[TowerTalk] Rainbow Towers - really BX

[K7LXC at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/24/2010 12:01:22 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
towertalk-request at contesting.com writes:

>   I can appreciate someone wanting something that  is
self supporting, but I recall seeing in the old catalog from ROHN that  they
were pictured with television antennas on  them. 


        Yep, they were designed to  be TV antenna towers. 
 
        Besides the aforementioned  PITA to climb or work on (I refer to 
them as meat grinders - your feet take a  real beating even with real live 
leather climbing boots), the X diagonals don't  even meet which takes away lots 
of torsional resistance and the spaces  between diagonals are a common 
failure point. Also, they are held together with  aluminum rivets - not the best 
material for that. 
 
        Another problem is that the  twisting of the tower due to ham type 
tribander loads tends to crack the  rotator shelves which are just sheet 
metal. 
 
        Be aware of their  limitations and they'll work okay. 
 
Cheers,
Steve    K7LXC
TOWER TECH