[TowerTalk] March QST cover

[Mike Ryan]

As I said, much ado about nothing. This whole thing was so staged for a magazine. What photographer is going up a tower to take such a pic?..none..he is THREE feet of the ground as well.  Let it go....  - M

-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Ken Fritz
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2017 1:02 AM
To: Kelly Taylor
Cc: towertalk at contesting.com; sawyered at earthlink.net
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] March QST cover

Posted by the school program on Facebook:

"Some people have expressed concern about safety in this picture. This was a publicity photo meant to show the students learning about towers and how they are climbed. Chase is like 4 feet off the ground. The rope on her back is not suspending her. It is used to pull something up from ground if needed. It was not part of safety or this climb. Some context: The students took a field trip to the radio station. While there they met on-air personalities, saw the transmitting equipment, and were given a demo on tower climbing. They got to put the equipment on, and see how with the two clips, you can climb, always keeping one clip clipped to the tower, while moving the other one up. It was explained that with such a technique, if a climber were to for any reason at any time lose their hold or even their consciousness, they would still be securely clipped with at least one clip.
Chase got to try this going up and down a few steps. So learning how to climb a 300 foot tower was not meant to imply she climbed to the top of a
300 foot tower. She did a few of the clip and unclip sequenced up and back down. The students learned that a key thing was to always keep one clip on the tower. The purpose of the picture was to show a really smart girl having a lot of fun learning lots of new stuff about towers and radio stations. We are sorry for the confusion and worry the original post generated. Hopefully this note will clarify. This is a picture of a smart girl on a school field trip,having a photo shoot four feet off the ground, secured with two clips to the tower."

73,
Ken
N3WAX

On Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 3:38 PM, Kelly Taylor <ve4xt at mymts.net> wrote:

> One thing you learn after almost 30 years in publishing is, let he who 
> is without sin…
>
> The uninitiated would be blown away by how easy it is for major gaffes 
> to slip through even the most professional organizations. Anybody 
> remember “Dewey defeats Truman”? As I recall, that wasn’t exactly the 
> Podunk Gazette behind that one.
>
> It was a mistake. It wasn’t the publishing world’s first and it 
> certainly will not be the last. It is also unlikely the ARRL had 
> anything to do with the composition of the photograph.
>
> The tenor of the quoted tower industry magazine item was startlingly 
> unprofessional, and violated a key tenet of journalism.
>
> 73, kelly, ve4xt
>
>
> > On Feb 27, 2017, at 2:26 PM, Ed Sawyer <sawyered at earthlink.net> wrote:
> >
> > I think that given how fundamentally important antennas and towers 
> > are to ham radio, the lack of anyone who knows what they are looking 
> > at
> reviewing
> > the picture for proper safety procedures is unexcusable.  It's the 
> > cover
> for
> > cripes sake.
> >
> >
> >
> > The ARRL is not a volunteer organization.  The staffers are paid and 
> > we
> pay
> > for the publication and services.  People treating this like it's a
> mistake
> > in a club newsletter are way off base.  It's a national paid publication.
> >
> >
> >
> > 73
> >
> >
> >
> > Ed  N1UR
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> >
> >
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>
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>
>
>
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--
____________________
Ken Fritz, NRP, EMT-P
Paramedic

(484) 368-9739 (c)
ken.fritz at gmail.com
____________________
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