Lots of talk about rust. Is rust the only failure indicator besides broken strands? The strands slip back and forth against each other as they go around a pulley. Do they wear out and break with no v
** If upper sections also have locks, how is the disengagement cable that operates the locks managed? Since the tower gets taller, there would be a lot of cable that needs to play out as it goes up.
Ken, From whatever cause, when a cable fails it can be dangerous and expensive. Some failures take place when the tower is not being raised or lowered. Irrespective of the cause of this static failur
I don't have a dog in this fight, yet, but almost. What about towers 200 ft away from the shack or 300 or more. I am in the S L O W process of putting up three towers and they will be daisy chained f
Jim, Thanks for your input. I have also received some very helpful PM's on this. I'm not really going to be dong anything complex. Mostly each tower and each "other antenna" will need a two position
If the galvanizing is compromised and you have a bit of soil moisture you have the makings of a battery with the steel or iron as one plate and the galvanizing as the other. This battery (actually si
What, your Harbor Freight torque wrench doesn't have a "Snug" setting? Don't feel obligated to tighten the mounting bolts in some proportion to their yield strength or max working torque. Once the "s
Ditto from mast head VHF antenna on my sailboat. Tick - tick - tick. I discovered it was an intermittent arc at the chassis mounted SO-239 between the center conductor and shield. I unscrewed the coa
How about adding a counterpoise? Ditto (sort of...) You have some steel structure; axles, springs, engine, transmission, frame, A/C in basement and so forth. Bond it all together. Add some copper scr
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Ok, Ib ll bite. What do AM /FM /TV broadcast folks do or use for lightning protection ?? Esp with real high towers involved in some cases. They donb t shut things off and toss
You can't out guess lightning but... grounding the feeders may dissipate the static charge eliminating or reducing the severity of any strike. At worst it would not help and your loss would be the sa
There are stories, presumably documented, of people being struck by lightning from a storm ten miles away, in an area that did not appear to be at storm risk... bright, sunny and clear. _____________
Ditto on the S&D pipe (Sewer and Drain) If you don't need the pressure rating S&D works fine, lighter to work with, costs less. I use 3 inch where I'm not running so many different lines. It is avail
Wire a temporary lashup to let you easily and quickly temporarily run your receiver on battery power and then back to power supply (assuming 12 volt supply) If the noise is from the power supply it w
While reading about a tilt plate for a tower by following a link generously shared here by a fellow tower enthusiast I noticed lots of comments regarding the DANGER of crank-up/telescopic towers. The
Wouldn't you ordinarily lower a crank-up tower before climbing? If it were a tilt over as well wouldn't you tilt it over instead of climbing it? Patrick AF5CK Well, if the tower should telescope whil
Thanks for your reply. The antenna is a hex beam at 25 lbs. The rotator and a small stub mast is no more than 15 lbs. So I will have about 40 lbs about 16 feet from the hinge which will require less
Thanks guys for sharing the personal experiences. With the tilt over feature, I don't intend to climb this tower at all. I will use a 4 leg (painter's) ladder (12 footer) to access the electric crank
Jim (et al), I intend to make my own locking mechanism and add it to the customized tilt/crank-up tower I mentioned. It has only one moving section (20 ft) but since I intend to use it at various deg
Thanks for your response. In my situation I have no zoning concerns, no inspections, no home owners association, or such. I am subject to FAA concerns if the tower is tall enough (red and white alter