I can only echo Jim's statements! A couple of weeks ago, my much older
HDX-572 re-nested in the same manner, except I was in the house, so don't
know exactly why. My 4 element quad survived well (surprisingly!), the the
tower is toast, with many bent and torn pieces. It is a real shame that US
Towers won't provide cable stringing information, as I would have re-strung
mine before putting it in operation a couple of years ago. It is being
replaced with some AB-105 fixed tower, so I won't have to face this again!
73, and good luck, Jim!
Don, WB5HAK
----- Original Message -----
From: "KJ0M" <kj0m@mchsi.com>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 11:02 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] US Tower Cables
>
> On Nov 9, 2005, K7LXC@aol.com wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> I guess my question is why you think the cables need replacing
>>> in the
>>> first place?
>>>
>>
>
>
> As an aside to this thread, just a week ago today, my TX-472 MDPL re-
> nested itself in about 3 seconds when the cable you're speaking of
> broke. I saw the whole thing happen. I was raising the tower from
> inside my house with the remote, watching it out my window. It was
> nearly fully extended and suddenly one of the cables broke and the
> tower came back down very, very quickly. It's a sickening sight to
> see, believe me! What appears to have happened is a bad weld on a
> bottom brace, holding one of the pulleys, came loose. This allowed
> the sheave to twist out of vertical and wedge the cable. The winch
> just kept pulling until a cable snapped. When the top 3 sections with
> 2 Force 12 antennas hit the cement going about 20-30 mph, obviously
> the tower stopped quite suddenly. The antennas just kept going. Now,
> I've got many bent elements, a rotor that doesn't function and a
> tower that US Tower will not tell me how to re-cable. They'll sell me
> the cable set for ~$250 but won't tell me how to string it, due to
> liability issues. Luckily, the insurance carrier I have has listed
> this under my personal property, so even though it was a mechanical
> failure, they will stand by the claim. Now, I need to find someone
> that can help the adjuster determine whether it's repairable or a
> total loss. My nearest US Tower authorized repair company is in
> Wisconsin, about 300 miles away from me here in SE South Dakota. Not
> to mention winter is coming on and I don't relish all this repair
> work standing in the snow.
>
> My cables all looked fine on my tower. There was no rust anywhere, so
> I don't know that you necessarily need to re-cable every 3 years. My
> tower is about 7 years old. There are lots of other problems that can
> and do occur with these mechanical monsters. Being able to do all you
> tower work on the ground has its distinct disadvantages!
>
> My biggest problem is finding someone to determine how to proceed now
> that the damage is done.
>
> Jim
> KJ0M
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
> Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with
> any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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