[TowerTalk] replacing guy wires

[K7LXC@aol.com]

In a message dated 99-12-22 14:52:38 EST, n4zr@contesting.com writes:

>  Tentatively, what I'm planning is to move the current top guys down to the
>  middle guy station, but I'm quite uneasy about being up on top (97 ft) with
>  no guys above the 63-foot level, particularly since there are a C-3 and a
>  2-el short forty up there.
>  
>  One approach might be to use a temporary rope guy, replacing one guy at a
>  time while the rope takes the strain, but I'm unsure how to get 400 lbs of
>  tension on a temporary rope guy. 

       This is a good exercise. Using a rope is "okay" as a temporary but I 
would probably use some steel wire rope pulled by a cable grip (like a Klein 
Chicago grip) and a comealong cable puller. Use a nylon sling around the leg 
and attach the cable eye to the sling with a carabiner - takes less than 10 
seconds to rig to the tower leg. 

      You can use a comealong on a rope with a Klein rope puller grip (I 
don't have the part number offhand). For a 'quick and dirty' job, you could 
use a trucker's hitch on the rope that would give you a moderate amount of 
mechanical advantage to pull the rope tighter without any additional 
hardware. When you loosen the guy of interest, the rope will be pulled 
tighter by the opposing guys anyway. You'll obviously need a good-sized rope 
- 9/16" or bigger - for the job. 

      You don't have to have all the guys fully tensioned or have much 
tension at all. You only need 'some' tension to tether everything in place; 
the guys can be hanging somewhat slack even. The tower isn't going anywhere 
but it will be between fully tensioned and disconnected - a reasonable 
scenario with almost no risk exposure. 
>  
>  Another way I'd thought of was to get an extra guy bracket, place it above
>  the current top bracket, and attach the three new guys to it.  I would then
>  come down the tower, detension all the old top guys, and substitute the new
>  ones in the top position on the equalizer plate.
>  
      This is probably the best way to go. Then you don't have to mess with a 
temporary top guy and the resultant bunch of trips up and down the tower. 
You'll have a period of time (less than a minute) where one guy is 
disconnected after they're slacked off but shouldn't be a problem even with 
25G with still wind condx. Loosen all the guys but only disconnect one at a 
time to swap it. You'll need a temporary on the bottom set though to swap 
them. 

Cheers & GL,  Steve   K7LXC
Tower Tech 

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