[Boatanchors] Tower Climbing Video

[WQ9E at btsnetworks.net]

Mike's comments should be taken to heart by everybody who does tower work.  Safety equipment really earns it keep when the unexpected happens.  You may get away many times free climbing down those last few sections after working on the tower but when that wrench left on top bounces off your hand (or head) or the angry hornet  nails your neck you may let go but you won't fall far with the proper equipment in use.  I don't like the hassle of un-belting/re-belting to get around guy wires but even though the potential for a bad outcome is very low the bad outcome is extremely bad  so I use the belt.  

I had a similar discussion with a fellow vintage gear enthusiast last year who didn't like dealing with safety interlock systems and routinely defeated them.  If every user knew proper operation AND MOST IMPORTANTLY never became distracted then they wouldn't be that important.   But one time trying to change coils with your mind focused upon the whereabouts of your teenage children or if you are going to be the next to suffer a layoff is all it takes to send your gear to an estate auction.   I just acquired a BC-610 and mounted a safety shorting stick so I will see it every time I pop open the final cover just as a reminder not to trust the interlocks and bleeder system.

 I have spent a lot of years involved with risk management so I am probably more safety conscious than many but I have a lot of vintage gear and I want to have plenty of time to enjoy it.  

Rodger WQ9E

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From: "Michael D. Harmon" <mharmon at att.net>
Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2010 12:04 PM
To: boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Boatanchors] Tower Climbing Video 

I've climbed a few towers in my life, and I have to say, this video made 
me naseous (which is something that almost NEVER happens!).

It wasn't so bad when the guy was climbing the ladder and looking down, 
but watching him go out over the top of the tower and start up the pegs 
scared the crap out of me.   I've ALWAYS used a belt and hooks when 
climbing anything higher than an extension ladder!  Free-climbing 
something like that is just plain reckless!  All it would take is one 
bad weld on those pegs and the guy would be a statistic.  Not to mention 
hooking his hook over a peg!  What if he got a wind gust that threw him 
sideways so that his hook slid off the end of the peg?

The scariest tower pic I ever saw before this was one I saw in Broadcast 
Engineering about 40 years ago that showed an ironworker standing on one 
of the bowtie TV antenna elements on the tower on top of the John 
Hancock Center in Chicago, holding with one hand to the element above 
his head.

I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid.  I didn't live to 61 by doing stuff 
like this!
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