[TowerTalk] Interesting way to install Towers for Power lines

jimlux jimlux at earthlink.net
Tue Mar 5 19:11:09 EST 2019


On 3/5/19 2:06 PM, Jim wrote:
> That is REALLY cool!
> 
> 
> Thanks
> 73
> Jim W7RY
> 
> On 3/4/2019 11:18 AM, Chuck Gooden wrote:
>>
>> Wonder how they would do on a Rohn tower?
>>
>> See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2BeFK6nqMA&feature=share
>>
>> 


They'd do just fine on a big stick.  The helo lift folks are really 
impressive.  Around here (Los Angeles area) they do this to put big HVAC 
units on the roof of big buildings when a crane isn't the right tool.

What's really amazing is when they finish the job, and they coil the 
lifting cable and slings on the ground, disconnect at the helo, and 
there it is, neatly coiled ready to load back on the truck.

If you had to put a big tower on a hilltop or in a remote location that 
might be a good way - build it up in a field somewhere with all the 
antennas on it, pick it up as a unit, fly it, lower it onto a 
prepositioned set of bolts sticking up, etc.

I've put a remote calibrator transmitter or a precision observation 
system on a hilltop a couple or three miles away using a helicopter and 
slings about 20 years ago. As I recall, it cost us about $600 for an 
hour's helo time. We built the entire station up, set it up with soft 
slings, they flew over, hovered, dropped a line, we hooked it up and 
they flew away with it.

Actually, now that I write this, I remember there were two trips with 
the helo. The first was to carry the installation crew to the hilltop, 
the second was to carry the transmitter assembly.  The crew came back in 
the helo on the second trip.

I believe the Erickson skycrane in the video runs around $5000-10,000/hr
(OTOH, they can lift a D9 Cat bulldozer, so that's probably overkill for 
even the most ambitious amateur installation - unless you're going to 
cast a huge block of concrete, mount the antenna tower on it,  and have 
them haul that up the hill for you)


http://helistream.com/utility/aerial-crane-services-california/
has a picture of them setting wooden utility poles with a smaller helo.

If you were setting up a repeater site in something like a forest fire 
lookout, helicopter might be the best way to do it- no long approach 
hike in, they can sling your equipment racks and drop them on a 
convenient pad on the *top* of the lookout, etc.

It might even be cheaper for something where you've actually got a road 
up to the site - rather than an hour on twisty dirt roads that wash out, 
10 minutes in a helo, and it's a heck of a lot easier if you have that 
skyhook to hold things up.



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