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[TowerTalk] Tower Under-Engineering

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Tower Under-Engineering
From: K7LXC@aol.com (K7LXC)
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 22:39:43 EST
In a message dated 98-04-03 20:37:27 EST, rudder1@ibm.net writes:

> No different from what I posted above which is a response to a post that
>  said 25G is unrated for self supporting use.  As I indicate below, I am
>  going to 35 foot where it is rated at 1.4 s.f. for 80 mph.

     Yes, but your county (Monroe County, FL) is rated at 120 MPH. Why would
you build anything guaranteed to be sub-standard? Do I have your county wrong?
Even if the county rating is (only?) 100 MPH, you're still violating the LXC
Prime Directive. 
>  
>  > >  I am not concerned about being under the rated wind speed for this
>  > >  county since the property I bought came with a mobile home.  Should
>  > >  winds in excess of 80 mph occur, I fully expect the tower to fall on a
>  > >  vacant lot.  I will definitely not be anywhere near it.
>  > >
>  But I am doing what the manufacturer says--at least up to 80 mph.  If we
>  ever get winds that high, any ham tower, no matter how high or stout, is
>  going to be knocked flat by trailers exceeding their design parameters
>  by a few hundred percent.  Remember, Rohn's ratings are for wind
>  speed--not for debris speed.  Not to mention the unguyed power lines
>  sitting atop 40' toothpicks out front.

     I understand that. Perhaps you should be doing your neighbors a favor by
making sure that your tower doesn't become part of the flying debris problem.
("Storm Victim Impaled By Ham Radio Tower")

    Au contraire. A properly installed tower installation has an excellent
chance of surviving. 

    I'm not going to argue with you. IMO you're making potentially dangerous
decisions that will adversely affect the safety and reliabilty of your tower
and antenna system. 
>  
>  A building inspector from one of the counties in this area gave me tips
>  on how to install my tower using his own 30 foot crank-up TV tower as an
>  example.  I quote: "I mixed up a few bags of Sakrete and threw them in
>  the hole.  When it set up I cranked her up and gave the tower a shake. 
>  She wobbled some so I added some guy wires a guy gave me.  That did the
>  trick."  

     Great - more 'hip-pocket engineering'. 

     In the end, it's your system and you can do anything with it you want.
The reason that TowerTalk exists in the first place is to alert tower owners
and builders to potentially dangerous situations and decisions. I'm alerting
you. Whatever you choose to do with my professional opinion is up to you.

73, Steve  K7LXC

      TOWER TECH -- professional tower supplies and services for amateurs 

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