Wayne-
I have been happy with US Tower's HDX-589. Their structural engineer was
very helpful on the phone, answering the many questions I had regarding
antenna loading, foundation work, maintenance, etc. It has a manual
tilt-over winch which is tedious to raise & lower, but I don't tilt it over
that often. I contacted Karl Tashjian at Tashjian Towers, but he wasn't
very responsive or helpful.
Regarding trees, I had to remove several large fir trees to install my
tower. That was covered in my county permit. The permit required that I
complete an environmental check list which addressed the types of endangered
critters that might live in the trees, the effects on rain runoff with the
trees removed, effects on the health of the forest, etc. If they didn't
like the results, they might have asked for a full EIR report, but the
impacts were all "less than significant" or "less than significant with
mitigations". And San Mateo County, CA is a very environmentally conscious
area! So you still might think about removing a few critical trees, it's
just a lot of paperwork.
Make sure there's no arrowheads laying around before the archeologist
arrives!
73,
Steve
N6SJ
-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Wayne
Willenberg
Sent: Friday, March 29, 2013 8:09 AM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Need Tips on Selecting A Crank-up Tower
For several years I have been dreaming of a 90' tower next to my home
located near the coast in South Carolina. But, I could never find a
practical way around my county's requirement that any tower must meet a
130MPH 3-sec gust. A further problem is I live on a 5 acre heavily wooded
lot. The county requires a permit to cut down a single tree. That made it
impossible to get a crane into my backyard to erect the tower. If it
weren't for that problem, I would have gone with something like a Big Bertha
that I understand can meet this wind loading requirement. However, there is
a trail from the road to near the tower site that is wide enough to allow a
Bob Cat and a back-hoe or the like to get to the site.
Fortunately, I subscribe to this reflector because a couple of other hams on
the reflector suggested a crank-up tower. They suggested I could try to
sell the county on the fact that a fully retracted tower can meet the 130MPH
requirement.
Yesterday, I met with all 5 members of the county planning department and
presented this "nested" approach. I circulated a photo of the nested tower
(I didn't pass around a photo of the tower fully extended) and further
explained how I might be helpful for communication in an emergency
condition. Something won them over and now I am jumping through all the
other hoops they have, like an archaeological survey!
I need some tips on selecting a motorized crank-up tower that can hinge near
the base to allow the tower to be horizontal. I would like to have an
electric motor to also control the hinging function. (I don't mean to spark
a debate over which manufacturer makes the best tower.) I am so new to this
that *any *constructive suggestions will be helpful. I am at a point where
I know so little about these towers I don't know how to ask intelligent
questions. If you own a tower like I am describing, where have you had
problems? Does it go up and down as smoothly and effortlessly as
it seems? Even suggestions like the diameter and material of the cable
that pulls the antenna up would be helpful. How much maintenance am I
getting into?
Thanks for your help.
73, Wayne KK6BT
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