[TowerTalk] US Tower: Broken cable, resolution?

[Stephen Reichlyn]

Hi, Ed:

I live on an island off the coast of SC, just north of Charleston, called 
Isle of Palms. I have an MA550MDP with a Tennadyne T-6 6-el Log Period for 
14-30 mHz on top. Obviously, I live in a hurricane area. My credo 
concerning my tower is as follows:

A. Unless I am operating, the tower is DOWN.
B. If I know I'll be around the house all day and will be on and off the 
air, I'll leave it up.
C. Under any circumstances, I NEVER leave the tower up when I leave the 
premises or OVERNIGHT.

I have the tower mounted on a Rotor Base free-standing with a concrete base 
of 3x3x6 feet. The motor takes approximately 1-2 minutes to raise from 
20-55 feet.

Nothing like having the tower down during a blow for some peace of mind.

Good Luck.
73, Steve AA4V


At 08:37 AM 3/29/00 -0500, you wrote:

>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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