[TowerTalk] Guy Anchor Corrosion Question 1

[Chuck Lewis]

Guy anchor corrosion was a topic of interest on the "Tower-Pro" reflector a
few days ago. It seems that the WXO tower in El Centro, CA. collapsed in a
high wind, the cause being a guy anchor rusted-through underground.
http://www.kxoradio.com/tower.htm  not a pretty sight!

I subscribe to "Tower-Pro" (even though I'm not a "pro"), for its good info.
I'm therefore pretty much a 'lurker'; but I asked how the pros check the
health of their anchors. The best response was from the list owner, John
Hettish (also a ham, I think), who runs an active tower company (Middle
Tenn. Two-Way). He offered the following as a possible source for anchor
info: http://www.anchorguard.com/index.cfm  .  There's a link on this site
to some reference material that might be of interest to us, despite the
obvious differences beween a broadcast tower and our typical ham
installations. There's a paper on anchor corrosion, some industry specs, and
a series of photos with accompanying evaluations of severity. As usual,
YMMV; but I found it useful, at least in understanding the mechanisms at
work.

Chuck, N4NM