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Re: [TowerTalk] Tower maintenance person wanted - MN

To: "Alan Swinger" <awswinger@earthlink.net>, <K7LXC@aol.com>, <fred.hurd@cox.net>, <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower maintenance person wanted - MN
From: "h.duck" <h.duck@ameritech.net>
Date: Sun, 15 May 2016 17:36:37 -0500
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
I replaced the pulleys and cables on my non motorized HDX572 myself. Not that hard, took most of an afternoon.

WA9YBW

----- Original Message ----- From: "Alan Swinger" <awswinger@earthlink.net>
To: <K7LXC@aol.com>; <fred.hurd@cox.net>; <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2016 4:34 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower maintenance person wanted - MN


Steve - Response per your two bullets:
- UST's tech did the cable/pulley replacement in 2010. I have all the replaced pulleys should I need them - they are all good per the tech who did the work. Cost for the job then was ~$2500 since the tech did another 4-5 jobs in the area and I got UST (Gary Smith - and/or bosses) to agree to spread the Tech's tvl costs. Latest est to send a tech here (no other jobs) to re-cable my twr is $7500!! I have the cable kit (($313)

- I am with you on the Psych matter - more of a Driver for me than the physics/mechanics of the cables.

- That said, I and all the rest of us who have US Towers and other crank-up towers need a qualified tech source to change out the Cables if and when they need it!

Surely there is a company and/or group of persons out there that can do this work at a more reasonable cost than what I have been quoted by US Tower!!?

Pls respond and 73,

Alan Swinger K9MBQ
Charlottesville, VA


-----Original Message-----
From: K7LXC--- via TowerTalk <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: May 15, 2016 12:46 PM
To: awswinger@earthlink.net, fred.hurd@cox.net, towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower maintenance person wanted - MN

 - Cables last changed by a UST tech in 2010

   Which begs the question who did it and what  did it cost?

- during 2014/2015 winter (~Dec 2014) cable at base of tower jumped the
pulley (I guess due to ice) when I was lowering the tower. So,  cable was
riding on the Pulley axle until I could lower it to get at the cable/Spring end. Used several cans of pre-lube during this lowering process. Once down, I was able to Stop-off the cable and release the spring tension to get the cable back onto the pulley. Checked for broken strands, and only found one
surface strand broken in the 8-10 ft of cable that underwent the sharp
bend.  Otherwise, cables look good and tower works all OK.
. . . thus my  concern, at least about the lower cable.

 Comments?

   Industry standards are typically for wire rope in a  working
environment where it might go thru dozens or hundreds of cycles a day. Normal ham use
is so intermittent that the cables don't get to work much, thus  my
recommendation to exercise a crank-up occasionally so that it actually does some
work.

   Your damaged spot was probably relatively small so  it probably wasn't
fatal even in the long term. I'm not going to discourage doing PM like this
but sometimes it's more psychological help.

Cheers,
Steve    K7LXC
TOWER TECH
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