[TowerTalk] Broken Johnny-ball insulators

[Richard M. Gillingham]

Maybe ice sliding down the guy, hitting the top of the insulator??  Dunno..

Good luck,
Gil, W1RG  (in sunny South Florida)
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pete Smith" <n4zr at contesting.com>
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2003 9:36 AM
Subject: [TowerTalk] Broken Johnny-ball insulators


> Yesterday I discovered that the three ceramic "Johnny-ball" insulators
that
> isolate my bottom guy-set from the tower are all broken.  They have been
up
> 8 years and are the only strain insulators left on the tower.  One has
lost
> all the ceramic on the top side except for the little bit that separates
> the two guy wires, while the other two have lost parts of the
> non-load-bearing "ears" on either side of the guy wire channels.  The
lower
> sides of all three (toward the guy anchors) are apparently intact
>
> Even the worst doesn't look like an imminent failure, and even if it did,
> the guy wires will take the strain directly, though of course I would lose
> the use of the tower for shunt feed on 160.  But I'm really curious what
> would cause such a failure, and if there's anything to do to prevent a
> recurrence.  I have plenty more of the insulators, and the replacement
> doesn't look hard, but it just bothers me not understanding what
> happened.  The climate here isn't THAT extreme -- last winter was pretty
> snowy, but we had only a few days near zero, and this summer didn't break
> 100 -- and there are no known unusual atmospheric contaminants, other than
> farmland manure once or twice a year, so I'm stumped.
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
> The World HF Contest Station Database was updated October 3.
> 2440 stations are listed -- 104 stations were added or updated.
> Are you current? www.pvrc.org/wcsd/wcsdsearch.htm
>
>
>
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>
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