[TowerTalk] Tower / Rotor Durability

[n4kg@juno.com]

On Wed, 11 Jul 2001  K7LXC@aol.com writes:
> 
> In a message dated 7/11/01 1:06:16 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
> K7NV@contesting.com writes:
> 
> > Will overkilling the rotator make it last forever? Maybe, but 
> probably not.  This is educated guessing, to get a ballpark 
>estimate on how  large a chunk  of the
> >  "forever spectrum", the rotator gets to occupy.
> 
>     It's been my experience that the rotator is the weak link in the 
> antenna  system. While towers and other hardware will last for 15 years

> and  more, a  rotator has a practical service life of 6 or 7 years. 
> 
>     Don't tell me about your Ham M that's been working since 1968 - 
> you've  been lucky. 
> 
> Cheers,    Steve    K7LXC
> Tower Tech 

If I remember correctly, someone at Rohn told me the service
life of their towers was believed to be 40 years in a non-corrosive 
atmosphere.  Anybody else know / remember?

And yes, I have had 25 years of service from a reconditioned
HAM-M rotor, turning a Mosley 2L Quad and then a TH6.  It
has recently stopped turning.  I suspect some wires have 
finally broken at the terminal strip but have not climbed up 
to inspect. 

Most of my early HAM series rotors with 'pot metal' gears
suffered from broken ring gears which have been replaced
with steel gears.

Tom  N4KG


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