Gallery - June 6, 2003

Loading the truck. The tower will be located at the top of the hill at the back of the frame. Right beside the pine tree top dead centre.	We carried the pipe up in two separate loads, it rained all day yesterday and we were worried the ground might be soft or slippery (it wasn't).	Climbing. Four wheel drive, second gear. No problem.
Simon drills the holes for the tower base, J.P. provides ballast.	The base has two pivot points, the first (bottom) is for the tower, and the second (top) is for the Gin pole.	Ceara and Gator were as helpful as always. After a full day in the sun, playing with rocks and chasing the truck up and down the hill, both have slipped into gentle comas for the night.
These are all the wires at one anchor point. The wires have to layered very carefully so that they don't get tangled when you raise the tower.	This picture was taken from the top end of the tower, the truck is at the base. It looks like some bizarre ad for rusting '93 Pathfinders.	Dad and Simon work on one of the anchor points.
The ladder acts as a Gin pole to help raise the Gin pole. Confused yet?	A rope is attached to the top of the Gin pole, it travels over the top of the ladder, down to the bottom anchor point, through a pulley and forward where it is tied to a hook on the front of the truck.	As I back (very slowly) down the hill the rope pulls the Gin pole vertical. Think of the ladder and Gin pole as an "L", laying with the long part of the ground and the short part sticking up in the air. If you pull down on the short part it will cause the long part to raise up in the air as they pivot on their junction.
From this view you can see the rope running from the truck through the pully to the top of the Gin pole. The ladder has been removed.	We're doing the same basic operation here, but the Gin pole is raising the main tower. We've paused so that Simon and J.P. could fix some crossed stays.	The tower, up. At this point several hours were spent tightening and loosening individual stays to straighten the tower out.
Here we're moving the tower stays from the end of the Gin pole to the anchor. At the end of the job the Gin pole can be removed and stored, left flat like this, or folded up vertical against the main tower.	The tower crew. Bug bitten, sunburnt, and proud. A good days work, and a job well done. Thanks guys!