Re: [TowerTalk] Mast Raising Fixture

["Mark - AA6DX" <aa6dx@pacbell.net>]

Before someone hurts themselves --
How you lift a mast that is inside a tower.  You tie a pulley with a long 
line through it on top of the tower. You then drop the line down the tower 
center with a correct sized pulley (with an eye on top, naturally).   The 
pulley is placed upside down underneath the mast, and the line goes up on 
the inside to the top of the tower to be fastened.  The loose end of the 
line is thru the first pulley to the bottom, and is then ready for the 
ground crew to hoist away, the tower monkey only has to guide the mast.   A 
small line ran thru the mast allows this to happen even from the cat bird's 
seat. I also have a snatch block at the tower base, so the land crew is 
pulling OUT, not down. Once in place, the mast can be kept from making an 
unwanted return trip down the tower with a muffler clamp, the thrust 
bearing(s), the antenna(s), etc.   Now ... another advantage is that you can 
have the antenna on top of the tower FIRST, and feed the mast through the 
antenna!  How kewl is that?  Using it to put up stacks is neat, too.  Put 
first aerial in place, ground crew does its work, then next, etc......   you 
get the picture!   To easily raise the antennas, if the situation allows, I 
use the old contesters' method ... you connect a short mast to the TOP HALF 
of the boom to mast clamps, and haul the antenna up that way, so it is more 
or less parallel to the ground and elements not flopping all over.  Drop and 
reconnect guys, if you have them, on the way.  At the top, simply slide over 
the mast, and tighten the pre-positioned clamps and saddles!   The take the 
top ones loose, get rid of the temporary mast, and do the obvious.   In the 
case of putting the antenna on a mast instead of over it, use extra long 
temporary u-bolts (allthread works here)  for the bottom half of the b-t-m 
bracket, until top ones are in place, then re-place with the correct ones.
Using this method, once the mast is in its correct place, it can easily be 
used as the gin pole for raising the yagis, etc.. a nice strong hook clipped 
on the top works swell ... easier yet, use a pulley / snatch block that has 
a hook on it to begin with!   And ... again .. use a block at the bottom of 
the tower so the ground crew, winch, whatever is not underneath the 
worker(s) on the tower, and also that makes it very much easier for them to 
see what is going on and to communicate.
And that's how it is done EASILY.  Never ever had a problem doing it that 
way.  Let the retorts begin!  HIHI
73 y'all  Mark  AA6DX




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