Well, Don, I can't even compete with your experiences. Sure, I have done things that have required repair, but I'd say a few thousand would cover it.
Not sure I like the direction this is going...
You have had quite a line of projects. I have done my share of antenna tower projects, but never a 70 footer. You must have quite an array of heavy equipment. The biggest tower I ever did was a 30 foot Rhone on my first house. One of the helpers was my brother in law, who we later discovered was a bit of a wimp when it came to hard work. He kept whining during the erection that somebody could die doing this, especially when I climbed the tower to add more guy wires. When we were done, I told him we would excuse him from the project next time. Based on your ride down the falling tower, I'd say he was right about possibly dying, but we weren't going even half as tall as you were.
"Specialization is for insects." - Heinlein
Rohn towers, that's most often what we put up. The vast majority were in the 70' to 130' range, with a few on up to 170' (20' sections plus the topper was always 10'). The equipment was usually me, my boss, belts, and a rope. Yes, there were some scary moments, but nothing like riding one down. (That was old old water-pipe tower; I hated those things but we made lots of money replacing them with Rohn). Highest I ever worked on was 2000', then when the FAA complained we had to take it down to 1700'. It's actually easier up higher as you lose any sense of connection with the ground.
We had to watch the weather; tower jobs were usually early-morning to avoid wind. Come to think of it, the scariest install might not of been the ride down. We took three jobs one day, probably before some major sports event, and the last went into the evening. We were nearly done, putting on the topper and hauling up the rotor and antenna, while a storm was moving in. We could see it and it looked to be a good half-hour away, when a lightning strike from the leading edge (still several miles off) caused all hair on both of us to rise. We gave each other a dinner-plate-eyes look and shimmed down the tower so fast I swear we left smoke streams.
Back to audio: I suppose nobody else has ever misread the tiny little chart with a new power transformer containing infinitesimally small print with the wiring colors and switched filament and B+ leads. Everyone should do that once just to cement the ideas of (a) testing the voltages before wiring it in and (b) pulling all the tubes before initially powering up.
“Experience comes from making lots of mistakes. Wisdom is learning from them. So far, I’ve lots of experience.” – me!
