Stairways to Heaven: Ladders, Towers and Masts

Not all climbing is alike. I was recently reminded of this when I painted the exterior trim of my house. Ladders are not towers, and not in a good way. Most people will climb a ladder while few will climb a tower. I find that interesting because towers are safer than ladders. For this discussion, I mean a high ladder and not a small one.

At the risk of irritating those of you suffering from vertigo I offer a view looking down from only a little more than 20' (6 m) while painting the apex of a two-floor high cathedral ceiling exterior. Look like fun? It isn't.

Unlike towers, ladders are not firmly attached to the ground. Safety lines and temporary anchors are available if rarely used by the average homeowner. When ladders are handled carelessly they can slip, topple or break. In most cases you will survive though you may wish you hadn't.

As you may have guessed I don't like climbing tall ladders. I was sorely tempted to hire the job out to a professional. However, as with my amateur radio duties I am very much a do-it-yourself kind of person. I can do the work despite not enjoying it.

One advantage of a ladder is that you don't need a safety harness to stay on it. You can stand vertically and you can lean against the ladder. Just don't lean too far backward or to the side! With suitable peripherals you can hang paint cans and other tools to free your hands for the work and to hold on.

The perceived threat of towers is their height. Get over that and they are safe. They can be more tiring since it takes a lot of effort to climb up and down and your body will ache at the places that bear your weight or the force of applying torque to a wrench. Rigid sole boots are used to avoid foot injuries and aches. Lifting stuff from the ground can be a lot of work unless you have ground crew so don't forget a tool or part that you'll have to climb down to retrieve. You will drop stuff so carry spares.

 

The view from a tower is far better than from a ladder. As you climb past 100' (30 m) the scenery is similar to what you see when flying, except quieter with a bigger window and no fighting for the arm rests. In my experience you don't really notice the ground when you're up that high since it looks so remote. In contrast the ground appears terrifyingly close, vicious and unyielding from the top of a ladder.

 

Over the years I've offered visiting hams showing a curiosity about climbing the opportunity to try it out. Climbing 20' or so requires no more effort than a ladder. Very few have taken me up on the offer. I was no different the first time I took the challenge when my Elmer told me to try out his tower when I was 15 years old. I only made it to 20', the level of the eaves. It terrified me. 

 

Fast forward one year and I was happily climbing 50' towers for friends and by the age of 17 I had my own. You grow accustomed to it. The ambition for more DX and higher contest scores is a fantastic motivator. The terror gradually recedes to a level one can live with. It never departs completely, and that's a good thing since fear keeps you wary and safe.

As we all know the top of a tower is not actually the top. Antennas are mounted on a mast and the mast sticks up out of the tower, sometimes for an appreciable distance. How do the antennas get up there? You must mount upper antennas on the mast when it is retracted within the tower and push it up, or you must climb the mast and do the work up there. In my early tower days we always did the former. That can involve some heavy lifting and the resulting installation is difficult to service. So I learned to climb masts.

 

The first time it wasn't planned, it simply had to be done. Since I'm lightweight and most people are normal weight or overweight my friends all looked expectantly at me. I mumbled a few unmentionable words and started climbing. 

 

Getting on top of a tower is awkward. Holding a narrow pipe as you push up is difficult to do without your body swinging outward. It helps if there's a boom or boom truss to grab.

 

Finding useful places to attach your safety equipment isn't always possible so you wrap everything around the mast. This makes vertical motion difficult since you must slide the straps as you rise and they hold the mast tight if you put weight on the harness, as you often must. Every obstacle along the way requires detaching and reattaching each strap (fall arrest and positioning).

On the bright side a mast, like the tower holding it, is securely held. In that way it is better than a ladder. When the mast is engineered to support an HF yagi at the top it will support your weight, whether pipe or tube, high strength or moderate strength. However, it will wobble a bit and that may be disconcerting.

 

Mast climbing is tedious and slow work, and you must do it again on way down. You are so well tied in you won't fall. The temptation to reduce the number of connection points can be deadly. In my immortal youth I did it free climbing with just a lineman's belt. After stepping onto the top plate I used boom, clamp and truss supports as steps. Yes, that is a little crazy. Even so it was usually enough to get the job done. 

 

These days I do it differently. There are professionally made mast steps that are beautiful to behold and strong. Mine are not. They are home brew and barely adequate to support my weight. Someone of normal weight would be unwise to rely on them. I know hams that weld steps to the mast for added strength and permanence.

 

In the picture you can see what I call my stairway to heaven. It takes 3 steps for my hands to comfortably reach the top of a 12' mast to work on the upper antenna. The antenna you see above is the upper 5 element 15 meter yagi of my stacking project. The upper 20 meter yagi will be located at the bottom of the mast.

To lift the antenna after it is trammed to the top of the tower the tram is removed, a pulley is attached to the mast top and the mast clamp bolts are loosened. Ground crew pulls as I slide the yagi upward. As it rises I follow it up, installing steps along the way. Finally I am at the top of the stairway bolting down the yagi. The pulley is removed, I climb down to the tower and remove the steps. Simple and reasonably safe if somewhat slow. I recommend a quick check with an antenna analyzer before sliding the antenna up the mast.

The view is pretty good from up there! Looking down is also interesting. Instead of doing that I'll direct your attention to an earlier article with just such a view from the mast of the first big tower (150') when I first filled it with antennas. 

How does climbing a ladder compare to climbing a mast? I favour the ladder. Although less safe the ladder is far easier to climb and work on. Climbing masts drives me crazy, mostly due to the time consuming safety procedures. The temptation to be less safe and work faster is ever present.

 

Most people are comfortable on short ladders and fewer are comfortable on tall ones. If you're a ham and you can safely use a tall ladder you have potential as a tower climber. Over the years I've met countless people, hams and non-hams, who are convinced towers are extremely dangerous. Yet they are willing to climb ladders and work on sloping roofs, and are comfortable operating heavy machinery and chainsaws.

 

Those with the discipline to follow safety procedures in one area can do it on a tower. Masts, however, are another thing entirely. I don't blame anyone for thinking that's crazy. That and ladders.