[TowerTalk] Joined Guys

[Tom Rauch]

> Tower installation is not my area of expertice,but I hope someone can
> help with a concern I have. The company I work for recently had three
> guyed towers installed. I noticed that a large portion of the guy
> wires are actually two pieces that have been joined together. I some
> cases they are bolted together and in others simply spliced and
> wrapped together. The installer claims that this is normal, common
> sense tells me it can't be.

There are some clamps that can be used to join two sections of 
guylines, but they are special and not commonly used. Look at 
utility wores, and you might see a few examples of these clamps. 
Some are like two flat long plates with multiple bolts, and some are 
like a large solid sleeve.

If the fellow used normal saddle clamps he is lying through his 
teeth. 

Splicing just by wrapping is a definite no no. It is not correct, and it 
is very unreliable.

Personally, I've never seen a tower with spliced guy lines w except 
in an emergency repair. It sounds like the fellow is making up 
stories to justify using scrap lengths of line. It certainly is NOT 
normal, and almost certainly is asking for problems. If he did that 
with the guy lines, you can bet he screwed up the rest of the 
installation. 

I'd get it inspected by a real professional.


   
73, Tom W8JI
W8JI@contesting.com 

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