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2024.06.07 K9DCR tower takedown:


Al (KB0VGG), Curtis (NK0T), David (K9DCR), and I worked to take down a tower for an elderly ham where a 2m
beam had bent in a wind storm. I speculated the large tree close to it must have swung a branch in the wind
storm we had recently, and the recoil bent the mast pipe.

My initial plan was to start by lifting the mast (with the rotor and antenna) up off the top section, but when
I got up there I noticed a sleeve attached onto the bottom of the mast (just below the top section neck) that
looked rusted down pretty good. And with the bend right above the neck, it meant we couldn't move the mast up
OR down. I was worried about the mast and antenna swinging around and hitting the tower (and maybe ME) as the
mast was about cut through, so we decided to drop the top section with everything on it.

Space was pretty tight between that house and the neighbor though, so we made sure to have good control over
it via tag lines. The lift-off went surprisingly smooth, though my usual furniture clamp was unable to lift
the far leg where all the weight (and torque) was resting, so I had to use the scissor jack, which worked quite
well. The two sections were loosely bound together prior to lifting, to prevent a sudden flip. That, along
with the tag lines, allowed us to stay in control and get the conglomeration lowered down safely and without
hitting either house or damaging the fence between them.

Everything went smoothly after that. Two more sections were removed, along with the house bracket, and the
final bottom section was cut close to the concrete pad with a saws-all. The tower sections looked to be in
pretty good condition, and may get reused by someone. I was also pleasantly surprised that the tower bolts
came off remarkably easily, and the tower sections separated smoothly due to the installer having applied some
white lithium grease on the legs when stacking them.

The only pictures I got were of my inspection on arrival for the job. We were busy and there weren't any
observers hanging around with cameras.

2024.06.07 07.00.10	2024.06.07 07.00.32	2024.06.07 07.00.58	2024.06.07 07.01.08	2024.06.07 07.01.52	2024.06.07 07.01.58
2024.06.07 07.02.30	2024.06.07 07.02.34

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