3ft dish mounting 180ft tower

[simcor23]

Hey guys,

I have a 27 mile link I am about to embark on. One side of the link is is 180ft up a fairly skinny tower. How the heck are people getting these 3ft dish monstrosities up towers. I am thinking of using a 2foot or 3foot standoff on the tower. I have climbed quite a few towers in my day mostly mounting sectors and smaller 21 dbi and 26 dbi grids. I have used a couple of 3ft dishes just not up towers. I am not a big guy by any means and am wondering how I am going to be able to manage getting this thing up there.

Any suggestions????

[oscarBravo]

Judicious use of ropes. When you climb, have a rope clipped to your harness and pull it up with you. When you are secured at the top of the tower, loop the rope through a pulley attached to the tower, clip it back to itself (loosely, like with a karabiner), attach something heavyish like a big wrench, and let it slide down so that you have a double length of rope. Then have your banksman securely attach the antenna to that end, and - by pulling on the other end - winch it up to you.

I don't think I've explained it very well, but hopefully you get the idea.

[simcor23]

Clear enough, I figured I would have to do something like that, this is going to be quite the mission. Its times like these I wish there was someone I trusted enough to be able to point the antenna properly that I could just pay and not have to climb these things anymore. I have a couple of guys that do the client installs but I think I will be doing this one myself.

Thanks very appreciated.

[Stratolinks]

We just had a couple of 4ft dishes installed 364ft up on a Bell Canada tower. I would do it myself, but Bell Canada only lets a select list of approved contractors do installation of equipment on their towers. I contracted Trylon based in Elmira to do the installation. I was also on the tower to make the software changes to switch from the old antenna to the new antenna with minimal disruption of service (51 seconds). I think their web address is http://www.trylon.com. I am in no way related to them , but I would say that I am a satisfied customer.

[Skaught]

Whatever you do, do not tie it to the trailer hitch . . .

I have heard of towers being knocked over that way.

Something that size, I would just attach a pulley about 10 feet above my mounting spot. Have 2 people on the ground and one or two on the tower and one person puls the rope to get it up, the other controls it's ascent with a rope.

Anything bigger than 4 feet I call in my boys at Tower Tech to do the heavy stuff. They have winches and such.

[tim]

This is dangerous work & someone could easily be killed. You should understand that unless you have the appropriate experience, qualifications & insurance you should not attempt climbs like this, and any advise you receive from 3rd parties (such as this forum) is given with out any liabilities attached, whatsoever. In my youth I used to teach climbing & on occasion did do commercial climbing work at heights. A climb like this would scare me shitless

That said, in the UK a climb like this using professional riggers would cost me $2,000 US at least. In the UK none of the tower operators would allow an unqualified person to rig one of their towers & if I did, & was found out, I'd be banned for life. A professional rigger will know how to put in a lift system as described by OscarBravo, but the most important thing is to keep yourself & your helpers safe.

Make sure you have all the necessary safety equipment, harnesses, fall arresters etc. make sure you know how to use them. Make sure your helpers also know what they are doing. AND MAKE SURE YOU ARE INSURED & your insurance will not be invalidated because of the ways you are operating. This is really really important - protect your arse, assume & plan for an accident.

If you are using 5.8 your big problem will be panning in the antenna once it is mounted, you need to have a team at the other end of the link, who you can communicate with at the same time as you are panning in your end.

I have been using low loss feeders for some time now with runs upto 50 metres to drive 5.8. The feeder is expensive & makes the climb a lot harder but the beauty is that once it is installed, all your kit is at the base of the tower, not up with the antenna.

Good Luck

[simcor23]

Thanks for all the help, I have been climbing towers for quite a few years now and have fall arrest training harnesses trolleys insurance etc. The highest I have been is 260ft up a telus tower. I know about safety insurance and such I just have not had any experience mounting this large of antenna before, mostly sector arrays and small to medium sized grids. I have also been up this particular tower many times already and am familiar with the climb. I am pretty confident with my ability to mount this thing, I was mostly looking for some tips and tricks to get this thing up there although I am considering having someone else mount this for me either these guys in elmira or the riggers who own the tower. On the other hand it would be good experience for me to mount it myself. Again thanks for the help and advice.