I've had more crank-ups destroyed than most. Some were operating
error and some were Mother Nature smacking me around some.
K7LXC has some pix of what happened to a crank-up when a thunder storm
cell set down on a tower while extended. Took out the tops
of 2 trees out and bent the tower over and spanked it. The rest of the
place was spared.
I put the full size 3 element 40M beam and the M2 3 element 80M
beam on different crank-ups. I can get away with that because I live
on the top of a ridge with a negative horizon making the beams act
taller than they really are. I constructed both beams and put them on the
towers with no assistance from anybody else...more to see if I could
really do it myself than anything else. That's a really stupid thing to
do so
don't anybody else try it..it can be done so what??!! I keep these two
beams lowered all the time except when I want to use them. This has
lead to them lasting a long time unless a local fir tree attacks and
amputates an appendage or two. It also makes me not use those bands as
much, as I distrust any crank-up unless I'm right there next to it
motorizing it up or down. Crank-ups are very dangerous and are simply
waiting
for you to be a bit careless then they'll attack in a very unforgiving
fashion. They sure make working on the antenna very easy though. I have an
old DX Engineering Log-Periodic on a third crankup that I keep at 72
feet all the time.It has survived 80 mph winds along with the antenna
so the crank-ups can do OK in weather as long as you pay attention top
them (maintenance) and don't overload them. So....I keep the big
antennas down and the smaller ones up on the crank-ups. If you have any
space at all the guyed towers are much superior overall but the
neighbors seem to get cranky about such appliances when they can see
them from their window or yard. Again these have worked very well
unless a local tree gets flung across a guy line or such by a meandering
hurricane or serious low pressure system with your call on it.
If I have several evenings off and the bands have been good I'll
lower the tower to about 40-50% of their extended height so raising it back
up isn't such a thrash.Probably don't need to but I sleep better. I
always put them down when I go out of town or the band appears to have
destroyed by the sun or some other celestial body. The past couple of
years I seem to more Rx than Tx so the elevation hasn't been as important.
The crank-ups are well constructed and should operate a very long
time with frequent usage if you feed, water, grease and look closely at them
and pay attention to their situation. The same can be said for your kids
except you can skip the grease part. The same can be said for rotating
towers
which is probably the best way to go if $ and space and zoning rules and
neighbors and XYLs were of no consequence.
Radio is fun and putting up either a dipole or a fancy array with a
monstrous tower is fun. Talk to some locals then decide on what you'll
do and then
do it. If it isn't "right" then you can take it down and try something
else. This reflector and the antenna forums at Dayton have a huge wealth of
information to help hams make up their minds to try and do what they
think will help in their own peculiar situations.
73 and I remain,
Lew W7EW/W7AT
_______________________________________________
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.
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|