[TowerTalk] Guy protection, your thought?
Stan or Patricia Griffiths
w7ni@teleport.com
Mon, 03 Jan 2000 11:18:21 -0800
I had this same concern about 10 years ago. My three towers were threatened
by a neighbor who was suffering from tape recorder interference and could
not get the FCC to throw me off the air! In the middle of a DX contest, he
sent his goon-like son-in-law over to let me know how easy it would be to
topply my towers with a small charge of explosives on the base . . . and, he
reminded me, there really wasn't anything I could do about it, so I had
better knock off the interference! This occurred after several
conversations about how I could help him fix his tape recorders if he could
just calm down a little, get over his rage, and not hold me totally
responsible for the maintenance of his home entertainment devices for the
rest of his life if I worked on them with him. He maintained his rage and
said he would hold me responsible forever, even after the FCC carefully
explained to him that none of this was my fault. I even demonstrated a good
tape recorder in his house, right next to his 3 bad ones, while my father
ran my station. Still, not one bit of cooperation . . . only threats
against my towers.
I worried about this for a couple of weeks and then the solution hit me.
INSURANCE! I had put up my three 100+ foot towers myself along with 8 Yagis
and some wires. Most of the stuff was used when I got it so I was able to
do the job for about $5000. (This was 1973.) I figured it would cost
$15,000 to replace them with new ones and a commercial installer doing the
work. I got a rider on my homeowner's policy for just a few dollars per
year covering my towers for $15,000.
Just to make sure I would never have to make a claim, I paid my neighbor one
more visit to inform him that my tower problems were solved. He was certain
that meant I would not be using them anymore and I hastened to inform him
that the tape recorder interference was HIS problem and the SAFETY of my
towers was what I was talking about. He smiled, confident that there was NO
WAY I could prevent his son-in-law from crashing my towers. I agreed that I
really had no way to prevent the crash of my towers except that I was sure
he would never want to do it! I went on to tell him that I had put up the
existing towers for $5000 and I had insured them for $15,000, in case they
came down for ANY reason. If I could install those three tall towers and 8
Yagis for just $5000, just THINK what I could install with $15,000 in
insurance money!! You should have seen the look on his face!! He was
speechless. During his silence, I went on to explain that the local police
were aware of his threats and so was the insurance company. Both of them
would be contacting him if anything ever happened to my towers!
That same neighbor STILL lives in the same house, two doors to the East of
me and I have not heard one word from him or his son-in-law about
interference (or towers) for the last 26 years.
Stan w7ni@teleport.com
Gerald Smith wrote:
> I want to prevent the local disgruntled neighbor, or the teen with 3
> beers in his belt, from vandalizing the guy wires of my towers. Here is
> my current thought, would look forward to any other ideas.
>
> Put 15 feet of 2 inch ID IMC conduit together and slip it over the 1/4
> inch EHS. It will slip over the thimbles and the turnbuckles, as well.
> When things are tensioned and secure, using a ladder, secure the top end
> of the conduit to the guy.
>
> Gerry, W6TER
>
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