bravocharlie

After the death of James Linstedt W9ZUC [eHam.com] of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, tower safety is once again a hot topic in ham radio circles.  James was 59 years old and an experienced tower climber, yet committed a deadly safety breach by not securing his harness to the tower when he needed to climb ten feet.  During that brief climb, he slipped and fell 95 feet to his death.  Numerous news reports were in the mainstream media about his death…  This is the one from his local paper, the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram.

Valerie Hotzfeld NV9L did a pretty interesting piece on tower safety on last week’s HamNation on twit.tv.  Her piece begins at 15:40.  You can also see this on YouTube — this link should take you right to 15:40.

Those of us in radio and electronics have chosen inherently dangerous hobbies.  We can get burned while soldering that PL-259 onto the RG-8.  We can get shocked.  We can slip with that pair of wire cutters and end up with stitches.  I’ve done all three of these.  But the tower work can be the most deadly.  Be careful everybody.

(published from DFW, Texas)