Hi Tonno,
I am so glad to learn that your 15M array is alive and well (AWESOME you-tube
video!) but sorry to learn that you did lose another tower.
For guy wires at my qth I only use the preformed PLP guy grips – which are easy
to use and incredibly strong – they allowed me to put up my towers without
having to use the less reliable and more challenging method of “saddles” which
was the method that I learned earlier in my “career” while helping to install
towers where I guest operated. I respectively suggest that you consider using
these “guy grips” at your station in the future.
I do however still use the “saddles” with Kevlar cable to make the boom trusses
on all of my 15 and 20 meter yagis. I use three per side with the first one as
close as possible to the clamp – (about 1 – 1 1/2”) and then the next one about
2” away with the third about 3” after that. This way they are clamped as
close as possible to support bolt to minimize any possible minimize slippage,
and with the second clamp so close to the first one, there is almost no
possible “wiggle room”.
I have not lost a single antenna or antenna boom in 19 years despite direct
hits from F0 and F1 tornados, two hurricanes and countless violent
thunderstorms and ice-storms. Even when one thunderstorm had such violent wind
gusts that it literally tore the boom-to-mast plate in half and my top 20 fell
50+ feet to “nestle” in the middle 20 which “caught it”, the boom trusses on
both antennas were perfectly intact (although quite a few elements on both
antennas now have distinct curves. :-) Winds in the 60 – 70 mph (88 – 103
kph) range are quite common here and I have had at least 4 instances where
winds exceeded 100 mph (146 kph). Hurricane Sandy on 10/31/2012 had gusts at
my qth > 110 mph ( > 161 kph) and devastated my town; so my installations have
been well-tested. Hopefully they will never be tested like that again. :-)
Your 15m scores have been AWESOME – as is your signal. I can remember you
calling me in that WPXSSB contest on 15M about 2- 3 hours after I had made my
last previous EU qso! I think you told me that our qso was about midnight
local time in ES.
73
Bob KQ2M
From: Tonno Vahk
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2017 7:55 AM
To: 'Bob Shohet, KQ2M' ; 'Wayne Kline' ; 'Keith Dutson' ; k1ttt@arrl.net ;
towertalk@contesting.com ; 'Grant Saviers'
Subject: RE: [TowerTalk] Turnbuckles with Rod Sides
Oh, hold on guys!:) The 15m array is still up and running! Good way to get
those rumors going:) I did lose another 45m rotating tower 2-3 years ago though
due to the turnbuckle failure. The tower went back up last autumn with new
antennas. It was a painful lesson and certainly I am using safety wires on all
my turnbuckles now!
I did learn about the saddling of the dead horse thing and have fixed the wire
rope clips. The only thing that I am probably not doing right is the distance
between wire rope clips on the wire. Given I had quite long ends of the wire
left over I left also half a meter or more between 4 wire rope clips (the first
one right after the thimble).
Is it and why is it crucial to keep the wire rope clip close to each other on
the wire (2" or so)?
73
Tonno
ES5TV
-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Bob
Shohet, KQ2M
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2017 5:25 AM
To: Wayne Kline <w3ea@hotmail.com>; Keith Dutson <kdutson@sbcglobal.net>;
k1ttt@arrl.net; towertalk@contesting.com; Grant Saviers <grants2@pacbell.net>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Turnbuckles with Rod Sides
I’m sorry to learn that Tonno lost his tower and incredible 8 x 5 L array.
It’s terrible that it happened when it was so easily preventable!
For each of my tower guys, I always cut them so that each guy has an extra 5 ‘
– 10’ of 1/4” EHS left over, and then, rather than cut off the excess, I simply
run the extra through both ends of all the turnbuckles and then through all the
bolts on the equalizer plate.
It doesn’t make any sense to allow the turnbuckles to potentially turn and undo
themselves and thereby jeopardize the tower. I even use ice clips for the same
reason on every guy wire – to potentially prevent yet another mode of failure –
especially one that is so prevalent at my qth.
73
Bob KQ2M
From: Grant Saviers
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2017 9:43 PM
To: Wayne Kline ; Keith Dutson ; k1ttt@arrl.net ; towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Turnbuckles with Rod Sides
The wire rope clips are also completely misplaced on the ES5TV guys.
They should be about 2" apart and first one tight to the thimble. I can't tell
from the video if he saddled a dead horse. l'd also bet there was no torque
wrench used. It looks like pretty skimpy wire and turnbuckles for that load
even with 5 levels of guys. Sad. So easy to do right.
A figure eight of EHS thru the eyes/jaws and center not only prevents rotation
but covers several turnbuckle failure modes as well (done on my tower). If the
thimble and anchor shackle are large enough to thread the EHS thru then with
any turnbuckle failure the guy is still attached.
Grant KZ1W
On 9/11/2017 16:34 PM, Wayne Kline wrote:
> If my gray matter recalls, ES5TV lost his fantastic 8 - 5 element H
> frame ARRAY because he did not use safety wires on the turnbuckles and lost
> the installation ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9fDlbIFhMs&t=7s
>
>
> Wayne W3EA
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