[TowerTalk] Use of tape to secure cables to towers....not always a good idea

[Ethan]

Cqtestk4xs at aol.com wrote:

> > There are better methods of anchoring cables to a tower, but for most  
> > purposes black electrical tape will work.
> >
> > -- Ethan KC8HES 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
>
> I used to be a big fan of that thinking too...until I came across 300 
> feet of Rohn 55 which had been up for around 25 years. It had some 
> minor surface rust in a few places, but otherwise seemed in pretty 
> good shape, until you started peeling away the black electrical tape. 
> Underneath the tape in about seven or eight places the rust was bad 
> enough to corrode right through the leg. It was a disaster waiting to 
> happen. In the next few weeks I am putting up 150 of Rohn 55 and use 
> of tape on tower legs will be kept to a minimum. YMMV. Bill K4XS/KH7XS 
Now I've taken old tape off towers and found bright shiny zinc 
underneath.  I suppose that's where the YMMV comes in!  Anyway, thanks 
for mentioning that. It may be that in certain environments (perhaps 
acid rain?) tape can promote corrosion, (e.g. by holding moisture 
against the tower) while in others it inhibits it.  It's good to take 
that into account.  Of course it's always a good idea to prefer the 
better solution, even though it may be more expensive.  I've seen cables 
mounted with stainless steel hardware and no problems for the life of 
the tower, and that's probably your best solution if you can do it.

-- 
Ethan KC8HES