OK, I’ve seen your arch, and we’ll (literally) raise a tower! G. Day6

Jerry and Co. did it!  Actually got our new 190′ tower up off the ground… and no-one got hurt.  Here’s how it worked…. first they bolted together the 20′ tower sections into two BIG sections (100′ and 90′):

Then they simply hired a 220′ crane (!!!!), from Farley Equipment in Gouverneur, to lift the first 100 feet in place… (with guy wires attached)Then they plumbed the first 100′ of the tower by attaching and carefully adjusting the guy wires… to the three guy anchors.

Then  Danny Harjo climbed up to the top of the 100′ section to align and  guide the top 90 ft of the tower as it descended:

Here’s the tower up at last (with a little  help from the crane)Just as an aside, there are several ways to erect a tall tower like ours….instead of using a crane, the other typical method (and the only way for towers taller than the cranes you’d use to erect them) is to use a “gin” pole.  You somehow set up the bottom 20′ section of the tower… then by putting a hoisting pulley on the top of the 20′ section, you hoist up a 25 pole (the “gin” pole) and temporarily strap the bottom of it to the upper-most (10′) of the upright 20’tower section.  Now you basically have a 35′ tower… then you can move your hoisting pulley to the top of the “gin” pole and hoist up the next 20′ tower section.   Once this is secure, you remove the gin pole from the lower tower section and hoist it to the top of the newest 20′ section you just installed…. then just keep moving the gin pole and adding tower sections until you’re done!  This is very labor intensive… but you don’t need to rent a crane.

Another way to install a tower is by helicopter…. this way is REALLY expensive!

Saturday the antennas go up…. can’t wait!