For those who have already installed their crankups, this idea will not
work.
But if you are in the original layout phase, this might help.
I designed the house where my main station is with a roof peak at 18 feet,
at the edge of the roof. (Not a pointed middle house, in other words.) The
roof is a shallow slope, and the low edge is about 9 feet up. I use a
ladder to get that far.
My 72' crankup is about 1 foot from end of the roof peak, and tops at 22'
when it is retracted. I installed the antenna booms standing on the roof,
then installed elements. I installed the top antenna, then pushed it up a
foot or so to make room for the next one. I had to rent a hydraulic lift to
raise the 20' mast and lift the antennas into their position, but was able
to do the vast majority of the work standing on a relatively safe roof, and
the rest has been done from the bucket on a hydraulic lift.
At this point I have the top antenna at 88' and the middle at 80' installed,
and have the bottom one at 72 and 1/4 feet yet to install. But doing it the
way I did I only had to use 1 rental of the hydraulic boom lift. And I can
do the complete installation of the bottom antenna standing on my roof.
At my age during the planning process, about 63 yrs, and at my current age
of 66 yrs, this seemed to me to be the safest way to set up my tower work.
And I do not have any frightening wasp problems. I do take a can of spray
up with me, and have used it. But it is amazing how easy being able to use
the roof as a work platform makes everything.
BTW, I paid good money to have a professional tower installer put in the
concrete with a proper steel cage, and install the crankup. I cost me about
$3,000 including concrete to have him do the work instead of me (BIG hole
for the base!), but I knew I was getting a better job than I could have
done, and I saved wear and tear on my body in the process. I considered it
a good investment.
I hope this helps someone.
73,
Rusty, na5tr
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lee Buller" <k0wa@swbell.net>
To: "TowerTalk Reflector" <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 6:53 PM
Subject: [TowerTalk] Grass and Critters in Traps
>
> It is surprising what critters will do to traps up in the air 70 or 80
> feet. I agree, I have seen grass and critters in my TH7DXX traps over the
> years and the SWR went to pot when it got wet. Dried out...everything was
> find. Holes were down. It is hard to stop critters. I've even used
> mothballs to keep critters out, but they do not last long. I was going to
> put Tobasco in the traps too, but took down the antenna at put up a
> Force12.
>
> The scariest things I found in traps is wasps. You are dangling up there
> at 70 feet and all of a sudden there are 100 wasp dive bombing you ....
> and you have do place to go except down. Not good.
>
> I started carrying wasp spray and giving all the traps a good dose before
> I started working with the elements. Hard to do on the end traps. They
> also like to nest in the mast and come boiling out of there when you are
> on the tower.
>
> I learned how to come down the tower real fast.....
>
> Scared me spitless.
>
> Lee - K0WA
>
>
> In our day and age it seems that Common Sense is in short supply. If you
> don't have any Common Sense - get some Common Sense and use it. If you
> can't find any Common Sense, ask for help from somebody who has some
> Common Sense. Is Common Sense divine?
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>
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