[TowerTalk] Heights Towers

Thu Apr 10 15:08:08 EDT 2008

I posted directly to Bruce, but thought I would also post to the list.

I have had a terrible time with Heights Towers.

I had used a couple of towers from Universal over the years, and they
have been top notch.

I moved to a new location and was interested in Height's Tilt Over
option and decided to go that route, ordering the 72' plus the Tilt Over
section.

I received the "in ground" rebar section and steel screw rods in good
time. All went well. It took quite a while to get the tower itself. I
carefully assembled it, but noted that the sections seemed a little
"sloppy". They fit together a little too easy. But with 6 bolts in each
leg, I wasn't too concerned. 

Instead of the usual tower, where the legs fit into each other, most of
my sections had a collar over the joints. The inside of the collar is
larger than the outside of the leg. Drake told me that he did not have
the correct material size for a tight fit, but felt that this should not
be an issue. Even before all the sections were assembled I raised the
tower, only to hear a loud "clang" every time the wind blew. He
suggested the bolts were loose, so I finished the tower assembly and
added a small tri-band beam (8 sf). The tower was "rated" at 25 sf. All
the bolts were checked with a torque wrench. The tower only became worse
when the wind blew, with the clanging heard 200 ft away. 

He did come out one day and I gathered up some help, and the bottom 4
sections were replaced, but after a few months, it was still like a
piece of Jell-O, clanging in the wind.

After a number of polite emails and phone calls, the final answer was
"then just sue me".

Its been several years since this all happened. A neighboring ham helped
me put in some shims, and it's a little better. Still can't put on any
more antenna than I currently have, less than half its "rating". 

He still has a picture of my tower on his web page, that was sent to him
as a "here is what the tower looks like, do you see a reason its
clanging"...instead he posted it on his web site without permission as a
selling point. (it was a nice picture)

I have heard from dozens of people, some happy with their Heights Tower,
many not happy (total losses) due to poor construction/welding.

I am sure some of his products are fine, but not mine.

Sorry so long,

Bob Redoutey
N5KF
Georgetown, TX

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Message: 11
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:44:54 -0400
From: n8de at thepoint.net
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Heights Towers
To: Bruce Jungwirth <k0son at frontiernet.net>
Cc: Towertalk <towertalk at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <20080408224454.oznu7534ysogsk48 at webmail.win.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset=ISO-8859-1;	DelSp="Yes";
	format="flowed"

Heights, no.  Universal, YES.
Heights towers have 8' sections, Universal has 10' sections.  Both  
all-aluminum, but with a slightly different bracing pattern.
Have had a total of 5 Universal towers over the years .. never had a  
problem except when tornadoes ripped them down in 1982, 1985, and 1992  
when I lived in Indiana.
Will be putting up 6 Universal towers this year [fingers tightly
crossed].

Search the archive for info on how to erect them .. it's all here in  
past postings, including some tips on how to minimize electrolysis  
between the tower and the bolts used to join the sections, as well as  
tips on maintainence.

Any other questions, I'll be glad to answer.
Good luck
Don
N8DE

Quoting Bruce Jungwirth <k0son at frontiernet.net>:

> Anyone out there have any experience with Heights Self Supporting   
> Tapered Towers ? If so, I'd like to here your opinion.
>
> Bruce  K0SON
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>

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