[TowerTalk] Speaking of wood supports
Tower (K8RI)
tower at rogerhalstead.com
Wed Oct 13 18:27:58 EDT 2004
The note on using a wood Gin pole jogged a very old memory.
Wayyyy back when I was first licensed, I built a simple A-frame out of 2
X 4s (when they were really 2X4s). It was multiple layers for
reinforcement and was about 30 feet tall (as I recollect)
It hadn't been up all that long. Maybe a few weeks when we had a pretty
strong wind. Out there in the flat lands there isn't much to slow it up.
I was operating on 75 when I noted a low frequency hum. I couldn't find
what was making the noise, but it was one that seemed to penetrate right
through me.
I happened to look out the window and saw the A-frame vibrating like a
tuning fork. It was moving so fast you could see the standing waves. I
was looking right at it when it let go. It sounded like a 12 gage
shotgun. The largest piece I found was less than 3 feet long. As I
recall, some of those pieces flew over 50 feet.
I don't think I'd want to use wood for a Gin pole except for very light
duty.<:-))
--
Roger Halstead (K8RI ARRL Life Member)
Worlds Oldest Debonair (N833R S# CD-2)
www.rogerhalstead.com
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