OVH Minutemen

In late August, Butch, W4HJL, got a call asking that a beam and tower of a deceased member be taken down – IN ONE DAY.  The beam and tower had belonged to Milt, N4SN,  a long time member of OVH.   His estate was selling the house and was going to closing.

The OVH got the beam and tower down in one day.   The crew consisted of Gil, KM4OZH, Al, KB4BHB, John, KG4NXT, and Bob, W4HJF.    Gil did the tower work and the rest were ground crew.   Gil had never operated a Gin pole before but did a superb job.   A Gin pole is a pole the clamps to the tower with a pulley on top to lift off the beam and tower segments one at  a time.

There was a problem with the Gin pole.   We had lifted the beam off the tower and were lowering it to the ground when the pulley jammed on the rope. We could not budge it.   If we simply dropped the beam,  it would bend and be ruined.   What Gil did to save the day was loosen the Gin pole clamps just enough so the pole slid down very  slowly.   The beam was saved and Gil disassembled it.   We also three sections of tower down without incident.

 

Gil, KM4OZH, taking down beam and tower
Gil, KM4OZH, taking down beam and tower

Leave a Comment