I mentioned in an earlier post about making progress getting the
antennas down. However I forgot to add one little learning experience
that surprised me even after all these years.
The old coax pigtails were still hanging from the antennas and Wayne was
wondering whether to save them or just cut them loose. As they are
already shot I told him to go ahead and cut them off.
After making sure the area was clear and no one was going to wander into
the danger zone, he tossed them. Now these were just LMR-400UF or about
the same as any other RG-8 cable but more flexible. After hanging up
there for some years though they did have some bends. About half way
down we could hear them begin to whistle and by impact were actually
whistling quite loud. I was gathering up the coax when I felt one pull,
or rather resist. Then I realized the other end of that flexible coax
was stuck into the ground a good 8 inches. Out of 5 20 some foot pieces
two of them had an end stuck straight into the dirt by about 8 inches.
Now the ground is clay loam and moist, but firm enough a 170# man (bout
200#) with full gear did not leave foot prints, but that flexible coax
had stuck into the dirt 8 inches. Getting swatted with one of those
would do more than raise a welt.
So even some things we consider sorta harmless are not quite as we view
them. One of those cables could do some serious damage to an individual
even wearing a hard hat.
73
Roger (K8RI)
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|