On 06/15/06 12:18 pm K7LXC@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 6/11/2006 9:01:34 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
> towertalk-request@contesting.com writes:
>
>> My XYL is urging me to consider a crank-up (and possibly a tilt-over
> crank-up) to avoid the necessity of climbing the thing, and also partly
> for a more neighbor-friendly installation.
>
>> 1. Does anybody have any experience or opinions of the Heights aluminum
>> towers? -- in addition to the reviews on eham.net.
> I'm not a big fan of aluminum towers - and crank-ups in particular. I
> just helped a guy crank up a 100-footer. IMO some of the hardware is pretty
> small compared to other manufacturers; it wasn't really confidence
> instilling.
> It has to be guyed at each section, thus putting lots more strain on the
> main
> cables. You have to crank the whole thing up before you can attach the guys
> and it's a pretty scary proposition. We had comealongs attached to the guys
> at
> one level and you have to do it on a totally windless day. He'd have been
> much better off - and saved thousands of dollars - by putting up 45G or some
> other tower.
What I'm looking at is a self-supporting tower: 4-section 55ft mounted
on a 4ft "stand"; it tilts over at that point.
> BTW it's also the same big chore and a couple of hours to crank it down
> so once it's up - it's up for the duration.
They tell me 20-30min by hand, but I'll probably get the electric winch
option for cranking up and down and leave the tilt-over mechanism (used
less often) hand operated.
>> 2. If a crank-up lattice tower gets iced up, is it pretty much stuck at
> its current height until the thaw sets in?
> Yessireebob.
Other people have written privately to say that it depends on how much
ice and whether the tower has a positive pull-down mechanism.
> If you're going to get a crank-up, I'd recommend one of the steel
> ones by US Towers. You can crank it up and down any time you want, ice
> loading
> aside.
I looked at the Heights towers again after reading the lousy reports on
the US Tower products (especially inadequate installations and other
documentation); one private email referred to them as "US Trouble."
73
Alan NV8A
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