A friend of mine has an 80m dipole hanging from a balun near the top of his
100' Rohn 45 tower. During heavy wind storms he slacks the dipole wires to
prevent breakage. Recently, one of the dipole wires wound itself around one
of the top guys and appears to be tangled in the guy grips and/or egg
insulator. Efforts to untangle the wire from the ground haven't worked. The
area where the wire is tangled is out of reach from the tower.
The current proposal is to attach a temporary guy below the permanent guy,
then disconnect the top guy at the anchor and let it fall against the tower
so the egg insulator area can be reached the wire can be untangled. Then the
permanent guy would be reattached/tightened at the anchor, the temporary guy
would be slacked, I would remove it and climb back down.
While I can do the work on the tower with a single climb, I'm concerned
about being on the tower while the guys are being swapped. Then again,
climbing almost to the top of the tower three times isn't appealing, either.
I'm wondering what the experts here would recommend: 1) stay near the
temporary and permanent guys while they are tightened and slackened (both
times), 2) climb down below the middle guys before the temporary and
permanent guys are tightened/slackened (both times), or climb all the way
down before the temporary and permanent guys are tightened/slackened (both
times)?
The temporary guy will be EHS. My friend has guy grips, thimbles a
come-along and a "guy grabber" (not sure what type). I have spare grips,
thimbles, a very heavy-duty come-along and several Klein grips. I'm pretty
sure the equalizer plate only has three holes, and my friend has suggested
doubling up on the middle turnbuckle. What's the best way to rig the
temporary guy? Is it safe to double up on a turnbuckle? If not, is there
another way to attach the temporary guy to the anchor? Is it reasonable to
use Klein grips and a come-along on the temporary guy, or would you use a
big grip and turnbuckle? And how would you attach the temporary guy to the
tower? My friend has suggested a heavy-duty carabiner large enough to go
around a tower leg, along with a big grip and thimble attached to the guy.
Is there a better way?
FWIW, it's not the first time we've had to use a temporary guy on this
tower. A long time ago, a tree fell on one of the top guys and stretched it
considerably (or pulled it part way out of the guy grips.) I installed a
temporary guy and replaced the damaged guy. However, neither of us has any
recollection of exactly what we did.
73, Dick WC1M
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