[TowerTalk] RE: TowerTalk Digest, Vol 17, Issue 30

[Robert_Redoutey at Dell.com]

Jerry, 

It did this before I even had an antenna or cables on it. I probably should have stopped there, but the manufacturer, Heights, suggested that since I did not have the fold-over bolts tight, that must be the problem. Well, that had nothing to do with the problem.

There are 6 large bolts in each joint of each section. Near the top this changes, of course. This is a "heavy duty" tower. I don't see how the bolts can be elongated, as it has been up such a short time (January), and the first time I had it up, again without anything on the top, it started doing the "clang". Only worse with any sort of wind load. The Force 12 C4 is only 9 sf of wind load, with the tower rated at 25 sf. 

Nope, not a "creak" at high winds, but a "loud clang" heard for a couple hundred feet with even a modest 5-10 mph winds. 

I have not climbed it beyond maybe 30 ft, so I can't comment on sway. Nothing noticeable, but with clouds going by, everything looks like it's moving.

There was another comment about the weight of the antenna on it when it is folded over. The antenna is very light, and the problem is when the tower is upright, not when it's folded over. Again, it does this with NO antenna even. Just the force of the wind, even light wind. 

I feel it has something to do with a design change, as I have had (and still have) aluminum towers that don't make a peep. They were by Universal instead of Heights, but don't think the issue is there, as I am sure they both make a good tower, in general.

The fold over section is 4 ft up, not at anything like 30 ft. The bottom 4 ft of the tower is very heavy duty, very thick with probably 2 1/2 inch wide legs.

I will work on getting some pictures up on the web so maybe somebody can look at them and see an issue. Heights sure has not been able to.

Thanks,

Bob Redoutey, N5KF
 

Message: 4
Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 13:02:52 -0400
From: "Jerry Keller" <k3bz at arrl.net>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] buying new tower
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <009401c43779$ced829e0$44c75144 at homebrew1>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"

Bob...I have 5 sections (40') of Heights aluminum and no problems at all.
Maybe it's that Force 12 beam that's the problem.  Take that thing off and
put on a SteppIR yagi and it will "sing" like mine does, rather than
"clang"... ;-)...

Seriously, has any determination been made as to what is causing the
"clanging"?  Are the bolt holes elongated?  When the tower was up, did it
sway noticably in the wind?

73, Jerry K3BZ