[Towertalk] CRANK UP TOWERS

[Brown, James E LRDOR]

My AlumaTower crankup does have a latch mechanism which supports the weight
of the section(s) when fully extended, or at any intermediate extension
point.  This latch is released by a pull wire when cranking down.

Jim  W4LC

-----Original Message-----
From: K7LXC@aol.com [mailto:K7LXC@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2002 11:27 PM
To: w2rds@arrl.net; Towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [Towertalk] CRANK UP TOWERS


In a message dated 3/14/02 7:41:52 AM Pacific Standard Time, w2rds@arrl.net 
writes:

> I do not have any direct experience with this but I do not that some
towers 
>  have a mechanism to provide support of the tower in the extended position

>  other than relying on the cable.  

    No they don't unfortunately. 

>  And I know that several of the guys in my 
>  area are retrofitting these devices onto their towers that do not have 
>  them, to prevent the scenario that Sherman descirbed.  

    Ah, jeez - great. A bunch of amateurs making modifications to a 
well-designed structure that the manufacturer CERTAINLY WON'T endorse and 
might even make the situation worse and increase the risk to the owner.
Would 
you please talk these guys out of doing that?

>  I would not want to 
>  rely on the cable to hold the entire weight of the tower, mast, rotator, 
>  and antenna's for years on end.

    Why not? They're designed to do just that with a significant safety 
factor. I've seen several original Tristao crank-ups    that were installed 
by Lou himself with the original cables and they're in fine shape
considering 
their age. 
>  
>  I will be very interested to see the results that are compiled.

    Me too. I would suggest you only include first-person experiences. 
Getting a bunch of real anecdotal stories about a friend-of-a-friend type 
stuff you can't substantiate doesn't seem very useful. There won't be any 
useful details either (age, cable size, condition, load, failure mode,
etc.). 

Cheers,
Steve    K7LXC
Tower Tech 
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