[TowerTalk] Temporary guys

[john at kk9a.com]

I am curious how temporary guys could stretch so much to lay a tower on its 
side, perhaps the guy anchors were very far away?   The Trucker's Hitch is 
great advice, I have used this knot to for securing tower or reels of 
hardline when transporting them home.

John KK9A



To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Temporary guys
From: K7LXC at aol.com
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:33:09 EDT
List-post: <towertalk at contesting.com">mailto:towertalk at contesting.com>

Howdy, TowerTalkians --

    I just read a portion of the ARRL tower book where  the author recounts
an episode where the temporary rope guys holding the bottom  sections of
the tower stretched so much that he found himself laying on the  ground with
the tower laying on top of him. Similarly, W2GD had the same  thing happen 
to
him. In neither case was the climber terribly injured but they  were lucky
to fall onto soft ground.

    If you're going to do something like this (the use  of temporary guys
has its applications) and use rope, the best thing to do is to  use a
'trucker's hitch' which gives you a 2:1 mechanical advantage and provides 
much
more tension on the rope to minimize any stretch or failure.

    In the book, the author says he only uses steel  temporary guys now -
lesson learned. But using a trucker's hitch will make using  rope guys 
viable
and safe.

Cheers,
Steve      K7LXC
TOWER TECH