[TowerTalk] Elevated Guys

[Lee Buller]

Elevated guys are wonderfull for mowing the back yard.  But, in my experience I would not do it again, or I would do it differently.
 
I have 8" round pipes, three and a half feet in the ground and six and a half feet out of the ground.  I have about a two yards of concrete around the posts.  I even filled the posts with concrete.
 
They still came in on me over the years.  Possible problems...not enough concrete mass, the ground shifts, vector forces are greater than I calculated, and some I haven;t thought of yet.
 
If I were to do it again, I would make the posts with a buried "T"...or a appendage welded on very strongly with braces and such towards the direction of the tower....and one 180 degrees opposite.  I would make these appendages about 3 foot long.  Then I would have dug the hole to fit it and put a lot more concrete in the hole.  These appendages will act as a lever counteracting the vector forces on the elevated guy.  When the guys pulled on the guy point, the lever action would force one side of the "T" down and the otherside up, but both would be in massive concrete structures.  Expensive and time consuming, but elevated guys are such that one would have to go to the time and trouble to do it that way.
 
I am not an H-Beam fan as well...unless...you do the following.  Weld about 1/2 inch steel plate on both insides of the H-Beam.  I have seen heavy H-Beam bend.  Then massive abouts of concrete.
 
I think the idea of elevated guys are good....but the use of massive amounts of concrete must be used to prevent movement of the guy post.
 
just some thoughts that I have since I did mine.
 
Lee - K0WA