Here's an interesting and valuable post from a fellow TowerTalkian.
Thanks for contributing it.
---------------------
Forwarded message:
From: n1tht@juno.com (Thomas D Sharpe)
To: K7LXC@aol.com
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Date: 97-02-07 12:33:15 EST
Hi All
I've been enjoying this reflector for a awhile and thought that I should
contribute.
Having gone through a divorce and moving a few times I have had the
experience of
moving my Towers a couple of times. Each time I REerected I have had the
oportunity to UPGRADE my previous installation. Some of the lessons I
have learned the hard
way are......
1 Guy wires should have Insulators at every 4 feet maximum. "Those
static crashes" were from coupling.
2 NEVER guy into a tree...It seemed convenient at the time to guy a
tree at the 6 foot level so that I could mow the lawn and not have to
duck. "When the tree moves in the wind the whole system moves...NOT GOOD.
3 Make sure the concrete footing is below the frost line. "Why is that
Guy wire so tight and the other 2 are soooo ...... loose ?" or...."Why
is my Tower bowed in the middle"
4 ALWAYS add 5 feet to the coax before cutting it off of the roll for
the next one...This saves having to stand on your chair to reach the 4
way antenna switch that is up at ceilling level.
5 Ground it .....I have Three [3] ground rods 8' long in the ground at
my last place of residence. When lightning struck a 100' pine tree 75
feet from my 60' tower a neighbor saw a finger from the main bolt strike
my tower. the only damage was the loss of a power supply that was not
plugged into a surge protector. "I'm still wondering what I did that God
decided to spare me from that one ?"
These are just some of the experiences I have had. They are only my
opinion, not out of a book anywhere. Check with your local Elmer before
implimenting any of these.
Now that I have purchased my "OWN PLACE" on top of a hill. I took my
time...{ four months } in putting my Tower together. First the footing,
then the tower construction, Guy wires that would tow a train {with
insulators}, and as I could afford it I got the next level up on the
rotator that I needed and a top of the line Thrust bearing. New coax, 8'
galvanized rods for the guy wires that are encased in concrete....I found
these at the local scrap yard while junking some old copper along with a
30 foot Tower that someone junked...:-) That is my vhf & uhf tower.
of all the things I have learned, the one thing I learned well is to
take my time and do it right the first time. Overkill is a good
thing....being a single parent, when I am at work and my children are
home sleeping { 3 teen boys } about the only thing I don't worry about
is my tower falling on the house when the next weather front moves
through.
73's and good DXing
N1THT
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