Gentlemen:
I have one 100 ft. tower that was professionally installed and one 130
ft. tower ( both 25G ) that I and other hams installed. In all the
years that I have had towers I have always checked the guys " by hand "
to confirm the tension appeared to be even and relatively tight. Last
week I bought a Loos tension gauge and started checking; so far, the
maximum tension I have found is about 5 % of the rated guy wire
strength. It is my understanding that the recommended tension should be
about 10 %. Based on that, it appears that all of my guys are too
loose.
Obviously, " eyeballing " and checking tension by hand did not, at least
in my case, come close to achieving recommended values, whether done by
a " professional " or a " ham-ster ".
I wonder if others of you have encountered the same situation ?
Looks like I 'll be tightening turnbuckles for a few days.
73,
Kent - K4MK
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