Hello all,

Did you ever work with a gin pole? There are several kinds of gin poles. I don’t have a lot of experience with them but I thought I would share what I have learned about them.

Normally, a gin pole is a device used to aid in tower stacking or putting something on top of the tower. It is usually used to go above the top of a tower but there are gin poles that are used to leverage a tower raise it using hinges.

Gin poles are used across other industries but in communications we generally use them in heavy-duty work. They have all sizes, very small to raise something like a Rohn 25 tower to very large and heavy-duty to raise a Large tower sections. Raising the gin pole itself is no easy task! It takes extensive rigging and a heavy-duty winch. Steel cabling is normally used on a large gin pole. Then once it is attached to the tower you will be ready to raise the tower sections. That takes skill and hard work and muscle to get it on right. It takes not only the winch and pulleys and steel cables, but you should also be ready to tag the section out. Once the section is high it takes a lot of effort to guide the steel on the path you want it to take. This takes skill, especially on a loaded tower that needs work. Remember that this is for more than cell towers, but also for HAM and broadcast towers as well.

The gin pole can also be used to stack sections or a dish atop of a tower. It may be easier to work with the line coming from above when mounting the heavy load. This is a lot of work but it is a necessity at times.

NATE actually has a class on gin pole safety, https://natehome.com/training-category/gin-pole/ if interested.

I put together several links fo you to look at, it takes time to look at them but if this is something that you work with, then maybe it’s worth a little time to see what’s out there. It’s all up to you and how much time you want to take to learn about this.

If you want some more information go to http://www.wirelessestimator.com/industryinfoselect.cfm?categid=317 and you will see that Wireless Estimator has a great article on Gin poles. I found that BTTi has a cool page showing information on the gin pole usage at http://www.tower-technologies.com/GinPole.htm if you want to see some illustrations.

Some more links for information:

http://k7nv.com/notebook/id7.htm

http://www.w9iix.com/ii00008.htm

http://www.wirelessestimator.com/t_content.cfm?pagename=gin%20pole

http://www.3starinc.com/rohn_25g_45g_tower_erection_fixture_gin_pole_r-ef2545.html

http://deepsouthcommunications.com/ginpole.html

http://bhico.com/cmsdocuments/Tower_Safety_Manuel.pdf

http://web.vtc.edu/users/jnk06190/VTALP/index_files/TallTowerManual-7.07.pdf

Now, there are other kinds of gin poles like this one, http://www.arewindtowers.com/raising-systems/conventional-gin-pole that is used to raise a wind tower. It works more on leverage than on strength. Pretty cool though, right? These are called tilt up gin poles. For more information look at http://shop.solardirect.com/pdf/wind-power/skystream-tower-manual.pdf

So to quote Wikipedia: A jin-pole or gin pole (the more common spelling) is a rigid pole with a pulley or Block and tackle on the end used for the purpose of lifting. The lower portion of the gin-pole is set in a shallow hole in the ground and the top secured with three or more guy-wires. The wires or ropes can be manipulated to position the object being lifted.^[1] or attached to the upper exterior of an existing tower or structure. The gin-pole’s free end extends above the location the object is to be lifted. When used to create a segmented tower or antenna, the gin-pole can be detached, raised and re-attached to the just completed segment for the purpose of lifting the next segment. The process is repeated until the top most portion of the tower is completed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin-pole

Some videos

Lifting guy anchor to gin pole using Winch:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLI6EZHPWQ0

Useful Knots for Gin Pole Raising: http://youtu.be/GLW7i8e5BnI

Gin Pole Flies again!: http://youtu.be/XZTNzE2Juvo

Gin Pole installation: http://youtu.be/-emze5-6YWM

Vertical Gin Pole- Wind Turbine Tower Raising System: http://youtu.be/vEEJX29IP50

how to use a jin-pole: http://youtu.be/eU0JFrPLAaM

PART 4: Gin Pole | QUAD BUNDLE | Horizontal Rigging: http://youtu.be/LVGxjVDYugQ

Jumping a Gin Pole Part 1: http://youtu.be/6FZv7NQkdE0

Jumping the Pole Part 2: http://youtu.be/vX8doM20RdA

Flying Gin Pole: http://youtu.be/9RUYT2ftOE0

Hanging sector mounts with a gin pole: http://youtu.be/lsIgLIJAE9U

Installing a Gin Pole Part 4: http://youtu.be/SKt5pDre_k8