[TowerTalk] What to do with Feed Lines?

[Jonathan Kaplan]

Hi all,
     A recent minor wind storm necessitated my lowering my US Tower HDX-555.
When I
raised the tower again, the feed lines, which were attached at each of three
standoff arms, caught on a protrusion of the lowest section and cut the HF
feed line.
     This brings me to my question, how to prevent this from happening again.
The usual suggestions including running the lines inside a telescoping tube,
fixed at the top only, and letting the lines drop to the ground. Another
sugestion would be to attach the lines to a board attached along the length
of the tower, hinged in the middle of each section, and bending outward as
the tower is lowered.  I have problems with both solutions.
I have side mounts attached to the top of the bottom and middle sections.
The cable run has several leads peeling off at the sidemounts to the
antennas on those sidemounts. So the sliding tube might not work.
Furthermore,  the sidemounts might catch the loops even if they were mounted
on a hinged board, so I'm not sure that would work.

I'm scratching my head. Any ideas?

Thanks and 73,
Jonathan KO6XS



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