[TowerTalk] US Tower: Broken cable, resolution?

[Ed Himwich/Letitia Carlson]

Thanks for the feedback. I only intended to point-out that the paperwork
does seem to be for 70 MPH and that I'm not look fowarding to replacing the
cable.

I'm not claiming this is a risk free operation. I guess the question is how
much risk is there and how much can I tolerate. I certainly don't plan to be
outright reckless. I hope I am not.

Apparently the tower is rated for 70 MPH winds (which is no guarantee either
I would think). We don't usually have 70 MPH winds here with anything short
of a hurricane (I apologize if I am underestimating the amount of 70 MPH
wind we have here, I have lived here for a long time, but haven't been
sensitive to tower issues until recently, I don't think it really changes
the point though if 70 MPH occurs occasionally, I don't think it occurs
often, but maybe a local should correct me on this point; for what it is
worth, Montgomery County is a 70 MPH county.). We usually get warnings
before hurricanes arrive. Since we are a fair distance inland on the typical
storm track, they usually have lost a lot of punch by the time they get
here. Like everything else, there is no guarantee though.

I did get the motor drive so that it would be easier and more routine to
crank it up and down. What do I do if the power goes out when a storm is
coming? From what I hear, it is "not completely impossible" to hand crank
these things down with the motor drive installed. I guess I do what I can,
if anything. Maybe, probably, it doesn't get down and it has to try riding
out the storm. It is a risk. One I hope, perhaps foolishly, doesn't occur
often. Maybe I have to get a generator if it does.

Do I crank it down every time I'm not operating? If not, it is a risk.

I think the risk is at a managable level. I hope so anyway. If not I'll have
to change plans.

73, Ed N3HXQ

----- Original Message -----
From: "alsopb" <alsopb@gloryroad.net>
To: "Ed Himwich/Letitia Carlson" <wehlgc@bellatlantic.net>;
<towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2000 6:21 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] US Tower: Broken cable, resolution?

> > I'm not sure how critical this is anyway since a crank-up (at least
> > mine) would probably be down if we got anywhere near a storm that
strong.
> >
>
> This is a common falacy.  I had a crank up tower once and had same
> erroeous ideas.
>
> Unfortunately unpredicted storma came:
> 1) At 2AM
> 2) When I was at work
> 3) When I was too tired to do the cranking.
>
> There is no substitute for the tower meeting the wind specs for the
> area
> in which you live.  You'll sleep better at least.

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Langdon" <jlangdon@outer.net>
To: "Com Towertalk@Contesting." <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2000 6:40 AM
Subject: RE: [TowerTalk] Crankups


> This is the radio amateur equivalent of  "I don't need a seat belt, I'll
> just brace myself right before the impact."



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