[TowerTalk] Raising Towers

[Jim Lux]

On 12/26/13 7:29 PM, john at kk9a.com wrote:
> I usually do not comment on things like this, however these are some of the
> scariest tower pictures I have seen. Besides the lack of any real  P.P.E. I
> would be concerned about the integrity of the 200 foot towers.  The tubing
> is kinked where it is bent who knows what the yield strength is or the
> condition the welds. http://w7yrv.blogspot.com/2013/10/roys-qth-w7yrv.html
> The guy cable appears to be very small wire rope.  In one picture it is
> connected to the guy anchor  with rubber bungee cords.
>
>

Yeah.. scary is a good word.. But hey, if it falls down, it's in your 
back yard.

I'm not sure about all the bungees.  Maybe he got a bunch cheap and they 
serve whatever purpose?

I'm sure we've all built something that is suboptimal.. perhaps not a 
tower, but maybe a breadboard.  Think of this as a structural breadboard 
(with potentially bigger consequences than a cooked resistor or 
capacitor or blown semiconductor).

We're not standing there looking at the welds. The guy who's putting 
this stuff up did the welds himself, and he's clearly comfortable with 
the bends and welds.  And, he's clearly comfortable accepting whatever 
risk is associated with that.  I wouldn't be so comfortable, but who am 
I to tell him whether he should do it or not.

I'm sure he's had plenty of folks tell him "are you crazy"