[TowerTalk] unguyed 65, response

[Jan Erik Holm]

Cool it Rich! I did not mean you or anybody specific.
This was in general terms spoken. Absolutley no need
to get this winded up.

73 SM2EKM
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RICHARD BOYD wrote:

> 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