[TowerTalk] Why lambast Rohn ?????
Dale Jones K5MM
ddjones@nas.com
Fri, 06 Feb 1998 10:22:40 -0600
Gerald & others:
This issue of lambasting Rohn for not sharing data that they may have is
interesting. From my perspective, if I were Rohn Company, or the owner of
that
company, I would do exactly what they are doing.
Couple of points:
1. It's not their fault that competition doesn't exist for their products.
2. They are not demanding or requiring ANYONE to buy their products.
3. They do not have a requirement for purchasers to certify their intended
use of the product before buying it, and they cannot control the use
of it either. Just like hand-guns.
3. They do have a solution that will work for booms over 10 feet long, for
which they do have drawings and data. ie: Rohn 25, 45, 55, etc.
4. Even if they DO have calculations within their company for longer than
10 foot booms on HDBX towers, there is no requirement for them to share
that information with ANYONE if they choose to recommend a different
solution. Ostensibly those calculations could prove that for
95% of
the cases a TH7DX could be mounted on an HDBX in 300 MPH winds,
but
they certainly are within their rights to protect themselves for that
remaining 5%, or for Marketing reasons for that matter.
5. In this litigeous, lawyer infested, "too many laws" society that we live
in--in the USA, Rohn is very WISE to not share any information with
anyone. You can bet you boots that they would get sued if they did
share information and SOMETHING unpleasant happened because of doing so.
6. The guys that Stan W7NI referred to who had BX towers buckle with TH6
antennas on them have empirically shown that a TH6 type antenna is
too big. Rohn recommended AGAINST putting that big a beam on that tower.
Rohn is clean.....no freaking lawsuits.....GOOD ! The hams with those
broken tower & antenna installations tried to go forth "on the cheap",
against guidelines from Rohn. Now, they can abide by Rohn's guidelines
(and not exceed 10 ft boom lengths), or they can buy a tower that is
recommended for their installation, or maybe they can get an
insurance company to replace the crumpled one.
I'm surprised to see all the negative barbs thrown toward Rohn for protecting
themselves in a society that circles like buzzards to sue the guy next door.
Good for Rohn!!
For what it's worth, I have NOTHING to do with Rohn company. I have
purchased
their products in the past though,
73
Dale K5MM
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******
At 11:14 AM 2/5/98 -0500, you wrote:
>No data for boom lengths longer than 10ft: Classic example of what happens
>without competition. They have the market sewed up for this type of tower and
>get out of all legal responsibility for failures by understating the real
>capability for the tower. They know fully well that almost every one of these
>towers are installed with antennas having boom lengths longer than 10feet!
>
>It is a wonder they haven't been taken to task by some legal beagle over this
>error of ommission!
>
>The dilema for Joe Ham is that he is told and has heard that these HBX and
>HDBX towers are greatly under-rated and he can install a much larger antenna
>than specified. How much larger? Heavens help him if makes a bad judgement
>and actually does install a "too large" antenna.
>
>I have brought this subject up many times over the years with Rohn reps but
>this is a company position and help with this is apparently not forthcoming.
>
>73 to all,
>Gerald Williamson, K5GW, Owner/General Manager, Texas Towers
>
>
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>
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