbell.net>,
<towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Wire antenna in trees?

<My question was what is the advantage of Flexweave over THHN. Both are 100% copper, Flexweave has significantly more strands which makes it more flexible but how much flexibility do you need. Is there a corrosion issue with so many strands? Yes <THHN is not meant for exterior use, the outer nylon of THHN flakes off in a short time however the PVC coating seems to last for years even in a high UV environment. For decades I have used THHN for rotator wire. I used to use stranded copperweld <wire for temporary dipoles. After many years the strands started breaking so I replaced the wire and the newer copperweld and it did the same thing after a year.  Apparently the wire quality was worse than my original and I quit using it.

<John KK9A

##  The THNN wire that is available at the local home depot is solid copper, not stranded. Comes in several colors.  Never seen it in stranded.
I used RW-90, in both 10 and 8 gauge, stranded copper.  That outer jacket is UV proof, and is extremely tough.  I believe its polyethelene beneath the black jacket.  You can get RW-90 in any gauge, at any electrical wholesaler.  
The 10 gauge was $100.00  for a 300M spool. .....  984 feet. 

##  Another option is alumoweld wire. Its  stupid strong in 10 gauge.  I have a 500 ft roll of it. Aluminum clad solid steel core.  SW broadcast stations use alumoweld for their curtain arrays. 

Jim  VE7RF

------------------------------

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End of TowerTalk Digest, Vol 176, Issue 15
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