[TowerTalk] Rohn 55G tower damage, cont'd.

[DMartin560@aol.com]

Hi Brad,

I've watched this thread since the beginning.  It appears you have a first 
class installation,
My opinion is the same as all the rest...I would just plumb and re-tension 
the guys.
Replace the guys if you feel you must, but I absolutely believe they didn't 
stretch.
FWIW, Rohn calls for 3/16" cable on your installation
I wouldn't go up to the 5/16" cable or the 5/8" turnbuckles.  And I would 
stay with the big grips instead of the clamps.

Again, just my opinion.
73,
Dwayne,  KG4ADM


Hello all,

Thanks for the many posts on my situation. Just visually
looking at the tower, I cannot see any specific area in
which there is any damage; if I sight up the tower, I can
see it curving slightly.

I was the one who did the original installation for the
ham from whom I purchased the house. The tower was
a 100' Rohn 55G tower (4' in the concrete base) with
the tower guy wires being out 80' from the base. Each
guy anchor was 3' square and dug to a depth of 4' -
each anchor had a re-bar assembly in it per the Rohn
catalog and the guy anchors were the Rohn p/n GAC34
anchor rods, made from 3/4" dia. steel rod with angle
iron welded to the bottom.

Each guy anchor was poured to approximately 15" con-
crete thickness and the dirt that was put back into the hole
was done in "steps," with the layers of dirt being tamped
in with a heavy tool.

After I had purchased the QTH, I put up 7 sections of
55G on top of the section coming out of the concrete
base, making the tower about 76' high. As I mentioned
before, I used Rohn 1/4" EHS guy wire with Big Grips
and end sleeves.

I did not have the turnbuckles safety-wired but I do know
that none of them had loosened up since I installed them;
after I had tensioned the guy wires, I put pieces of brown
vinyl color-coding tape next to the turnbuckle body. After
the storm, I inspected all of the turnbuckles and the taped
parts were still right next to the body of the turnbuckle.

I also tried inspecting the Big Grips and from what I could
see from the ground, none of them had slipped at all. So
I'm guessing that the (south-west) guy wires stretched. As
I also mentioned before, I'm going to replace the top set
of guy wires with 5/16" EHS material. I'm also going to
replace the galvanized, forged 1/2-13 x 12" eye & jaw
turnbuckles with 5/8"-11 x 12" galvanized, forged turn-
buckles.

In place of Big Grips with end sleeves, I am going to use
Crosby Clips, which are forged wire rope clips and I
will use 2 per connection. I am also going to serve each
of the 7 strands of guy wire material around the guy wire,
per the Rohn catalog instructions. Serving each of the 7
strands is somewhat time-consuming but I have done it
in the past and it is not all that difficult to do.

73 de Brad, N9EN @ Radio Free Roscoe (IL) [tm]