[TowerTalk] Guying a self-supporter

[David Thompson]

Lou Tristao built a series of CTL towers for many years (also sold as Mosley 
towermasters) that were designed to be guyed towers.  I remember that we 
used one of the 50 footers on Field day years ago.
The largest of these were 105 foot CTL 500.

When I purchased my 71 foot self supporting in 1969 he added support blocks 
and guy rings for me
as we had discussed that the tower was in the gulf coast area with high 
possible winds.  It must be cranked up all the way up for the sections to 
lock in the support blocks.  For the first three years I did not guy the 
tower but would crank it down.  That is a real chore so when I moved to 
Atlanta I started guying the tower.  I have been thru 3 nearby tornados and 
two hurricanes with 90 mph winds (Opal and Ivan).  The rotor and beams took 
the brunt of the damage but the tower is still OK after 35+ years.  I have 
replaced the winch with a bigger Fulton 2550 and all of the wire rope (the 
bottom section 3 times).

What Lou told me is that the big base is what really holds it up and the 
guys just keep it vertical so it does not fall.  He though the support 
blocks were un-necessary but added them on the advice of his insurance.  You 
do not need to tighten the guys as you would with say Rohn sections just 
make them tight.  I use Rohn guying kits and hardware. In addition, I pin 
the second section on a leg in the bottom to remove all the weight from the 
wire rope.

IN any case do not climb the tower unless you pin the bottom of each section 
after cranking it down!

I think this is in the archives as I described this back about 1995.

Dave K4JRB