Rob:
> Got a question for crank-up owners:
>
> Do you crank up your towers only when you are operating, i.e.
> 95% of the
> time they are nested and only go up when you turn on the rig
> and start
> looking for a qso, or....
> Do you mostly leave them cranked all the way up and only nest
> them when
> leaving town for a few days, or when wx threatens such as
> high winds and/or
> lightning?
Living on a city lot with a 2 el 80-40m Yagi on the tower makes it best
to keep my tower DOWN except when QRV.
The neighbors sure appreciate it, and for that matter so do I...to a Ham
the Yagi may look nice, but lets be honest...it 'aint that attractive !!
I also prefer knowing that the Yagi and tower are down low and nested
safe from any sudden storms and high wind.
I had this same question, and spoke to a fellow at US tower. He told me
quite simply that these towers are machines DESIGNED to go up and down,
and use is not a problem. He describe an installation at a
skeet-shooting range where the tower was raised and lower countless
times every day and had been going for 11 years trouble free. Here at
VE6WZ I keep the tower down and only send it up when QRV. Since I
operate mostly 40-80 and 160, the tower is kept down during the day and
is raised (and then lowered) about 5-8 times per week for the last 8
years. This tower has about 300lbs of Yagi,rotor and mast on it. (I am
mostly in-active during the summer however) I also have a windspeed
indicator in the shack and will lower the tower if things start to get
"nasty".
Personally it surprises me why anyone would buy a motorized crank-up and
leave it up. Why not protect it from any sudden storms ?? I just let
the coax hang from the top of the tower and it freely coils up on the
ground. The limit switches have proven reliable for the last 8 years
and it is a simple flick of a switch...and up it goes.
> I'm trying to get an idea of what these things are built to
> do: Lots of
> cranking up and down, or extension and retraction only meant
> to be done once
> in a while.
>
> Oh yeah one other thing for you guys in the North: Do you
> have to do
> anything special to operate them in the winter--do they need
> any TLC with
> snow and ice or low temp.?
Yes...you can experience icing problems with the threaded drive rods on
the cable drum if you don't enclose the motor-drive assembly. This is
with my US tower HDX-589mdpl.
We can get lots of snow, frost and very cold wx here in ve6, and there
were times when the drive tended to seize because of ice. I have since
built an enclosure around the drive and have had no trouble since. Go
to my webpage if you're interested...on the "photo-page" I have a few
shots of the enclosure.
http://www.qsl.net/ve6wz/index.html
73, es hny, de steve ve6wz.
_______________________________________________
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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