Doesn't Anyone Do Tower Work Anymore?

[W9GT]

Well, the saga continues...trying to get my tower/antennas restored to operation before winter sets in.  I have been trying to get someone to do the aerial work for me, as I'm not too nimble with climbing chores anymore.

Maybe I should have planned ahead and foreseen the difficulties I was going to have maintaining an 80' tower with lots of antennas on it when I got older.  Boy, those crank-up tiltover jobs sure look attractive now!  I finally got a guy with a 70' + bucket truck to do the work....unfortunately, he can only reach to about 75' working height and my tower is at least 5' higher than that.  He also informed me that he is not comfortable getting out of the bucket to work on the tower.  He did some work last Saturday...took down the side-mounted 6 M halo for me to refurbish and removed the prop-pitch rotor that I am replacing.  

He is coming back this Saturday...along with a "climber" buddy who will do the tower work.  Hopefully, the two of them, along with a couple of friends on ground crew will be able to get the KT-34A tribander, 6 and 2 M beams, new tailtwister rotor, numerous runs of coax and hardline, and a new cross boom assembly for the dual 40 M loops up on the tower.  After all that stuff is up, I plan to hoist back up into place the 160M inverted L and the trusty 3-wire dipole for 75/80M.

Actually, the new antenna crop is miniscule compared to the giant monobander beams and other antennas that I used to have, but these will have to do.  At least should be a little easier to maintain.

This has been an incredibly frustrating experience.  There just doesn't seem to be many people around here doing this kind of work anymore.  The commercial tower guys charge a fortune, and seems like fellow hams are all getting old and don't want to climb anymore.  Hopefully, we will get it all done Saturday.  Pictures to follow.


73,  Jack, W9GT

[Jeff W9GY]

Jack, I have a ham buddy in Peru, In that does a lot of tower work.  I can put you in touch with him, if your current crew lets you down.  Jeff

[ke7trp]

Tell me about it.  I just went through this here in az. I finally found a guy willing to do this kind of work. You need to start calling comercial communications shops and letting them know that you need some tower work and even use the words "side work".  This process worked for me. I found a guy local to me with 25 years experience climbing BC towers.  He was professional and reasonable.

C

[KB5MD]

Hard to find anyone to do any type work any more.

[w1vtp]

We have Matt - KC1XX out this way

http://www.kc1xx.com/

He's the one who put up mine

Just be sure the one who does any tower work is insured unless he is family.  Tower injuries can be pretty bad

[W1ATR]

Hard to find anyone to do any type work any more.

This is so true it's disgusting. Put an ad in the paper last month for a service tech. 40hr week, clean stocked work truck, $28/hr with med, dent, and eye's. Got a dozen calls from guys that wanted their weekly work slip signed to show they looked for work, another few that never EVER did HVAC work, haha, and one arrogant bastard that wanted to work under the table at that rate so he could also keep collecting. I figured the hell with it and set up a deal with another guy I know to swap up some of the calls based on the area. Problem solved.   

[WA1GFZ]

Jared,
How about state tech schools. Get a young guy who wants to learn and work.
Start them lower and let them work their way up. I've had a tech from another Dept. working for me the past month. I want to get him full time. My boss would love to swap him for our slug.

[VK7ZL]

Hard to find anyone to do any type work any more.

This is so true it's disgusting. Put an ad in the paper last month for a service tech. 40hr week, clean stocked work truck, $28/hr with med, dent, and eye's. Got a dozen calls from guys that wanted their weekly work slip signed to show they looked for work, another few that never EVER did HVAC work, haha, and one arrogant bastard that wanted to work under the table at that rate so he could also keep collecting. I figured the hell with it and set up a deal with another guy I know to swap up some of the calls based on the area. Problem solved.   

The going rate in Australia for an HVAC Tech is $60/hr plus overtime and callout with a fully equipped vehicle that can be used for personal use when not at work.

Trouble is no one can afford to get any work done.

Bob

[W9GT]

tower pic...more to come.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[W9RAN]

Jack, your "almost but not quite" pic reminds me of one I have here somewhere from about 25 years ago in Nebraska!  I've found that the number of ham buddies who are willing/able to do tower work has really declined as we've all gotten older.   And you really want a guy who knows what he's doing and has the right safety equipment.  Even though my tower is a tilt-over it made me so antsy that I took off the TH-7 and put up a SteppIR and a separate crankup for VHF to reduce the loading.    My best suggestion is to try to find a tech from a two-way shop that does tower work and hire him on the side.   Cost is proportional to his interest in ham radio ;-)

73 Bob W9RAN

[Opcom]

The man doing my tower on weekends hurt his back right before the top section was ready. Now I have a 50FT sculpture in the back yard that looks like and unfinished tower with a gin pole at the top. No I am not climbing it.

[Bill, KD0HG]

Seriously, that's a good idea for us old farts.

Rent and use a cherry picker...Maybe shorten the tower a bit.

I've been on a semi-trailer sized boom truck that the local utility company calls a Condor. Big double-hinged thing, 100 feet is a piece of cake. Used to get up to those big 115-230 KV lines.

The only way to go. For $? per hour.

I've climbed some 300' on towers, but that was when I was 30-35 and immortal.

[K1JJ]

A few tower/antenna longevity comments:

One way to minimize tower maintenance climbing is to put up the installation using overkill components. The eye opener for me was using "YagiStress", a software modeling program for mechanical evaluations. Use all stainless steel parts and use those nylon insert nuts that don't loosen up for all element joints.  Overhead trussing is mandatory for booms that will be at risk for ice storms. Think things out carefully to see where the wind will fatigue the antennas and mountings. Wind and ice loads are the main enemies.

A good, solid installation can stay up for many years without maintenance. The exception is rotators... :-)  

I often think that the best antenna system for an old buzzard is to have a few well placed towers that have a series of STRAPPING ropes and MARINE pulleys at various levels. Then wire arrays can be raised and lowered for changes and maintenance. Forget the rotary Yagis, etc.   I have four WIRE Yagis for various directions on 40 and 75M that keep me happy.  

I still climb at age 58 and hope to continue until at least 70, assuming I don't get injured, etc. Two months ago I fell off a frickin ladder and twisted my ankle pretty badly. It still doesn't feel 100%. As a result, I get around a lot more carefully and watch out for safety like never before. It takes longer to heal as we get older, of course.


So far this year I had to climb the towers only a few times for (fickle-minded) antenna changes, but everything has stayed up and working well. I've been watching the 2x2x2 40M stack take the wind like a champ. Presently starting a new NE pair of Beverages - just love the ground work!


BTW, I agree - call a local 2-way shop and find a young guy who climbs. You be the ground crew and teach him the finer points.

T

How'd you like to maintain this JJ 6M system?  (Notice the 40' boom at the top holding the 75M wire 2el quad loops at 190' up)

[W1ATR]

Jared,
How about state tech schools. Get a young guy who wants to learn and work.
Start them lower and let them work their way up. I've had a tech from another Dept. working for me the past month. I want to get him full time. My boss would love to swap him for our slug.

Sorry for the late response Frank. I guess I missed this one. I have gone the school route in the past and apprenticed a couple of good guys. The problem is I don't have steady hours all summer to keep them busy. My busiest part of the year is right now when around 800ish+ tuneups came in beginning in Sept., and that keeps me and my full timer running like idiots trying to get all that soot sucked. lol It take's us about 2 months doing 5 or so a day leaving room for service calls and so forth. The problem this time of the year is that we need someone already licensed with some experience that can jump in a van and go. I usually don't have any trouble finding that third pair of hands to pick up some work, but it seems this year it's easier for these people to collect than it is to work. Welcome to CT right?  

[KA2DZT]

A few tower/antenna longevity comments:

One way to minimize tower maintenance climbing is to put up the installation using overkill components. The eye opener for me was using "YagiStress", a software modeling program for mechanical evaluations. Use all stainless steel parts and use those nylon insert nuts that don't loosen up for all element joints.  Overhead trussing is mandatory for booms that will be at risk for ice storms. Think things out carefully to see where the wind will fatigue the antennas and mountings. Wind and ice loads are the main enemies.

A good, solid installation can stay up for many years without maintenance. The exception is rotators... :-)  

I often think that the best antenna system for an old buzzard is to have a few well placed towers that have a series of STRAPPING ropes and MARINE pulleys at various levels. Then wire arrays can be raised and lowered for changes and maintenance. Forget the rotary Yagis, etc.   I have four WIRE Yagis for various directions on 40 and 75M that keep me happy.  

I still climb at age 58 and hope to continue until at least 70, assuming I don't get injured, etc. Two months ago I fell off a frickin ladder and twisted my ankle pretty badly. It still doesn't feel 100%. As a result, I get around a lot more carefully and watch out for safety like never before. It takes longer to heal as we get older, of course.


So far this year I had to climb the towers only a few times for (fickle-minded) antenna changes, but everything has stayed up and working well. I've been watching the 2x2x2 40M stack take the wind like a champ. Presently starting a new NE pair of Beverages - just love the ground work!


BTW, I agree - call a local 2-way shop and find a young guy who climbs. You be the ground crew and teach him the finer points.

T

How'd you like to maintain this JJ 6M system?  (Notice the 40' boom at the top holding the 75M wire 2el quad loops at 190' up)

What JJ doesn't tell you is that he is really Super Man from outer space.  He was just planted here on Earth to make the rest of us Hams look whimpy

Fred

[K1JJ]

Every so often one of the AM gangsters (Huz Luther) plants some Kryptonite up on the tower. It's a bitch getting back down. 

T

[WA1GFZ]

Tom,
Nylock nuts are junk compared to an aircraft nut I found. I'm ticked at myself because I had a jar of them enough to do most of my log. Problem was I found them about 6 months after I put up the antenna. I bet Aircraft Hardware in East Hartford can get them. They have a taper in them to provide a lock. Nylon breaks down in time. I gave Chuck the "MS" number after he told me of his pending project.

[K1JJ]

What breaks down the nylon, UV as usual?

Jointed elements are notorius for unscrewing nuts and bolts and elements dropping to the ground. That's why I went with the lock nuts. So far I've had some of the Yagis up for over 10 years with no problems with the nuts breaking down. I usually put the nuts on the bottom of the el, so maybe they stay away from the sun that way. Then again, the nylon is pretty well hidden from light being inside the stainless nut.

T

[W9GT]

Well everything is finally almost completed!  Worked an hour after dark last night.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[W9GT]

Mo pix

73, Jack, W9GT

[W9GT]

Mo pix

73, Jack, W9GT

[K1JJ]

Daaammm.... that's a nice FAT tower, Jack!  How wide is the face, 36"?


What's with those power lines in the last shot?  Is it an illusion or do they run close to the tower?


The HF Yagi - looks like it uses stubs on the end of each element for each band. Interesting idea that's commonly used for multi-band verticals. Much better than using traps for sure...

T

[W2VW]

That stuff came from WA3UAN's back yard.

Every so often one of the AM gangsters (Huz Luther) plants some Kryptonite up on the tower. It's a bitch getting back down. 

T

[W9GT]

Daaammm.... that's a nice FAT tower, Jack!  How wide is the face, 36"?


What's with those power lines in the last shot?  Is it an illusion or do they run close to the tower?


The HF Yagi - looks like it uses stubs on the end of each element for each band. Interesting idea that's commonly used for multi-band verticals. Much better than using traps for sure...

T

Hi Tom,

Yes, it is a nice fat tower.  38" face...was a microwave tower in a previous life.  Power lines are a long ways from tower...just an optical collusion.  Tribander is a KT-34A four element job...uses linear loading...no #@&*^%$ traps.  Best tribander I have ever used...almost as good as monobanders.  Uses two driven elements..provides wide band width.  I had enough stuff to make it a six element KT34XA, but I'm tired of messing with antenna problems...just too big.  Hopefully this stuff will work OK.  I still have to get the cross boom up at the 72' level for the forty meter diamond loops and we will be done.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[K5WLF]

Well everything is finally almost completed!  Worked an hour after dark last night.

73,  Jack, W9GT

The advantage to working in the dark is that you can't see how far it is to the ground. Very important to me -- I hate heights 

ldb
K5WLF