If you've ever driven through the Midwest, you've probably seen some
pretty damn big towers. Many are over 1,000 feet and they go up from there.
Here's some information about one of the BIG ones being constructed in the
Houston, TX, area.
This tower is the new broadcast tower for KKHT-FM and will be 1842 feet
tall. From this height, the station will have an approximate 80 mile range of
reception or 160 mile diameter covering some 500 square miles. Over 3.4
million people live in this listening area. The tower was designed and
fabricated by Kline Towers. The steel was delivered on 33 semi-trucks with a
total weight of just over 1,500,000 pounds of steel and guy wires. The tower
is triangular and has a constant 12 foot face width from bottom to top. The
antenna will sit on top of the tower and extend another 85 feet for a total
above ground of 1927 feet. Each section is 30 feet tall with individual
section weights ranging from 15 tons or 30,000 pounds for the sections near
the bottom to 6 tons or 12,000 pounds near the top. Each of the tower legs are
solid round bars from 5 inches to 9-1/2 inches. When completed the tower will
have an elevator from the base landing to within 50' of the top of the tower.
The tower is guyed at 10 levels approximately 180 feet apart and the guy
anchors are 1350 feet out. The outer guy anchors are over 1/2 mile apart. The
guy wires range in size from 1-7/16" to 3" in diameter. The 3" guy wire is
constructed of 199 individual wires and weighs 18.9 pounds per foot or
approximately 47,000 pounds. The final tension required will be just over
110,000 pounds and will sag approximately 400 feet. Measuring the sag is the
preferred method for checking the tension.
Kinda puts things in perspective, doesn't it? This information was taken
from "Tower Times", the monthly publication of the National Association of
Tower Erectors (NATE).
73, Steve K7LXC
TOWER TECH -- professional tower supplies and services for amateurs
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