[TowerTalk] Guy Tension

[John Brosnahan]

At 10:40 AM 8/15/97 -0700, Monte Stark wrote:
>Hi All,
>
>Help....(again!)
>
>85' of 25G.
>
>Trying to get the guy tension even and keep the tower true.
>
>What's the secret???
>
>Tower is true now, but the tension needs to be increased. When
>I even the tension, I pull it out of true! Waaaaaaaaa!!
>
>Using a Loose guage to get the tension even.
>
>Thanks in advance for the help,
>

The horizontal forces in the guys are ALWAYS equal--the 
tower moves until the forces are balanced.  Assuming that the
guy spacings are equal from the three directions then you
only need to get the tower to true vertical and measure the 
tension in only ONE guy wire.  At that point I always just tweak 
ALL of the turnbuckles an equal amount-- until the tension is what 
I want.

It really is simple --you are overworrying the problem!  Any differences
in guy wire tension as measured by the guage is a measure of 
the gauges lack of repeatability.  If the tower is not moving and there
is no wind and all three guys are all at the same angles then the
tension HAS to be equal--the tower is too wimpy to not be moved
into equilibrium by the forces you are applying with the guy wires.

Good luck--

John  W0UN


--
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/towertalkfaq.html
Submissions:              towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-towertalk@contesting.com
Search:                   http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search