[TowerTalk] Rope breaking strength vs working strength ???

[Steve Maki]

"Tom Rauch" <w8ji@contesting.com> wrote:

>I'd never use rope as a tram or trolly line, unless it had a working 
>load a few dozen times the weight of the antenna. As a matter of 
>fact, I'd never use rope. 

I always use rope, but it is the right rope.  Yale 1/2" Double Esterlon
has very low stretch and is rated at 10,000 lb. breaking strength.

A good rope is much easier to work with than steel - you can tie a knot
in it, what a concept - and is non-conductive, so you can check antenna
tuning while the antenna is dangling half way up the tram.  It's usable
on the wonderful plastic pulleys that Champion sells, where as steel
wire will eat up the plastic pulley.

I would caution anyone, however, to NOT use poly, hemp, or other cheap
ropes in this application.  It creates a very dangerous situation where
a tram failure can easily bring a tower down.

--
Steve Maki

--
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
Submissions:              towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-towertalk@contesting.com