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gin pole:


This gin pole is an 18 foot long, 2 inch OD, thick-walled aluminum pole, with a pulley welded to one end.
It's used to position the pulley above the tower, so that tower sections and antennas can be either lifted up
to the top of the tower for installation, or lifted up off the top of the tower to be lowered down to the
ground.

To do this, you will also need a "gin pole clamp" to hold the pole vertical beside the tower, and also some
way to support the pole and the weight of what's being picked up by the pole. Many designs use the clamp to
support the weight also, but this is an aluminum pole and would be easily damaged by set screws on the clamp,
so I am using a somewhat innovative design of a "pole cup" to provide support from the bottom of the pole.

This pole is a bit longer than your typical gin pole, but gives some added flexibility on where to mount the
clamp, as well as providing a few feet of additional height where needed. It also flexes more than a steel
pipe due to being made of aluminum, so care must be taken to keep loads as close to the tower as possible.
Although bending can be an issue, the lightweight pole is much easier for climbers to manage, even though it's
much longer than a typical steel pole.

The pictures below show it mounted with bungie-straps to the luggage rack on my SUV. The front end doesn't
extend over the front bumper, so no flag is provided. Since the other end of the pole does extend out, I've
attached a length of safety-orange duct tape to act as a flag to keep things safe. (and legal)



gin pole 1:


gin pole 2:



highest resolution images
last updated 10/03/2023 at 12:07:52