[TowerTalk] US Tower damaged by lightning - now cable lubing

[Kevin Normoyle]

If the cables don't need replacing at the rate "the field" is replacing 
them, then why do we get any cable breaks?
Are there other issues?

Most hams don't do much maintanence, from the cables on used towers I've 
bought. So it's hard to understand an anecdotal story of "most cables 
that are replaced don't need to be".

Worse is the problem with lack of bearing maintainence. I've seen 
severely worn bronze bearings.
And corrosion/wear on the aluminum pulley wheels, sometimes leading to 
very hard to turn.

The cables that do fail, fail for some reason.

If replacing cables at X interval isn't fixing the problem, what will?
I think any used tower needs it cables replaced and pulleys rehabbed.

I've gotten a tower where the cables were replaced with apparently EHS 
cable: very hard to cut, had to use angle grinder. Owner apparently 
thought stronger was better, but it was stiffer and probably worse over 
the narrow diameter pulleys.

I'm guessing, on the west coast, that 10 years might be the right period 
for cable/pulley teardown.
20 years seems too long. Maybe 5 is too short. Any time it changes 
owners seems right too.

Where do the cables break? I've seen a photo of a break near the 
compression sleeve, and I've read some inspections that detail the area 
within 1 ft. of a compression sleeve as warranting extra inspection 
because of possible increased stress/damage to the wires during the 
compression sleeve install.

-kevin
AD6Z