[Towertalk] CRANK UP TOWERS

Thu, 14 Mar 2002 22:39:20 -0800

you want to know what helpless is....

Helpless is watching a foldover tower crash into the ground because the weld
on the manufacturer's winch spool broke...

This happened on my mother's birthday one year - and she at the time was an
ardent DXer...talk about a lousy Birthday...a beautiful Telrex yagi reduced
to an ugly mess...not because the installation was incorrect...not due to
overloading...but due to a mechanical failure that never could happen on a
fixed tower...

Fixed towers are simple structures...less to break - Keep It Simple Stupid
is good logic for radio towers...don't get fancy - stay simple and avoid
potential heartache and injury.

If you have to have a crankdown foldover because you do not climb you are
wrong - you can take the cost of a crank down foldover and subtract the
money a fixed tower costs...put it in a savings account and when you need to
service the tower pay someone to do it...better yet be an Elmer to a young
ham who cannot afford the big stuff...

I have known hams who have lost fingers and toes and myself been scared out
of my wits by a telescoping tower that suddenly decided it wanted to nest
another inch...

In all my time climbing tower I never felt the fear I felt climbing at a
height of 15 or 20 feet when that tower suddenly nested a little more - even
when I climbed to the top of K4XS' 199 footer to help him install a 40 meter
yagi I was tired as heck up there but it never occurred to me to be
worried...

Check out what you are shelling out for the collapsible foldovers...compare
the price to a fixed tower....there is NO comparison...put that money in the
bank...and save yourself some fingers and toes.

73,

Jim, K4OJ

----- Original Message -----
From: "WYsixK" <wy6k@yahoo.com>
To: "Bill Otten" <res0958z@verizon.net>; <Towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2002 12:51 PM
Subject: [Towertalk] CRANK UP TOWERS

> I agree that tilting these things over is real iffy.  I admit that mine
> is overloaded.  When I tilt it over, the strain is incredible and I
> feel it is an accident waiting to happen.  So I quit doing that.  I put
> a pulley on the top of the mast and use an electric winch to raise and
> lower antennas.  I have three big yagis on a 22 foot mast with nearly
> 20 feet above the tower.  I put steps on the mast and climb it when
> necessary.
>
> My base is no risk. The tower is a Tri-ex LM470 70 footer.  The base is
> in something like 7 yards of concrete in a hole that was over 7' deep
> and 5 feet square.
>
> I feel tons safer doing this than when I climb 90 foot fixed tower.
> The method I now use to raise and lower antennas is also a lot safer
> than the fiddling around that goes with moving antennas up and down
> guyed towers.
>
> Michael
> --- Bill Otten <res0958z@verizon.net> wrote:
> > I also have a crank up/tilt-over from EZ-Way Towers. It is the Model
> > RBX-50
> > which extends to 52 feet (with a 10ft. galvanized mast) and supports
> > a 40 sq
> > ft. wind load if guyed at 110 mph. ( I'm dubious about the rating but
> > that's
> > what the claim was). Mine has the Wonder Post tiltover post BUT
> > rather than
> > just postholed into the ground my post was imbedded to 13 feet and
> > just
> > under 3 cu. yds of concrete poured,  plus it is guyed. This past
> > January I
> > also replaced my cable even though the original galvanized cable
> > still
> > looked good -- and what had been 1/8" 7x7 bundled cable was increased
> > to the
> > same 3/16" 7x19 in stainless steel. This increased the tensile
> > strength
> > considerably to somewhere near 4400lbs. The replacement was cheap
> > too! Cost
> > was a miniscule .21/ft so I could recable the entire tower with
> > better than
> > original for about $35. I got my cable from http://versales.com/
> > which
> > specializes in industrial marine, desert specialty, mountain climb
> > rigging
> > and other wire rope specialty products. Great bunch to work with. One
> > thing
> > about the old EZ-Way towers was the brake mechanism it had was fairly
> > substantial. Mine uses a spring return on it so if you are lowering
> > the
> > tower you must be pulling on the brake release lanyard or it will
> > snap back
> > into place and stop the tower.  When the winds blow here in Florida's
> > Gulf
> > of Mexico coast (hurricanes, etc.) the tower comes down within 20
> > minutes
> > and when tilted over stands a mere 10' off the ground parallel.
> > Oddly, the
> > brochure for this tower shows it capable of what was called a
> > 'half-tilt'
> > mode but anyone who's ever cranked one over knows the incredible
> > tension
> > that crank-over pulley and cable is under at that point, not to
> > mention the
> > lever effect 25' of tower half tilted must have on the base fixture.
> > I DO
> > NOT recommend this as even a remotely good idea.
> >
> > Bill KC9CS
> >
> > -- Original Message -----
> > From: "K6RB" <k6rb@baymoon.com>
> > To: <Towertalk@contesting.com>
> > Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2002 12:03 pm
> > Subject: Re: [Towertalk] CRANK UP TOWERS
> >
> >
> > > I have an old Tri-Ex tower (W-51) that was put up in August 1984
> > and on
> > > which I have changed the cables only once - a month ago! It
> > survived about
> > > half a dozen storms of 80 mph peak winds, and the cable never
> > failed. It
> > had
> > > a 10 foot galvanized mast and a KLM KT 34-XA on it until last
> > August. It
> > now
> > > carries a 20 foot chromoloy mast and stacked Force 12 antennas. I
> > replaced
> > > the original cables with new 3/16 , 7x19 cables and plan to replace
> > them
> > > more frequently with the greater load the tower now carries. In the
> > past I
> > > left it at full height unless there was a storm forecast or strong
> > winds
> > > that were evident. Now, I keep it up when I know I'll be using the
> > station
> > > frequently, but retract it when it will be unused for long periods.
> >
> >
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