[TowerTalk] unguyed 65, response

[RICHARD BOYD]

Well, do I sense some negativism here?

"Dont you guys ever do calculations on things like this?
A little bit of mathematics will figure all this out,
also I´m pritty sure there would be computer software
that can do stress calculations on towers depending
on how much load you put on them etc etc.
Used to do this when I was in the university, however
it was 30 years ago and darn it if I can remember how
to any more, should be able to study up on it I guess.
However these days I guess you do it in computers and
not by hand and brain.

73 Jim SM2EKM"

But at the end you get around to my approach, admitting that though you were 
apparently taught such things in university, that was a long time ago and 
you can't remember how to do it, so you'd have to go study!  I was a history 
major and NEVER studied it, and you expecdt me to go find out how to do it?? 
N4ZR has reinforced this view with his comment that I take it is saying that 
it's not an easy calculation but a complicated one.

I try to be realistic in my approach to such things.  I was never good at 
math and consequently pursued my education in a different direction.  And, 
I've never seen the sense in "reinventing the wheel," as we say.  So, when I 
have a technical question I ask around to my friends who know a lot more 
about such things than I do.  Trying to do it myself would be tantamount 
(sorry to use a big word, and it's not even a technical word!) to starting a 
new career!

There ARE people who do indeed do calculations on things like this; I am not 
one of them.

I remember hearing that Albert Einstein said he didn't believe in memorizing 
a lot of things that we're taught in school.  He said that's what reference 
books are for.  In my own case, I use "reference people" a lot, and we're 
all experiencing a global explosion of that, the amazing internet reference 
tool, where you can Google almost anything and get an answer, and a lot 
quicker than going to your book shelf and finding the book that MIGHT have 
the answer -- and might not -- and assuming you have an extensive library of 
books -- and even if the answer is there it might take you hours to try to 
find it.  A reflector like this one is a resource to ask the other guys who 
know, or who might know, and all it takes is a minute or two to launch your 
query.

Bottom line (or down there somewhere), I know that a husky (a relative term) 
tower will hold a certain amount of windload at, say, 10', a little less at, 
say, 20', and so on to a more useful height of 50-plus feet (we're still not 
much into metric here yet) and still have enough capability for a sizable 
ham yagi.  So, I've asked for "input" from other guys who know more about it 
than I do and may even have reference books, or even the mathematical 
skills, to calculate it for me.

73 - Rich, KE3Q