There are obviously many ways to get antennas onto towers. Just because
one person puts up antennas with the aim of winning a contest while
others put them up to work DX while ignoring contests, or one person does
so to reach the Honor Roll, while another is more interested in rag
chewing or chasing counties does not mean that their motives are "right"
or "wrong". Likewise, gin pole, tram or crane.. .one method is not
inherently better than another.
The recent implication that to use a crane, rather than a tram was not an
"amateur" approach to one of the challenges of amateur radio...or W7NI's
comment that he would rather apply that $1000 toward a new tower than to
renting a crane prompt these comments.
There are many reasons a person might use a crane rather than a tram. At
my QTH, for example, the location of my house, neighbors houses, power
lines, and trees, relative to my tower does not leave an appropriate path
for the tram lines to run from the only places on the ground where I
could assemble my antenna with its 36' boom, to the top of the 100'
tower. A crane was able to do the job easily, even though it had to
follow a bit of a zig-zag path to miss eaves, power lines & trees.
Cost is certainly a factor...but when I put up my tower I chose to fully
assemble it on the ground, including the 135# mast, and have a crane put
it up in one piece. My tower is free standing, 4.5' wide at the base,
and 2' at the top. It consists of 5 sections 20' each. The lightest
section weighs 300#, plus mast and rotor. I do not have access to a gin
pole that will handle that load. I know folks who do, but to hire them,
their gin pole, and their winch truck would have cost a WHOLE LOT MORE
than than I paid for the two hour minimum of $165 for a 120' crane that
was able to sit in the street and do the whole job within that minimum.
The last time I rented a crane, I had to remove a mess of broken and
twisted aluminum following the worst ice storm in our area in recorded
history...and I had my new antenna assembled on the lawn when the crane
arrived. Same crane, 120' sitting in the street, but a lot longer job,
because removing the old antenna was a bit of a bear, since the tower
sits right next to the house, and we did not want any wayward antenna
parts to fall through the roof. But that job was still completed within
the minimum, which had gone up to $195. I think that was 7 years ago,
and I have not checked crane rental costs since then, but I sure will,
before I assume that the cost is prohibitive.
By the way, before I signed on the line to order the crane, a company rep
came to the site to verify what size crane was needed, and that the job
could be done without cutting down trees etc. If my tower had been only
70' high, and the crane could have set up near the base of the tower, the
cost would have been about 1/2 of what I paid. Obviously, if several
hours of travel time need to be factored into the cost, or if the jobs
which need to be done will require several hours on-site, then the figure
might easily reach $1000...but if a crane can be positioned to do the job
I invite you to look take a hard look at the real costs and
benefits...before assuming that to do so is a waste of money, or not the
"amateur radio" way to do the job.
73 es gud luck to all,
-Dave- K9FN
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