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[TowerTalk] Tower painting

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Tower painting
From: W8JI@contesting.com (Tom Rauch)
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 21:46:59 -0400
> Though this has nothing to do with a tower that has beams antenna on
> it, I does remind of a broadcast station that painted all their tower
> sections, in pieces, on the ground.  They had a heck of a time
> figuring out why the thing wouldn't load properly.  They finally
> figured it out, and welded all the sections together.  Live and learn?
> 
> 73 Jim

This is the second comment like this I've seen lately. One was
on another reflector, where the fellow had signals mixing in the 
tower.

I'm surprised by this if it is in slide-together sections, since the 
pressure on the bolts is so high that a good electrical contact is 
very very likely. 

Flange against flange sections spread the load over a large painted 
surface, but generally when the bolts are properly torqued the paint 
moves out from under the bolts. In flanged towers, we always 
welded jumpers around the joints in live towers.

In slide together towers, we never did and I've never seen other 
people do that. First, if you paint the areas that slide together you 
can NEVER assemble the tower. Second, all the downward force 
quickly pushes the paint out from the edge of the holes so metal 
sits on metal. There's a lot of pressure on the bolts in a very small 
area.


73, Tom W8JI
W8JI@contesting.com 

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