[TowerTalk] Ooops! Wrong guy bracket assembly installed--now what?!

[Keith Dutson]

I would leave the 45G bracket in place.  Congratulate yourself that you got
it to fit.

The bowed brace will only slightly affect resistance to twisting.  Since
that is the guy point it is not important.

If you are worried about twisting above, you should replace the above
bracket with a star-type torque bracket with double guys.  I am doing this
on a 200 foot 55G that will have two 4el 40M monobanders and a 2el 80M
monobander.  I got the bracket from Norm's Fabrication
(http://www.normsfab.com/).

73, Keith NM5G

-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Tim Totten, N4GN
Sent: Saturday, August 26, 2006 11:00 PM
To: Towertalk
Subject: [TowerTalk] Ooops! Wrong guy bracket assembly installed--now what?!

I can't believe I did this . . .

I'm installing my second tower at N4GN.  Those of you who know me know this
project is WAY behind schedule (like 5 years!).  The tower is 55G. 
Today, after installing the second guy bracket assembly and second set of
guys, I noticed a slight bowing of the horizontal "zee" brace just under the
guy bracket assembly (more on this below).  Then I discovered that I had
installed a GB45D (GA45GD) bracket, made for Rohn 45G tower, as opposed to
the proper GB55D (GA55GD)  bracket!  What can I say?  My supplier sent the
wrong part, but I should have checked my order a little more closely before
installation!

In my defense, the two assemblies are within a few millimeters of being
indentical in all dimensions.  If you don't look at the part number stamped
on it, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference at arm's length.  At
least that's the best excuse I could come up with!  I guess I'll be on the
phone Monday trying to get the right assembly.

Since a word is worth a millipicture, I put some photos on my web site:

http://www.n4gn.com/guy-brackets/

I believe the horizontal zee brace was bowed downward when I tightened the
three inside braces, pulling the tower legs very slightly inward.  The big
question now is whether I damaged the tower section to the point that I
should consider replacing it?  I've certainly seen sections on other towers
(commercial and amateur) that were dinged up far worse.  I think I'm just
inclined to replace the guy bracket assembly with the proper model and carry
on.  But I'd appreciate comments from anyone who wants to look at the
pictures and offer an opinion.

Is there even anyone left in Engineering at Rohn (Radian) who might be able
to provide more insight?  Anyone have a good contact there?

Thanks in advance for any help . . .

73,

Tim Totten, n4gn at n4gn.com
http://www.n4gn.com
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