[TowerTalk] Guying a self-supporting tower - Yes

[Jerry K3BZ]

I bought my Heights aluminum tower used, and refurbished it myself. Some of
the leg holes were a little egged out, so I added new bolts in new holes so
it's good and sturdy now.  I had no specs and wasn't able to find any, not
even from Heights. Would it have done me any good to try to hire an engineer
to "do the
calculations" on it, so I can "sue the engineer if it breaks"? I doubt it,
and anyway that's not my idea of peace of mind. There's alreeady too many
people looking to sue anybody they can. For peace of mind, I carry
insurance, but I also have  a set of "untensioned", non-conductive guys on
my puny 45' tower so I can "sleep much easier at night when the wind is
howling".

I've seen a lot of opinions in this thread, but so far I haven't recognized
any clear and convincing evidence that makes me want to take the guys off .
But then, maybe this discussion applies mostly to those with much taller
freestanding towers, for which manufacturer specs are available? It's also
possible that I don't see the practicality because a good deal of the
subject matter discussed on TT is so far over my head 8^)

There's still plenty of value on TT even for me, but this particular thread
seems nearly as polarized and non-conclusive as the perennial thread on
(shudder) lightning rods...

73,  Jerry K3BZ

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Robbins K1TTT" <k1ttt at arrl.net>
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2005 2:21 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Guying a self-supporting tower - Yes


> >
> > This thread has been interesting and healthy because it illustrates that
> > technical issues can easily become philosophical ones, subject to
> > judgement
> > calls; and that "Hard Science" is an oxymoron!
>
> Building a tower is not philosophy, nor is it science experiment.  It is
an
> engineering job.  The mechanics and materials are well understood.  the
> tools are readily available to engineers to do very specific calculations
of
> forces and compare them with the design and known environment extremes.
>
> The manufacturers design their towers for specific configurations that
they
> have paid engineers to analyze and stand behind.  They can not obviously
> analyze an unlimited number of possible configurations that anyone may
want
> to try so they provide a set of known good designs and their limitations.
> This is not to say that doing anything other than what they publish will
> definitely fail, it just says that it is safe to use those designs.
>
> It should never be necessary to 'guess' or rely on anyone else's single
> experiment that happened to work, no matter how many years it may have
> survived.  So if you don't have the knowledge to do the proper
calculations
> either do what the manufacturer says or get someone who can do the
> calculations for your planned design... believe me, you will sleep much
> easier at night when the wind is howling knowing that you can sue the
> engineer if it breaks rather than trying to fight with the insurance
company
> and explain why your guess wasn't strong enough.
>
> David Robbins K1TTT
> e-mail: mailto:k1ttt at arrl.net
> web: http://www.k1ttt.net
> AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com  for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
Weather Stations", and lot's more.  Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any
questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
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>