[TowerTalk] US Tower

[Richard Spindler]

----- Original Message -----
From: D. Rodman, MD <rodman@acsu.buffalo.edu>
To: towertalk <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2000 7:06 AM
Subject: [TowerTalk] US Tower: Broken cable, resolution?


>
> Thanks to all readers who offered suggestions on the repair of my 589
> tower last month.  I wanted to bring out some points in a second
> discussion as the project is nearing resolution, or is it?
>
> #1 Order cables from manufacturer.
>
> The set of replacement cost roughly $300.  I received this in a week
after
> my phone call.  I was surprised to find NO documentation or
explanation on
> what cable went where.  The pull down and pull up were obvious.  The
> others were almost identical in size and configuration.  Some were
only
> 1/2 inch difference in size.  I did not pay too much attention to this
as
> the weather got bad again and I knew that absolutely no one would be
> available to help me.  I kept calling US Tower and it took two weeks
to
> get a call back from Bruce.  Unfortunately, he did not have any
> documentation for the cable lengths.  He gave me his cell phone number
if
> I needed help on the weekend and explained that step #1 is to remove
the
> pull down cable.  I phoned back the following Monday and asked the
> secretary to FAX me the cable diagram or explanation of what goes
where.
> I was told there is no such information and Bruce will call.  Still
> waiting.
>
> #2 Do it yourself.
>
> I had a nice weekend and  forumlated a plan to change the broken cable
and
> its opposite on the other side of the tower.  I could not get a
> professional to work on this.  I did not get any offers of help from
> fellow hams, so I asked another physician friend of mine to help.  He
is
> very handy and has a fairly extensive home shop.  The weather was
great
> for March in New York.  I went to the local tool store and bought a
> "porta-power".  (great tool, lots for oogles from shoppers when they
> carried that baby out of the stock room)  Alternatively, I could have
> lowered the tower to do this, but d id not want to climb with broken
> cable.
>
> #3 What now?
>
> Well, we got the tower's rusty bolts off and were able to safely block
the
> tower by using the portapower and wood blocks.  Cable changed, we now
> discovered after 3 hrs work, the cables provided were too short.  Work
> stopped while I studied the tower.  I placed the portapower on the
next
> smaller section, this allowed the cable end to come down enough to get
> placed in the hole for the bolt.  OK, what is next?  My friend had to
> leave and we called it a day.  Next morning I changed the pull up
cable
> alone as it was pretty rusted.  Now to get my friend back and change
the
> adjustable cable opposite to the broken one.
>
> #4 Sawsall.
>
> The hardware was too old to get the bolts off.  We had to use a
sawsall to
> cut off the 1/2" bolt on the adjuster of the cable.  Dremel tool used
to
> cut the cable.  Since there was no diagram or explanation of cables,
we
> laid out the cable on the ground.  Guess what?  All the cables were
> longer, some by 6".  Moreover, the thimble on the ends were too large
for
> the tower AND the adjuster screw was a totally different type of
mounting.
> I decided to change the cable anyway.  Up on the tower I pounded the
> thimble to a smaller size to make the parts fit, and down below we cut
the
> cable to change the termination and shorten the length.  After 8 hrs
more
> work, the job was nearing completion.
>
> Conclusions:
>
> US Tower is difficult to contact when you need them the most and the
> information is sketchy.  They do not want hams to do this job for
> liability reasons.  If they are going to sell kits, they need to
provide a
> list of lengths and clear labels on what is used.  At this point, I
have
> no idea what I have done to this system.  I had no choice, it was
> precariously perched.  Had the secondary cable holding the tower up
failed
> too, it would have crashed an X9 into a bedroom.  Not a good thing to
> explain to the judge when you are splitting up assets 50/50.  Good
luck to
> all who will face this task!
>
> David J. Rodman, MD
>
> Assistant Clinical Professor
> Department of Ophthalmology
>
> Research Assistant Professor
> Department of Chemistry
>
> State University of New York at Buffalo
>
> FAX 716-859-4565
> Office 716-854-1137
>
> e-mail: rodman@acsu.buffalo.edu
>
>
> --
> FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/towertalkfaq.html
> Submissions:              towertalk@contesting.com
> Administrative requests:  towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
> Problems:                 owner-towertalk@contesting.com
> Search:                   http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm
>
>


--
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/towertalkfaq.html
Submissions:              towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-towertalk@contesting.com
Search:                   http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm