[TowerTalk] Guy wires

[Barry Kirkwood]

I put strops of EHS wire covered with garden hose around the tower legs.
There is an eye in a lineman's or P&T splice at each end of the strop. The
two ends of the strop and the eye at the top end of the guy are all secured
with a shackle. There is an insulator a short distance down the guy.
The idea of this is to provide some radiusand cushioning where the wire
passes around the tower leg. This also isolates the guy from the tower
should one want to use the tower as a vertical.
I place insulators at 13 ft lengths at the top of the guys to hopefully
avoid pattern distortion to the beam on top, longer lengths lower down.
I think it is good practice to put an insulator immediately above the lower
termination of each guy to discourage lightning fusing the turnbuckles or
whatever, but people in lightning prone areas may have better advice.
I use large plastic egg insulators made for electric fences which are light,
cheap and seem adequatley strong.
Not that the above is for a relatively modest tower up to say 100ft or so
without too much on top.
Mine is a 50ft tower on a ridge above the coast where it can get quite windy
but is not a hurricane or cyclone zone.

73

end
Barry Kirkwood PhD ZL1DD
Signal Hill Homestay
66 Cory Road
Palm Beach
Waiheke Island 1240
NEW ZEALAND
www.waiheke.co.nz/signal.htm



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