I am glad you enjoyed my presentation...if memory serves I had a death of a
cold and was full of cold medicine.
After Andrew my father drove around and saw what survived...as far as
commercial towers the ones that stayed up were double guyed...so...when we
developed the station at their new home near Tampa double guying was a
must...
My Dad is an overegnineerer, and this was true of the porch that blew away
after Andrew...everything was double what contractor would use if he had his
way...Dad is very much so of the old school where bigger is always better
and for the most part - this is true. As I had mentioned in an earlier post
when a storm comes it will take what it wants to and thinking you are able
to outsmart Mother Nature is foolish.
Over the past several years I have been experimenting with different antenna
configurations the station. Not ONCE have I had to question whether or no
the tower was up to the task.
Is it a perfect installation - no - are there things we could do better -
yes....most of those things are tips I picked up from this reflector. What
I will tell you about the installation is that having a nice sound tower as
a platform for antenna experimentation is a joy.
Last nights salvos were on the order of do not try and make people feel safe
when it comes to Mother Nature being in the wings...anything can be brought
down low or high...and
A fixed tower has fewer moving parts so it is inherently less likely to have
failures...
And, if you require a crankup in order to be able to service your antennas
do not justify it by saying that falling from a taller tower is more harmful
than falling off a ladder...people have broken ankles falling a few feet off
of ladders, too.
Safety is safety...if you have any sort of antenna structure it requires
respect...the more complex the system the more respect and along with that
respect comes acceptance that the more complicated it is the more likely it
is to fail - this is reality.
As N2EA mentioned it is a matter of taste...as a fan of the K I S S rule I
say the fixed guyed tower is inherently less likely to have failures.
73,
Jim White, K4OJ
...AKA W1CW's proud son
----- Original Message -----
From: "jljarvis" <jljarvis@abs.adelphia.net>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 3:00 AM
Subject: [Towertalk] crankup v. fixed
>
> Chaque un a son gout. But it seems neither side in this
> debate is listening to the other. Hopefully this sheds
> more light than heat.
>
> A properly guyed tower will withstand hurricane force
> winds. There are many, many broadcast towers which fit
> this description. W1CW has such a structure in Florida;
> dual-guyed anti-torque provisions. His son did a paper
> on it at Dayton, a few years ago. It exceeds most amateur
> installations for robustness.
> As for Hurricane Andrew; I've been on sailboats with 100 kts
> across the deck, and wished I were anywhere but! There
> are still questions about the maximum sustained winds in that
> storm, because the anemometers came apart. Few antennas would
> survive 175mph winds. Hurricanes are usually small enough
> storms and slow enough that you can outrun 'em. Design the
> antennas for the 100mph the code reqires. Count on losing
> 'em in a big one. Watch from a distance.
>
> n2ea
>
>
>
>
>
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