[TowerTalk] Crank Up towers

[Steve Katz]

I happen to like extendable towers and at my past several homes have only
installed those, not any guyed towers.  

I don't like the "Hazer" stuff, too much trouble to disconnect and reconnect
guys on the way down and up.  I don't have much property for the guys,
anyway.  Extendable towers are slim and occupy less yard space yet remain
highly serviceable and if you have to climb one, you don't have to climb
very far (since you can only safely climb one when it's fully retracted
anyway).  As I get older, this is becoming a better feature.

Easier to permit in some places, too.  You can extend a 70' tower to only
50' and stop it there, call for inspection and say it's a 50 foot tower (if
that's the ordinance limit).  Nobody questions it.  After the inspector
leaves, it's a taller 50' tower.

Nice being able to retract not only for service, but in high winds also.
Easier to sleep at night knowing my antennas are sitting at 25' with all
sections nested.  Tower can probably take a 150 mph wind that way, and the
antennas themselves would blow apart before the tower failed in any way.

WB2WIK/6

-----Original Message-----
From: Kelly Johnson [mailto:n6kj.kelly at gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2005 3:05 PM
To: Rick Tavan N6XI
Cc: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Crank Up towers


I'm looking at putting in a tower and I've been leaning toward the crankup
for exactly the same reason: neighbor appeasement.  I'm sure my wife would
probably like it a bit more too, but she's supportive of my "hobby" so she'd
be ok with something else.

Why do you now think a crankup isn't necessary for "neighbor appeasement"?

Would your opinion change if your tower was located at home in suburbia as
opposed to your 2nd home in the mountains where it is probably less visible?



On 12/22/05, Rick Tavan N6XI <rtavan at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> As a crankup owner and K7LXC customer, I agree with most of your comments,
> Steve.
>
> I wouldn't characterize UST customer support as "good." A better
> description
> might be "reluctantly effective." I have had to argue with them several
> times to get support but they have always capitulated and done the right
> thing. I still can't get the damn control box to work consistently but at
> least they explained how to open it up and override the flakey lockouts
> which fail temporarily at random intervals. This $10,000 monster works
> correctly about half the time.
>
> I bought the crankup solely for neighbor appeasement. Now that I know my
> wonderful neighbors even better than three years ago, if the crankup ever
> gets destroyed I'll probably replace it with the guyed tower I really
> wanted
> all along.
>
> 73,
>
> /Rick N6XI
>
> On 12/22/05, K7LXC at aol.com <K7LXC at aol.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > In a message dated 12/17/2005 9:03:36 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
> > towertalk-request at contesting.com writes:
> >
> > >  Can I get some feed back from you guys on experience  with
> > Crank Up towers?
> >
> > ...
> >     Pros - I can't think of any.
> > ...
> >
> >     US Tower is the 800 pound gorilla. They make a  good product and
> offer
> > good customer support. There is an aluminum crank-up  out there but it's
> > even
> > more expensive and is very fragile compared to a steel  tower. Tri-Ex
> > crank-ups
> > are being sold but I don't have anything good to say  about their
> customer
> > service.
> > ...
> >     Of course there are spouses that would prefer a  crank-up and other
> > aesthetic reasons for buying one but the only reason I've  ever heard of
> > that truly
> > justifies one is N6RJ who convinced his neighbors it  would only be
> > extended
> > after dark.
> >
> _______________________________________________
>
> 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.
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>
_______________________________________________

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.

_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk