[TowerTalk] fold over towers

[K7LXC at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/30/2007 5:53:43 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
towertalk-request at contesting.com writes:

>  I'm trying to decide between a crank-up,fold over or self  suporting 
tower.Looking at holding a Becher Skyhawk and Cushcraft XM-240  in the air at 
55-75 feet.I have no problem with climbing but its hard for  me to find 
someone to assist on the ground.Its hard for me to install  larger antennas 
by myself in the air.So need to find a way to be able to  stay close to the 
ground,or not have to deal with the "around guy wire"  thing.Crankups scare 
me about price and still gotta climb them somewhat to  install antennas on 
the tower but no guy wires to mess you up and could  get a manlift.
 
    To say nothing of the increased  electro-mechanical complexity with 
potential reliability problems. Anyone  following the W7ZR thread about his 
inability to get his crank-up to retract  can see this. And to say nothing of the 
increased cost. 
 
>  On a side 
note,I was supposed to get an 80 foot manlift  but the company backed out of 
the deal when they found someone with deeper  pockets then me.I can't find 
another company that will commit to a  date,they'll put me on "standby".Which 
I figure means the first blizzard  of the winter!!
 
    Do you have any rental yards in your area? They  are more than happy to 
drop one off for you. They're real easy to operate.  Also a crane with a 
man-basket works great. A crane can be a little  cheaper in my experience.
 
>  Fold Overs are kinda neat 
because I don't mind climbing  to assemble it but would need some help on the 
ground but only once.They  kinda scare me because of the danger of the 
leverage of them but if you  know what your doing and don't violate what the 
maker says you should be  OK.
 
    The majority of the ones I've seen over the  years (Rohn ones) have 
suffered some damage at some point. They're real  easy to tweak. 
 
>  Not sure of the cost or if they are available 
new  anymore.I think you can work on the ground with those which is nice, 
very  niceSelf supporters get rid of the guy wires but gotta climb them but I 
 
would think installing antennas would be easy.Just get a pulley on the  mast 
and haul it straight up along side the tower,with no guy cables it  should be 
kinda easy,no?Again not sure of price but shouldn't be as bad as  a 
crankupLooking for ideas or something I missed 
 
    It's true you can pull antennas up the side. You  can take off an element 
or two to get enough clearance (a Trylon Titan is 46"  wide at the bottom) 
and then put them on once the antenna is on the mast.  

Speaking of which my suggestion is a Trylon Titan  self-supporter. They're a 
good value, easy to climb and can take a decent  load. 
 
Cheers & GL, 
Steve     K7LXC
TOWER TECH and
_www.championradio.com_ (http://www.championradio.com)  - Trylon  dealer



 



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