Topband: Insulated Tower

[George Taft]

Hello all

Tom Rauch wrote:
> 
> > Thanks in advance, please feel free to load up the flame throwers.
> 
> I don't know the electrical characteristics of concrete at 1.8MHz, but I
> wouldn't trust it. It will almost certainly stay very damp and almost
> certainly be very conductive,

We agree here in Battle Creek.  Buy the insulators (I did) and put the
base in as Rohn suggests.

 unless you live in a desert. If it didn't work
> you could always ground the tower and shunt feed it.

Yes, a good alternate.  Always a good consideration for an existing
tower with yagis, too.
> 
> I have a more important concern. How will the water drain out of the tower
> legs if you set the base that way? I've seen at least a half dozen towers
> fail at least partially because people set the legs in mud or concrete with
> no drainage. My neighbor has one (Rohn 25)that will eventually fall, because
> the legs are already split and rotting and no one will take it down.

We agree.  Really important, I think for the long haul.

> 
> The two most common flaws in tower constriction are clamps on the wrong way
> (U bolt against load-bearing wire)

We tend to use "preforms" and even "Stranvises" for connecting cable to 
whatever.  No brainer there.  Oh, I guess one could put a preform on a
cable the wrong way.

73  George  W8UVZ


 and leg drainage.
> 
> 73 Tom
> 
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