[TowerTalk] Antennas that can survive hurricanes?

[Todd Coulter]

Jim,

I live in the Ft. Lauderdale area and I currently have a Tashjian WT-51 
crank-up/tilt-over tower. It has been through a Cat 3 hurricane and a 
few tropical storms without any damage.

I usually lower the tower and either take the antenna(s) off completely, 
or strip them down as far as possible. I then put the tower back up to 
vertical, but in the nested position which is approximately 21 feet or 
so.  You could leave the tower tilted over but you would have to make 
sure that water could not get into your rotor while it is horizontal.

The issue that you will have in south Florida is complying with the 
Florida building code when applying for your permit. The code here in 
Broward county is 140mph @ 3 sec gust the last time I checked (2004). 
Other counties here in south Florida could be slightly less, but not by 
much.  I was able to have my tower rated in the nested position because 
I don't think any crank-up tower could be rated at that speed in the 
fully extended position.  Karl Tashjian of Tashjian towers was the only 
tower manufacturer that would even talk to me about having my tower 
rated at 140mph @ 3 sec gust, and provided me with the calculations to 
go with it in order to get a PE here in Florida to stamp it.

I have friends that leave their antennas up on the tower (tower in the 
nested position) during hurricanes and tropical storms, some have had 
damage to their antennas while others came through untouched. It's kind 
of a roll of the dice in my opinion. Obviously some antennas are built 
better than others.

Good luck with your move.

73,
Todd
N4JRZ




On 11/25/2012 1:59 PM, Jim in Waco WB5OXQ wrote:
> I may be moving from Central Texas to South Florida.  I currently have 2  50' towers which I will not take.  I would like to have a good hf beam and probably a wire dipole for 160-40  if I have at least an acre of land.  Will a good crankup tower survive hurricane winds if lowered and installed properly?  Can you even dig suffeciently to make a proper concrete base in south Fl?  I have a standard duty Force 12 C3 beam now but they used to build ruggedized versions but I don't know now.  Any suggestions appreciated.  WB5OXQ
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