The accident happened at Bob Franson (KD0USN)'s QTH, according to the address provided by the news. It is not clear if Bob was the one injured. Bob sez in his bio... "my antenna is a Hy-Gain TH2 Mk III at 65 feet on a telescopic tower" Can we kindly stop affixing blame here? The tower was not 'raised' It was 'seated'. It was not 'settled' and that is why --apparently--the accident occurred. I will drop Bob an email and wish him well, and pass on any positive info so received. Thanks all.
That recommendation is impractical, IMO. A self supporting crank up tower must be guided to be put in a horizontal position, for example. Than means ATTACHING guys, temporarily. Someone has to do that. That means climbing the telescoped, settled, crank up tower. You MIGHT be able to run a ladder to attach the guys (on a crank-up) instead, but I have never seen anyone do that. If the lowered crank up can be serviced by a ladder, that is a fine solution. Frankly, I never had that case with my W-51 as the ladder would slip in soft ground. The technique was to lower the tower, stick in crow bars, and let the tower lower a few inches more, so that all sections were settled on framework in several locations--with the crowbars. Then you climb the outer rungs, and avoid putting your foot in multiple rungs. At the top of the (lowered) tower you stand on crow bars while affixed with a safety harness. I did this dozens of times, as a teenager and college student. Needed min 4 crowbars.
What is seldom mentioned is replacing the cables and cheap OEM pulleys on a regular basis is a must. US Towers come crashing down in as little as 12 months near the coast from rotted out cables. Even inland where subjected to salt water laden coastal storms and fogs. Carl
The ghost of Henry David Thoreau concurs. From Chapter I - The Shipwreck, from his book Cape Cod, first published in 1865: "My readers must expect only so much saltness as the land breeze acquires from blowing over an arm of the sea, or is tasted on the windows and the bark of trees twenty miles inland, after September gales."
The professional tower worker industry was/is full of poorly trained, equipped, and motivated people. Drugs and booze abound and for many it is like a gypsy life traveling coast to coast and Canada to the Caribbean. Not all for sure but enough to put a face on the accident rates. There are some real dedicated pros Ive met when I hired out as a local ground worker during summers in the 85-97 time frame while I went back to school days during regular semesters. Im not talking about ham towers here. Carl
Since crank ups are not safe to climb under any set of conditions, then the safest way is a professional with a bucket truck or man lift.
