[TowerTalk] trees and towers

[Cqtestk4xs@aol.com]

Having driven all over Florida since the past hurricane season and talked to 
lots of guys about their tower installations in the state, I would like to 
toss in my own two cents.

Everything is a tradeoff with towers.  If I could only go 30 feet with a 
tower in the clear or 100 feet with a tower in the trees, I would go with the 100 
footer.  However, I would knock down as many of those suckers as I could.

Most of the 2004 hurricane tower failures I heard about involved trees coming 
down on the guy wires.......not from the tower crumpling on its own.  The 
worst culprits are the tall pines, they come down like guillotines.  When 
building my station, the first thing to go was any tree that would be a problem with 
the guy wires.

An additional consideration is the use of Phillystran.  Any branches rubbing 
against Philly, will quickly abrade the fiberglass and its covering.

Bill K4XS