[TowerTalk] [SteppIR] Advice on Tower

[K7LXC at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/22/2008 1:00:42 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
towertalk-request at contesting.com writes:

>      Ron: I am currently in the process  of putting up a U.S. Tower MA-850 
with the rotor base and will be putting a 3  element SteppIR with the 40/30 
modification on top.  At a 70 mph wind and  the tower fully erected, I will 
surely be in an overload condition if there is  no margin in the specifications.  
I went through a lot of consideration,  emails, and conversation before I 
selected this tower because of the 70 mph  wind load limitations.  


    I had an MA-77 calc'ed by a PE for 80 MPH  and the windload capacity was 
for 25 pounds. So in essence, anything you put  on it will cause it to be 
overloaded. 
 
    Treated very conservatively, you should get good  service from your 
tower. Your usage scenario sounds like it'll work.  

>    I think that you will find that the tower  companies will be very 
reluctant to talk about margin and overload.  I  tried, several times, and was NOT 
able to get that information.  If  anyone has that information, I would sure 
like to get  it.



         Tower manufacturers  are insurance driven enterprises and are averse 
to risk exposure. Of course  they're not going to give you any information 
that might come back to haunt  them. That's why you need to get an engineer 
involved. The guy that UST uses is  very good - you just have to pay him for his 
evaluation. The engineer  will give you the information you're looking for. 
 
Cheers,
Steve    K7LXC
TOWER TECH 



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