[ADXA] W0AIH - SK

Thu Nov 1 14:21:55 EDT 2018

He was a true gentleman and just thinking about his station-building
activities is tiring.  I remember an article, I think written by his wife,
that was very touching and humorous.  She called his contest preparation
persona "Hernando".  She would say "watch out, Hernando's in gazelle mode"
(or something similar).

We have had several reminders recently of how important tower safety is.
This is a real tragedy.  However, I just turned 70 and have pretty much
quit climbing over 30 feet. He went while working on a 200 foot tower at
age 84 after living a good life.  Maybe today, if I could get that deal,
I'd take it.  That's all I'm going to say about that.

73,
Dennis

On Thu, Nov 1, 2018 at 12:48 PM <w5zn at w5zn.org> wrote:

> Some of you are no doubt just becoming aware of W0AIH's tragic death due
> to a tower accident this week. Paul was a model radio amateur and an
> exciting person to listen to. He was a retired Lutheran minister and
> very passionate when speaking about amateur radio. I vividly recall one
> presentation he made at the Kansas City DX Convention a few years back
> that was so moving I almost walked down the isle at the end and repented
> of all of my radio sins! Others were very funny, like the time he cut
> his Sunday morning sermon very short to the surprise of the congregation
> to get back to the house to finish a contest!
>
> He was a supreme gentleman.
>
> Below are some details of the accident provided by his son-in-law W0UC,
> a good friend of mine as well. Every time I hear of a tragic tower
> accident I want to know the details, not to be gory or disrespectful to
> the family or seriousness of the accident but, as someone who spends a
> great deal of time on towers here at W5ZN and other places, to
> understand and learn from a safety perspective.......it only takes one
> mental error in judgement for tragedy to strike.
>
> I continually pressure each of you to put up new antennas, fix existing
> ones and to make improvements to your station. I have been regretfully
> remiss in stressing safety in all of these efforts. There's some DX on
> the air you need....BE SAFE, and then get on the air and work them!
>
> My sincere condolences to Paul's very lovely and most respectful family.
>
> 73 Joel W5ZN
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
>  From: PAUL HUSBY <husby002 at gmail.com>
> Date: Thu, Nov 1, 2018 at 12:18 AM
> Subject: [MWA] Details on the death of W0AIH
> To: <mwa at w0aa.org>
>
> Paul was working on the 15M tower, the 4/4/4/4 this afternoon.  His
> apparent plan was to straighten a bent element and check on a rotor or
> two that were having problems.  (This 15M tower is 200' tall, with
> separate Ham-M's at each antenna starting at 50'.)
>
> I don't know that Paul had been working on this tower recently, but he
> apparently had a line to the top and a pulley up there.  His usual
> practice would be to keep a 1/4" poly rope up to the top and back if he
> was going to work on a tower intermittently.  Then, when ready to work
> on it, he would use that small rope to pull his good rope up and back
> down, which is what he did today.  For a couple decades Paul has liked
> to "ride the rope" up and down, climbing the tower only when necessary,
> or when a winch operator wasn't available.  Today a friend was running
> the winch, not Mary.  Paul had done some work probably at the 50' level
> and was at about 60' when the winch operator said the line went slack.
> The pulley had become disconnected from the top of the tower.
>
> As I said, I don't think Paul had been on this tower recently, and he
> didn't remember that this pulley was not properly attached for work.
> Normally, a web "choker" would go through the ring on the top of the
> pulley, around a tower leg a couple times, and then its ends joined with
>
> a heavy shackle.  Today, only a nylon rope held the pulley, and it
> broke.  KB9S said it looked weathered.  It had probably been up there
> quite a while, and Paul's memory hasn't been what it used to be.  He was
>
> not up to the top of the tower today at all, only working near the
> bottom antenna.
>
> It sounds like the kind of small rope he might use on his belt to
> initially carry the pully and line up to the top of the tower.  Why he
> left it there without a proper choker will be a mystery.  I'm guessing
> it was many months ago, planning to do this work, but something took him
>
> away and he never got back to it until now.  I am sorry that the winch
> operator had to see it, but glad that it was nothing within his control.
>
> I stopped by the Farm Monday on my way home from Chicago.  We talked
> about CQWW Phone, and Paul said he operated more phone this time than
> ever before.  He was most excited that he worked a TF friend just before
>
> the end on 160M.  That really made a great end to the weekend.  He did
> tell me, "maybe next year will be the last year for the multiop.  It's
> just getting to be too much work to get ready." That surprised me, as he
>
> has said that he thought he had another 10 years left in him.  It's a
> shame it got cut short.
>
> No word on arrangements.  My wife, Paul's youngest daughter, just
> arrived in 5H-land yesterday, and I am still waiting to get through to
> her.  I'll let you know.
>
> 73
> Paul W0UC
>
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