Henr y G E1we/l.
lr 1\4UH
RI 1 8o _ l OC
( 11'lif"limd N( 2701 j
Gin Pole for Peanuts
Ever pull yo ursel f up b y the bootstraps?
Build this gin pole and let it do the same for your tower.
H ave you ever wanted
to put up a tower that
u ses 10-foot sec t io ns that
bo lt t o ge t h er f rom t he
ground up, like those in the
Rohn 25G tower? Well . I did
Cou ld you have borrowed
sorne bodv's gin pole to ac-
c o m p l is h the- task? I
co u ldn't. Did you want to
pay about $1 50 to buy one?
I d id n't $0 what d id I dol I
bui lt my ow n for $19 ,1 5 plus
In it ial o oviuon o f gin pole
w ith U<lamp s lamely con-
nec ting it to a tower leg
58 73 Magazine · May, 1983
a little welding of scrap iron
done for me by my friend,
John Hoger. (T he weld ing
isn't necessary if you prefer
to do some drill ing and
boltmg.l
But I'm ahead of my
sto ry , Not wan ting to re-in-
vent the w heel. as t hey sa y, I
reviewed all the back issues
of 73, CQ HR, and Q5 T
• bolt Iuse to be explained
~I
j I lACK PIP E
/lere i!i a section hoi!i led up
and the rope secured. prior
to climbing and bolting to
lo wer section.
magazines on hand and
fo un d only one reference to
making a gin pole-in w hic h
t he met ho d o f attac hing it
to the tower was too compli -
cated for me. However, in
my reference search I came
ac ross articles o n gin poles
u sed to erect t owers by
mean s o f leverage p rinci-
lIem
25' tnm.wen black
pipe, Pi. · 0. 0.
4 U-c lamps,
2 'J. ~ X4I!z ~
1 pulley about
3· diameter
SCrap metal
i l .Ar -
1112
" Al l
T ~I N
".
Fig. 1. The gin pole.
ples, wh ich lead s me to be -
lieve that they are the real
g ill poles
Gin-Pole Fabrica tion
The meten.rl ... I pur l based
Me shown In f Ig 1 ~ u teen
feet of pipe is al l that ISreal -
ly needed. and l ig. 1 shows
how J f abricated the pole.
John took a piece of 1 ~ x
1 ~ x 9 ~ angle iro n and weld-
Cost
ed It to t he top o f the pi pe
$14.50
He then made a metal trian-
2.76 gle wit h t he 90 ° sides 2 " x
3" and welded it to t he pipe
1.89 and angle iro n tor stren gth ,
M y ta sk was to drill a ho le in
0.00 the angle iron for the pulley,
$19.15 drill a hole in the p ipe for a
later), and paint a band
around the pipe for an align-
ment mark The gin pol e
,n
TOOI£ R
'"
f ig. 2. Upper clamp.
weighed 25 pounds, w hich
was light enough fo r o ne
m an to hand le whi le erec t-
ing a t owe r.
Using the Gi n Pole
let's see how we u se it.
start ing with t he f irst ten-
foot sect ion of t he t ow er se-
cu red to it s concrete foot -
ing, and t he ro pe. q uarter- o r
half-in ch ny lon or manil a, al-
ready t hread ed t hrough the
pu lley o n t he g in pole.
Step One. With the gin
pol e on the grou nd bu t ve rt i-
ca lly aga inst t he tower, two
Ij-c larnps are loosel y con-
nected around t he tower leg
and gi n pole. The uppe r
c lam p sho u ld be posit ioned
between t he fir st and sec-
o nd to p tower rungs The
lower cla mp shou ld be posi-
t ioned betw een the third
and fourth rungs
Climb to t he top of the
t u-foo t sec t io n, safety-belt
you rself in p lace. and lif t the
gin pole so that the painted
band is at the leve l o f the
tower top , You w ill see t hat
t he hol e d rill ed th ro ugh it is
at a Ipvt>1 so t hat yo u can
stic k a 5 bolt through It an d
H
rest it and the pol e on the
top rung o f the tower. The
two clamps ca n no w be
t ightened.
At t his point i t is appropn-
ate to in dic ate that the two
clamps are slight ly d if ferent .
The u pper part o f t he gin
po le can not be snug agai nst
the tower o r it w ill be d iffi -
cu lt to insert t he next sec -
tion A slight displacement
o f t he gin pole f rom the ver-
tica l is req u ired to preve nt
interfere nce bet wee n the
gin po le and t he new sect io n
to be inserted . Fig, 2 sho ws
how a spacer is in serted in
the upper clamp between
the pole and tower to pro-
v ide the necessary vertic a l
d ispla cem en t. Th e space r
ca n be a d upl ic ate o f t he
o uter lo cking bar.
Step Two. Return to the
ground a nd t ie one end o f a
rope to the to p o f the next
(t he seco nd) sect io n, From
the gro und , p ull t he seco nd
section up u ntil it is slight ly
lower t han its final restmg
p lace and t ie t he rope - see
the photo.
Clim b t o t he top of the
f irst sect io n aga in and saf e-
ty-belt yourself in. You c an
now pull o n t he rope to rai se
the sec o nd section h ig h
enough to dear the first sec-
t ion, and then lower onto
the fir st sect io n. The seco nd
sec t io n can no w be bolted
to the f irst sect io n .
Step Three. Clim b the sec-
o nd sect io n, loosel y co nnect
two m ore clamps (spaced on
t he seco nd sectio n as the
fir st two were o n t he f irst sec-
tion) The top clamp again
has a spacer in it.
The bottom d amp o n t he
fi rst sect io n can now be re-
m ov ed , lo o se n the seco nd
clamp u p and le t t he g in
pole slide d own a few in c hes
unt il the pull ey bracket rests
on the top o f the seco nd sec -
t ion, The other fi rst -sec tion
clam p c an now be rem o ved .
Cl im b to t he top o f t he
tower, safety-belt yourself
in. and raise t he gin pole
agai n so t hat the pa in ted
ba nd is a ligned with th e top
o f t he tower. Slip in the 5 "
bolt to preve nt the g in pole
from slip pi ng down. and
tight en the tw o new clam p s.
Yo u are no w ready to fol-
lo w step two aga in, and by
an iterat ion o f steps two and
three and pu tting in t he guy
wires at the ap propria te lev-
els. yo u c an go as hi gh as t he
rec ommendations for the
tower permit.
It would be very nice to
say you put t he tower up all
by you rself. and you can.
How ever, p ractical co nsid er-
at io ns, especially safety, say.
" H ave a ground helper as a
minim um req u irement !"
Some Suggestions
• A ll tower sect ions shou ld
be assembled o n the grou nd
to m ak e su re the sect io ns go
t ogether .
• To p and bottom o f eac h
sect ion sho u ld be nu m bered
o r gi ven a d istinctiv e m ark
identic al to the number or
mark o n t he end of the next
sect io n t o make cert ain they
are properly asse mbled.
• Pu t a little v asel ine insid e
,
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All creve to match
500hm trOf"\$fT'IInen
and antennas.
AU OUR PRODUCTS MADE IN USb.
~ BARKER a WILLIAMSON
~ QuoIity Communication Pro:::luctt Since 1932
At yout OIsfnbU100 wnte or call
10 Canol Sh-eet. Bnstot PA 19007
(215) 783-5581 ~ "
t he bottom o f eac h tower
leg to f ac ilit ate its slid ing
o ver the section below rt.
• To permit eac h sect ion t o
han g vert ica lly when being
m ated , tie t he rope under
the seco nd rung d o wn. o n
eac h sid e, w it h t he rope
com ing up the m iddl e. Afign
the numbered tower leg with
the matching erected num-
bered leg before start ing to
raise the new section.
• W hen m at in g sections,
be su re the ro pe remain s
o utsid e t he tower sec t io ns;
t he rope c an inad v erten tly
be caught in sid e t he tow er
leg. and it's a nui san ce to
have to pull t he free end
t hrou gh t he whole tower to
clear it.
At co m p le tio n of t he
w o rk and when ready to re-
mov e the gin pol e, loosen
t he two cl amps and (as done
befor e) let the gi n pole slide
do wn until it is resti ng o n t he
top sec t io n, Then remo ve
t he rope from the pu ll ey, tie
it to t he top o f the gi n pole,
and , fo r safety, tie t he gin
pole to the t ower while you
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"' = 1 8 - 30 ",,",1 $29 50 '
1 .~ -_3l?_M H1 $22.50 '
6J M Hl
",00
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6J M Hl 50 ce 6 roeree $2500 '
cli m b d ow n fo r a m o ment to
rem o ve t he clam ps. Be su re
to wea r g loves as you lower
the gin pole dow n Wit h t he
ro pe. Ot herwise you m ay
bu rn your hand s from rope
fr ict io n.
Temporary guying w ill
give you a better sense of se-
c urity aft er passing o ne per-
m enent-guved level before
reac hing the next perma-
ne nt -guyed level. A good
rope is suff icient f o r t hat
p u r pose. It w ill requ ire over
500 feet of rope t o erect the
10th sect ion o f a 100 -fo o t
towe r (w he n thr ee -poi n t
guying at t he 85 -foot level),
consid ering t hat you need a
minimum of 200 feet of ro pe
to get that last sec tion u p
there. Have enough ava il-
ab le for you r tower height.
After putt ing u p 370' of
tower by th is m ethod, I
found that it's easier t han I
had thought You w ill. too! .
Reference
" Safe Tower fo r a City Lot,"
Lewis H. Abra ham W6FHR ,
OS T, August. 1958.
73 Ma gazine· Ma Y,1 983 59