I am in the process of erecting a nice AlumaTower crank-up 75 footer.
This reflector has been a help in several respects, but some of the most
important issues discussed reveal that I am tower-savvy-impaired despite
reading what I can get my hands on.
First, the issue of lightning protection. It looks to me as if the
three sections of the tower are essentially insulated from each other
with plastic pads which prevent them from rubbing against each other
when the tower is cranked up. So it seems to me as if, even though I
ground the legs to kingdom come with radials and multiple rods, the
major lightning path is going to be right down the old coax. I'll have
PolyPhasers at the tower base and again at the entrance to the house,
but that whole ground-at-the-tower-base issue seems moot. Am I missing
something here? Is there a custom of bonding the sections electrically
somehow? Looks like a real problem to me.
Secondly, the issue of guy tension. I have read several treatises on
properly installing and tensioning guys. It seems to me that if I try
to tension my (PhillyStrand) guys to 10% of breaking strength, I am
going to have a tough time cranking the tower up all the way in the
first place, and have a pretty good chance of breaking the cable which
cranks the tower up in the second place. I plan to guy each section,
since we have a 100mph wind speed figure here in this county (Highlands,
Florida), so I would have nine guys tensioned. I don't see any
information on this issue in the stuff I got from the manufacturer, but
I have written for it.
There must be fellows (I hesitate to say "guys") here who have faced
these issues. Any advice?
Doc Spindler, N9AM
Sebring, FL
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/towertalkfaq.html
Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
Search: http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm
|