I wandered up the North tower Friday to drop some 80 meter antennas to be
replaced with new designs... From about the 70 foot point and up the tower
felt a bit more springy than usual... I made a mental note to check on the guy
tension... The towers had just been through a nasty blow ~8 weeks earlier that
ripped up my 40 meter beam and I had carefully inspected the guys and anchors
right after that storm, so I wasn't worried about mechanical failure on a calm
day... Just seemed like the upper guys were looser than usual... Yesterday I
got a round tuit, grabbed the Loos gauge and wandered out... What to me
wondering eyes should appear but loose turnbuckles, with one of them (a 120'
guy) having turned out until there were only 3 threads left engaged on each
end... Some kind soul had taken the 90' and 120' turn buckles and un-weaved
the ends of the EHS from from the turnbuckle... Whether he also deliberately
unscrewed the buckles almost completely apart or just left them
to vibrate, I cannot tell..
This is annoying... I live in a very rural area back in the woods and a quarter
mile from the nearest road... To get to my towers one would have to walk in a
minimum of a half mile across crop fields and then through heavy brush and
woods... This is the first time in 45 years as a ham I have ever found my
towers tampered with...
Now, some kind soul will tell me to clamp the buckles or use a padlock... The
problem is that if they are up to mischief they will simply bring tools... And
it wasn't an impulse deal because he went around to all three of the 90-120 guy
sets... Apparently I have a friend out there... grrrr....
denny / k8do
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