I guess tower failure stories, apart from being
informative, are good therapy, so here goes.
I only lost one, when I was KD2FF, a Tri-ex LM470
with a Mosely 4el 20 on a 36' boom just above the
prop pitch, and a 2el Mosely 40 12' above that. I
figured I was just about at the 16 square foot
rating, counting rotor & mast.
It lasted 10 years, through some strong winds,
and failed during a Catskill Mountain
thunderstorm in a sudden gust. It folded just
above the top of the first section, looked like
it had been squeezed with a giant pliers. I had
always figured the base (5 yards of mud) would
fail first or else a cable or pulley would go and
cause it to retract.
Aloha,
Jonathan KH6X
kalepa@maui.net
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