Safety Cable for Tower Work --- Vertical Fall Arrest

[K1DEU]

An affordable, yet sturdy Vertical Fall Arrest (home-brew) System. 

   For the Safety Cable consider using 3/8 7 strand Galvanized steel which will run up one tower leg from bottom to top spaced out several inches from the side. 3/8ths is the most common strand (often free) used by utilities.

   To safely terminate the top, which might have to withstand a 8,000 pound jerk. I use a third party, Rohn 45G Guy bracket with out torque arms. From Norms Fab in Michigan this sturdy bracket is $70. http://www.normsfab.com/   There is an option to go Stainless Steel hardware +$ 35 but be aware of the fact that you must never seize/non corrode protect the stainless and the if the stainless binds it takes a grinder to remove a nut. Carefully assemble the three outer pieces (they are slightly different) for no interference with the internal Z corners before cranking down !  plus  S&H  ask, around $25
Norm has sturdy guy brackets for (too small, dangerous) 25G also. I have never liked 20-25G tower!
   To terminate to the top guy bracket use a 3/8ths dead end (guy grip) with thimble around one of Norms 7/16 inch hardened bolts at a guy bracket corner.  Slit and glue tennis balls for quiet spacers every 30-50 feet down to a simple L shaped side arm bracket terminated with a turnbuckle and dead end at bottom. 

   I bought "like new" 3/8 inch very heavy duty Wire/Cable Grabs/Grips for my tower belt on e-bay for $40 each, normally $200 each ! These Grabs say" M10, Mechanical Corporation, Philadelphia, PA., Must be used with Shock Absorber, Use on 5/16 - 3/8 Dia. Steel Cable, Free Fall should not exceed 6 Ft., One worker per Grab."  I use a short 4 foot halyard without shock arestor between the Grab and my D-ring tower belt.  For sometimes I forget to deploy the tower leg, Gorilla Hook when stopped and working around the tower.
    Regards  John  K1DEU, Stamford, Vermont

[W1ATR]

Nice. Not a bad little homebrew and so important. The only failure in setting up your system is foregoing the shock suppressor. Years ago, I was brazing in some 2" refrigerant lines 40 feet off the floor on a steel constructed building. I remember Osha being on our asses every week about the harnesses being setup right, and so forth.

Well, long story short, one of the electricians was wiring lights and he didn't have his suppressor installed correctly when he tied off, and he slipped and dropped 3 or 4 feet before the harness caught him. What happened was when he fell, he stopped vertically, head up and feet down, which would have been easily survivable, but because he didnt have the damn suppressor installed right, one of the straps between his legs ruptured the femoral artery and he bled to death internally in 45 seconds.

He was gone before they got him to the floor.

73

       

[K1DEU]

  Thanks for the excellent advise Jared !  I do have a brand new Klein Fall arestor (shock absorber), I'll strongly consider using it. I was safety lazy, for its quite heavy.  Regards  John

[K1JJ]

     I bought "like new" 3/8 inch very heavy duty Wire/Cable Grabs/Grips for my tower belt on e-bay for $40 each, normally $200 each ! I use a short 4 foot halyard without shock arestor between the Grab and my D-ring tower belt.  For sometimes I forget to deploy the tower leg, Gorilla Hook when stopped and working around the tower.
    Regards  John  K1DEU, Stamford, Vermont

John,

What do you use for the actual "grab" assembly that locks onto the cable when it senses a fall? 

I use a little stainless steel device I bought from a company in Canada for about $100. Works FB with a 5/8" cable.

Back in 2002? I installed a climbing cable for each of the five towers and use them religiously when I climb. I don't know how I used to free climb up to 190' in the past. Crazy.  These days I do not desire to climb anyone's tower unless they have a safety cable installed. It's required of pros, why not hambones?

I do use a shock absorber for my lanyard hooks, but not on my safety grab assembly.  The fall assemby is short and sits near my crotch as I climb, maybe 8" of play max. The shock absorber is used only when the gorilla hooks are attached when stationary.

I sprung for a full body harness climbing belt. It's complex and hard to remember how to put on, but worth it.

The biggest risk I hear is falling and hanging with the leg circulation cut off, causing a heart attack. Some hams use only a waist belt out of this fear, but broken ribs and back is the risk there.

The whole installation was pretty cheap - just a roll of 5/8" aircraft cable, cable clamps, some homemade steel brackets and the fail arrest assembly. As ONV belts used to advertise - "Now feel safe climbing towers!"


Tom, K1JJ

[k4kyv]

If you use two lanyards, a full body harness, and always keep at least one of the lanyards properly attached at all times, why would you need a fall-arrest system?

[K1JJ]

Don,

Same thing basically, when applied to safety, but the difference is speed of climbing and descent - and ease of use.


To climb a 190' tower using the clip-on, clip-off lanyard method takes a long time and a lot of arm/hand  energy. I used to do it. After a few trips up and down I dread it more than the climbing itself. But using the sliding fall arrest device, you can essentially free-climb as fast as you can muster. There is no resistance going up or down, but if you fall, it locks up immediately, just like an elevator brake system.

In the rare case where I need to unclip my fall arrester to climb onto the other side of the tower, I always use the double lanyard method.

My rule is that I always want to be clipped on, no matter what procedure I'm doing. Most of the time when working I am clipped with THREE methods -  the fall arrest cable AND two lanyards clipped on AND have by waist gorilla hook snapped onto a cross bar.

BTW, I've found that using a 6" gorilla hook that is directly attached to the center belt loop is a great way to go. You can snap on in a split second and there is no long belt or strap to play with.

Using all three methods of attachment makes me, "feel safe climbing towers."...


I think the real risk of injury is from a heavy object like a Yagi springing loose after getting caught or something snapping and falling on us. Raising and lowering large Yagis consumes a lot of my tower time and can be somewhat dangerous at critical points, in my opinion.  Chances of falling off the tower when using the above mentioned methods is slim, unless a belt fails.

But probably the most common risk for us old buzzards is a heart attack. That's what will take many of us tower diehards out.
For me, it's a heart attack after HuzMan straps my new triple 40M Yagi stack into Europe with his new delta loops... :-)

T

[k4kyv]

But probably the most common risk for us old buzzards is a heart attack. That's what will take many of us tower diehards out.

Kind of like shovelling snow in the winter. Tower climbing is what did in Mike, W2OY and Hank, W2IQ. Ascending a tower takes energy and requires a lot of exertion. Even though I have to take it easy these days with an arthritic hip, I still climb ladders, work on the roof, crawl under the house, do gardening work and other physical activity all the time, so I think I am in fairly good shape, and wouldn't worry about tower climbing too much, but I would take it easier than I did when I put up mine single-handedly 30 years ago.

But looking at some of the body types that frequent hamfests, I could see how this might be a problem, especially for someone who hasn't climbed his tower and rarely even stepped out of his shack since 20 years ago, many of whom have already long been digging their graves with knife, fork and bottle.

[K1JJ]

so I think I am in fairly good shape, and wouldn't worry about tower climbing too much, but I would take it easier than I did when I put up mine single-handedly 30 years ago.

How did you put it up single-handedly?  Towards the last few sections did you have to climb all the way back down to hook up the next section and climb all the way back up, etc?

I did that once with a 60' Rohn 45 myself, but couldn't imagine the tedious work going higher.  Having someone on the ground to tie each section on and drive the tractor sure helps... :-)


BTW, I just took down a full size 40M rotary Yagi and a pair of 60' boom 15M Yagis by myself, no ground crew. (including swing gates attached)  If planned out well, it can be done in only three climbs.   One climb to set up the tramline, pulleys and halyard, one climb to unbolt the Yagi and one climb to clean up to take down the pulleys, tramline, etc. 

Some climbs remind me of a Hubble telescope repair space walk when I'm up there. You gotta be prepared for anything and not forget one tool.  I take pride in being able to do as much as possible on each climb to minimize repetition. Of course, there are times when I get to the top and realize I forgot my complete tool bag - that actually happened the other day.... sigh.

T

[K1DEU]

  Tom I just added this at top also; See attached small PDF file for grab picture. My grab is identical to this file; same OSHA ANSI# Z359.I.A10-14 but mine says Only on Steel Cable ? Which I doubt. These grabs must be manufactured by the same company !

I bought two "like new" 3/8 inch very heavy duty Wire/Cable Grabs/Grips for my tower belt on e-bay for $40 each, normally $200+ each ! These Grabs say" M10, Mechanical Corporation, Philadelphia, PA., Must be used with Shock Absorber, Use on 5/16 - 3/8 Dia. Steel Cable, Free Fall should not exceed 6 Ft., One worker per Grab" They are very heavy Stainless Steel construction.  I also have a Brand New inexpensive e-bay complete body harness to try. 

Silly, but in 1968 I hand carried Rohn #6 (same as 25G, but wobbly straight around brace) Sections up myself after sunset. For I discovered I could climb higher than 40 feet only If it was dark enough "not to see the ground". No tower belt sissy stuff for youngsters !  Ah Yes; my little center fed double bazooka on 75 meters, 90 feet high made from  RG-11 and feed with RG-11 from the Williamstown, Mass Cornish wire plant worked the gray line just before sunrise (before anyone understood "gray line) well, upsetting & blowing away stations in Texas and the west coast to Down under!. I felt I spent the better part of the summer breaking up my guys every 11 feet and vowed I would never waste my time breaking guys with eggs !

Regards John , K1DEU

PS my parents still live 30 minutes away from me in Williamstown, Mass. And take care of their selves. And my Bottom Rohn #6 section still sets in crete in their back yard!  Mom is 96 and Dad will be 102 this July. Its very Kool to have them still around for good friends!

[K1JJ]

OK John -

Sounds like you got an excellent deal on both.

I should look into adding a shock absorber to my own fall arrester grab grip.  I have one on the lanyards.  The problem is the span between the grab and my belt is now perfect - only a few inches and tight. Adding the shock absorber wud make it a looser system creating a longer fall before being activated.   How do you handle this problem?

But, I must admit, even a fall of one foot would be quite a shock without a shock absorber. That 5/8" aircraft cable has very little stretch.

T

[John K5PRO]

We cave explorers essentially do what is being  described with single rope techniques for getting down pits and up domes. Once the static rope is there (that is another problem) then our 'camming' devices, be it Jumars, Petzl ascenders, Crolls, etc slide up the rope only one way. I haven't rigged my towers that way, instead choosing to use the lanyard clip on rungs approach for the infrequent times I have done it.

John, K1DEU, told about doing tower climbs after sun goes down. I have very little problem rapelling and ascending a rope into a 300 foot deep hole, if it is inside a cave, dark. On a cliff face outdoors, I am white knuckled. What you cannot see, can't hurt you, right?

[K1DEU]

     Speaking of Fear. I finally humbled my personal pride and hired Matt, KC1XX of http://www.xxtowers.com to finish the last 30 feet of tower. They Matt and two others arrived at 10:00 AM Monday after NearFest and 7 hours later had the two upper Philystran Guys, torque arm stabilizers in place with all the rotating antennas above connected. They will return again before winter to add two vertical, 7 element M2 (2M7's) two meter beams with two vertical 70 Cm Sturdy, DSFO432-15RS,  Directive Systems,  http://www.directivesystems.com/ 15 element Yagi's. And add some more LMR600 runs.
   Working with Matt  is more than a pleasure. He asks what we wish to accomplish and with logical experienced reason he patiently recommends one or several different solutions. He will allow us to go a different way if we really wish, but gives us many long term pros and cons. My bottom line is Ice and Wind survival !

      The last tower section we pulled up ourselves by using my 1995 Saturn backing out my front drive way had my rear bumper less than a car lengths away from the Fog line on US route 100/8. I simply tied my 5/16 ths Dacron to the front stabilizer bar/bracket and had a friend back away from the pulley at tower base, while I pulled with all my weight on a line attached to tower bottom to keep the new 45G section from banging into the tower.  To continue this method would have required using a second pulley and the driver would not have been able to view the section going up ! 

       I subscribe to QST so I can piss and moan to the ARRL directly, and remembered seeing a full cover Issue about Matt of XX towers solving a Newington mess.  Before Matt visited here they had just finished a Tower job in Germany and earlier for a neighbor K1TTT Dave in Peru, Mass. 
Regards John, K1DEU Stamford, Vermont

[KD6VXI]

     Speaking of Fear. I finally humbled my personal pride and hired Matt, KC1XX of http://www.xxtowers.com to finish the last 30 feet of tower. They Matt and two others arrived at 10:00 AM Monday after NearFest and 7 hours later had the two upper Philystran Guys, torque arm stabilizers in place with all the rotating antennas above connected. They will return again before winter to add two vertical, 7 element M2 (2M7's) two meter beams with two vertical 70 Cm Sturdy, DSFO432-15RS,  Directive Systems,  http://www.directivesystems.com/ 15 element Yagi's. And add some more LMR600 runs.
   Working with Matt  is more than a pleasure. He asks what we wish to accomplish and with logical experienced reason he patiently recommends one or several different solutions. He will allow us to go a different way if we really wish, but gives us many long term pros and cons. My bottom line is Ice and Wind survival !

      The last tower section we pulled up ourselves by using my 1995 Saturn backing out my front drive way had my rear bumper less than a car lengths away from the Fog line on US route 100/8. I simply tied my 5/16 ths Dacron to the front stabilizer bar/bracket and had a friend back away from the pulley at tower base, while I pulled with all my weight on a line attached to tower bottom to keep the new 45G section from banging into the tower.  To continue this method would have required using a second pulley and the driver would not have been able to view the section going up ! 

       I subscribe to QST so I can piss and moan to the ARRL directly, and remembered seeing a full cover Issue about Matt of XX towers solving a Newington mess.  Before Matt visited here they had just finished a Tower job in Germany and earlier for a neighbor K1TTT Dave in Peru, Mass. 
Regards John, K1DEU Stamford, Vermont

On the Left Coast, there is a gentleman named Dino Darling that does tower work, as well.

He's not THAT into it, but Dino does take safety as his #1 priority.

His info is on QRZ.  For some reason, his call escapes me.

--Shane

[K1DEU]

    To clarify my "Speaking of Fear" Matt did the last 30 feet post i'll add a previous post.

A picture of my little 160 ft. 45G tower, exclusively guyed with .3 inch OD phillystran/aramid. The two upper guys are terminated with Torque arm stabilizers from Norm's fab in Michigan. The last 30 feet and beams done by Matt of http://www.xxtowers.com/

I use strand vises to terminate and tension the 1/4 inch galvanized ground porcupine leaders. Some of the leaders are 40 feet long as I enjoy small trees near the 12 foot 10 inch guying screw augers.

The first 50 feet of tower was straightened and checked with a carpenters level. The remaining guys were tensioned by feel/insight and tower sighted up from its three sides for straight. One of my guy points is much higher than the tower base and closer.

On top is the little Comet  6, 2 & 70Cm Vertical hooked to a FT-8900R through 200 feet of LMR600.

Next down is the 6 meter Force 12 5 element beam for my Lafayette HA-460 through LMR600 .

Then a space for the two 2 meter 7 element vertically stacked beams being assembled soon & 70 Cm.

On the bottom above the Yaesu thrust bearing (laterally supporting 11 feet of 61T6 2 inch OD, 1/4 in. wall pipe) is a small trap-less Force 12 C3S/HH 140 mph survival, 6 element, 1 reflector/1driven element on each band.
Short 12 foot boom for 20, 15 & 10 awaiting the next ice storm test!  http://www.force12inc.com/

Feedlines are 1000 feet of LMR600 and 500 feet of LMR400 available UPS from Maryland on e-bay.

Before Winter I will add a 80 meter bi-square quad towards New Mexico which will be feed at the 153 foot level (upper inverted V supported by existing philly guys) At the bottom will be a vaccccummm relay to short the bottom V section, affording an 160 meter loop feed at the top. Regards  John, Southern Vermont
Click picture twice to enlarge

[WB2RJR]

We cave explorers essentially do what is being  described with single rope techniques for getting down pits and up domes. Once the static rope is there (that is another problem) then our 'camming' devices, be it Jumars, Petzl ascenders, Crolls, etc slide up the rope only one way. I haven't rigged my towers that way, instead choosing to use the lanyard clip on rungs approach for the infrequent times I have done it.

John, K1DEU, told about doing tower climbs after sun goes down. I have very little problem rapelling and ascending a rope into a 300 foot deep hole, if it is inside a cave, dark. On a cliff face outdoors, I am white knuckled. What you cannot see, can't hurt you, right?

John,

I'm the same as you, I use SOP for rock climbing or caving when doing my tower work. I don't really think much about it, and haven't killed myself yet in over 45 years. But then again, you have to know how to do caving or rock climbing.

I like/prefer falling on nylon climbing rope rather than a steel line, it doesn't break, but it does have "give" so you don't stop instantly and have whiplash.

I've never fallen on my tower, but I have a few times on a cliff or in a cave.

My thanks to my friends who had me on belay.



Marty WB2RJR

[K1JJ]

Looks like a nice, solid installation, John.  The Phillystran is a nice feature.

Yes, Matt is the best. I've partied with him back from the early 1990's when he lived in NH. He had a single PVC pipe telescoped up a tree for 75M DX. He came a long way since then and has learned fast. He's built a few houses from stratch as well. Very smart German engineering mind.


BTW, here's what I call REAL man's torque arms.  I welded these up from 4"X 4" 3/16" scrapyard steel angle. Each weighs over 100 pounds and uses SIX guys per level called "star guying." The tower will NOT twist with a set up like these.  They were put on when I had a pair of very large homebrew log periodics for 10-20M weighing 300 pounds each. The 10M beams on there now certainly don't need torque arms..

The guy anchors use large I-beams in a concrete block the size of a three washing machines. Total overkill from my earlier, fearful days.



100'  tower with homebrew 10M Yagis and homebrew torque arms:  (Possibly the strongest Rohn 45 tower in NE... )

[K1DEU]

   Very Interesting Tom. Before I guyed my 100 feet of Rohn 25G with 4 point, ground guy anchors 90 degrees apart.  I used square 2 inch tubing home brew brackets that extended the little 12 inch face to 38 inches for less twisting. All the guys were 7/16 th Dacron rope with 3/8 inch Stainless Quick links for terminating with a double bowline hitch. 73  John, K1DEU

[KM1H]

Talk about overkill Tom!

My 180' of 45G has held a 4 high stack of HB 20M 4 el on 40' booms at each guy level and on rotatable side arms. Also on that tower were a pair of KLM 4el 40M also rotatable.

The guys are 1/4" EHS with the full 3 way Rohn mounts and arms and broken up with insulators. They extend a full 80% of the tower height. The base sits on a 3/4" pivot pin and the guys do all the work. In hurricane winds I can watch the base move a bit. The tower has survived for almost 20 years, the KLM's didnt. I dont have any photos on the PC but both the ARRL and CQ sent a photographer here. I think it showed in some calendar.

Matt takes after his dad Rolf whose personality was a bit on the rough side. Mother nature made a mess of the KC1XX antenna farm last December.

Carl
KM1H

[W9GT]

But probably the most common risk for us old buzzards is a heart attack. That's what will take many of us tower diehards out.

Kind of like shovelling snow in the winter. Tower climbing is what did in Mike, W2OY and Hank, W2IQ. Ascending a tower takes energy and requires a lot of exertion. Even though I have to take it easy these days with an arthritic hip, I still climb ladders, work on the roof, crawl under the house, do gardening work and other physical activity all the time, so I think I am in fairly good shape, and wouldn't worry about tower climbing too much, but I would take it easier than I did when I put up mine single-handedly 30 years ago.

I certainly know the feeling...suffering from arthritis myself, I just can't run up and down my 80 footer like I used to.  I usually climb up the inside of my TCC 38" face angle tower that was salvaged from an old microwave site. 

Safety is always a concern, but staying inside the tower really reduces the possiblity of falling very far.  Unfortunately that is not an option with small cross-section towers.  I still think the ideal way to install and service antennas would be to use a cherry picker/bucket truck, but there aren't too many of those around here capable of reaching 80' + and I imagine the rental cost would be prohibitive.  I originally put my tower up with a hydrallic crane and it was only about a 10-15 minute job after everything including guys and anchors had been prepared .  Just picked it up and set it in place...fastened base bolts and fastened the guys to the anchors.  Putting stuff on the top was quite a bit more work.  Using tram lines or "catenary" wires up to the top really helps.  I installed a 200 lbs +, 60ft boom monster....6 elements on 20 and 10 elements on 10m...using a catenary wire system and hoisted the whole thing up sideways using a winch on a Jeep.  That antenna really worked great...but a tornado and high winds aloft wrapped it around the tower a couple of years later.  I never replaced it with anything that big...just due to the tremendous effort required to install and maintain such a beast.

I sure wish I could find someone in my area to do tower work.  The commercial outfits just charge too much ($75 - $100/ hr) to be a practical option for an amateur installation.

I wonder if it would be possible to rig the tower with some sort of a simple winch/elevator system that would allow me to haul myself up the tower on a cable?  Of course, it would be prudent to design some fail safe features into such a system to prevent sudden unexpected descents which could result in my entry into the ranks of SKs!  I guess maybe using one of those Chinese electric winches available cheap from Harbor Freight might be a little risky. 

73,  Jack, W9GT

[KD6VXI]

I wonder if it would be possible to rig the tower with some sort of a simple winch/elevator system that would allow me to haul myself up the tower on a cable?  Of course, it would be prudent to design some fail safe features into such a system to prevent sudden unexpected descents which could result in my entry into the ranks of SKs!  I guess maybe using one of those Chinese electric winches available cheap from Harbor Freight might be a little risky. 

73,  Jack, W9GT

I believe they call that device a "Hazer"  At least for the antenna side...  I also believe they are one HUGE P.I.T.A.!

For the "human" side, they call that device a bucket truck

I just wish I had.
1.  Bucket truck to go to 200 feet.
2.  a NEED for a bucket truck to go to 200 feet (ie, a 200 foot tower).

--Shane



--Shane