[TowerTalk] Re: windmill tower

[Tim Makins, EI8IC]

I received this post off-list, that people may be interested in...

73s Tim EI8IC
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I had a windmill tower at my previous QTH, and it was up for almost 20 yrs.
It was 37 ft high, and the base legs were 8 ft. apart ... quite a wide
stance!  It was a used tower, and I had painted it before putting it up.

I saw one post where a gentleman had very negative opinions, but in reality
I thought this tower very easy to work from. At one point I had a 204Ba and
a 10/15M duobander stacked above that. I had a piece of angle that could be
attached between opposing legs inside the tower that would clamp to the
mast, to facilitate raising or lower the mast: with a locking thrust bearing
on top, there wasn't any problem moving the mast ( although it was a lot
easier if two people were doing it). At the second level down, I would have
a couple of pieces of aluminum scaffolding that one could stand on to work
on the rotor or raise/lower the mast.

One thing I would note that, given todays' technology and modus operandi,
how does one "model" such a beast in one of those analysis programs?  Not
for me !!!


When we moved, I decided to "drop" the tower by sawing two leg supports and
letting the tower "fold" on the other two legs  . Dumb idea - It dropped too
hard and bent some tower legs. I still have it, but use the angle for other
projects
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