[TowerTalk] Calculations

[Jim Lux]

At 02:07 PM 9/14/2004 -0500, j4976 at juno.com wrote:
>Based on this (good) information, it seems to me that a manufacturer
>could have an engineer make up a series of charts or tables showing the
>surviving loads in each soil type at increasing wind speeds and icing
>conditions sufficient to encompass nearly any code requirement.  Have
>these stamped, and provided to each purchaser, and pay the engineer an
>ongoing fee quarterly for each set sent out.  The building official could
>look up his or her favorite wind speed on the chart or table and approve
>the installation based on that information.
>
>The only problem I could see would be if the official requires a stamp
>from a local engineer.

Always the case.. if they want wet stamped drawings, they want them stamped 
by an engineer licensed to practice in that state.


>In this case, perhaps some amateur association,
>like ARRL, should request that amateurs who are licensed volunteer from
>each state to provide a review and stamp service at a reduced fee, since
>many of the tower requests reviewed would be redundant, so it wouldn't be
>like performing a new engineering study each time from scratch.  For most
>towers, the engineer could just pull a file on that model and verify that
>his file numbers agree with the ones being submitted for the permit.

There's that whole "plan stamping" and span of control thing.  One cannot 
just review and stamp plans in most states.

http://www.nspe.org/etweb/10804planstamping.asp talks about it in general 
terms....



>I would think that these practices could help manufacturers sell more
>towers to wary amateurs, and that they would also help us get more people
>on the air to help perpetuate the amateur service.
>
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