[TowerTalk] trees as guy anchors

[David Robbins]

Bill Coleman AA4LR wrote:
> Poly rope? That stuff that degrades in sunlight? After 1 summer
> season,
> it has probably lost the majority of its strength.

actually some good grades of twisted (not braided) type
in the larger diameters holds up reasonably well for a couple
years, i left a field day tower up for a year with 3/4" poly guys.
they were kind of stiff to untie but still had plenty of strength.
its probably that the outer layers were preventing the sun from 
getting to the core.  1/4" size, especially the hardware store
braided stuff with large filaments falls apart much quicker.

> 
> Nylon rope is much more UV resistant, but it will lose strength, too.
> Dacron rope has more UV resistance than Nylon. Some plastic rope has
> carbon particles embedded for better UV protection.
> 
> What manufacturer recommends the use of poly rope as a guy?
> 
> Rope may be OK for wire antenna supports, but not as a guy.
> 

but don't use poly rope for antenna supports either, i just 
finished replacing the 4 support ropes for my 80m 4-square. they
must have been a particularly bad brand and lasted only 2 years.
I have had other poly that lasted longer, but its still not worth
the work to replace, just do it right the first time.  i am now
using a mil-spec green solid braid polyester.  it may be a bit more
expensive but the stuff i have had up for about a year shows no
sign of stiffening like nylon does, nor surface degradation like
the polypropalene does.


-- 
David Robbins K1TTT (ex KY1H)
k1ttt@berkshire.net   or   robbins@berkshire.net
http://www.berkshire.net/~robbins/k1ttt.html

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