[TowerTalk] COAX on CRANKUP-how to hang

[kr2q at optimum.net]

Larry:

Interesting.  Thanks for adding your perspective.

I would never raise/lower the tower remotely.  I would not be so concerned about coax as I would be about kids (mine are grown, but you never know who from the neighborhood is going to explore).

de Doug KR2Q

----- Original Message -----
From: Larry Loen 
Date: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 12:55 pm
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] COAX on CRANKUP-how to hang
To: kr2q at optimum.net
Cc: TowerTalk 

> I use standoffs and, at least in the Sonoran dessert, they are 
> at least
> "useful" if not "necessary".
> 
> Since I usually bring my tower down "a ways" from the top when 
> not there,
> there's slack cable around. At least twice I've had the looser 
> coax be
> blown all over the tower base and (had I raised the tower from 
> the shack)
> it would have badly snagged on something.
> 
> For me, in the winds I've so far seen at lowering events, it 
> seems to help
> keep the coax in place.
> 
> In fact, I'm trying to dream up another standoff loop about 10 
> feet up the
> tower, which probably stops the snagging at the base from 
> happening. I
> only need to get a decent design that doesn't do more harm than good.
> 
> I do let the the coax dangle down within the standoffs, and I 
> also took
> some care at the top to have some strain relief where the cables 
> make the
> bend before what would be, at max extension, a 72 foot drop. An 
> ordinary,heavy duty "right bracket" did the trick. I simply 
> attached the cables to
> the right angle and the "top" of the angle is pinned, along with 
> the coax,
> to the standoff arm. Hopefully, that will keep the coax from 
> flexing too
> much at the top or having a tightening bend that could move the center
> conductor in the teflon over time.
> 
> The remote head probably is a waste of money overall. It might 
> be useful
> for lowing the antenna for an approaching thunderstorm when you 
> don't want
> to stand next to your lightening rod. But, yeah, for sure when 
> raising it,
> you want to be next to the tower. I kept the coax from snagging and
> breaking at least once.
> 
> 
> Larry WO7R
> 
> 
> On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 4:39 AM, wrote:
> 
> > I have owned crank-up towers for close to 40 years...in 
> multiple locations
> > and using
> > multiple types of crankup towers (Heights, Hy-Gain, US Tower). 
> I still
> > own 2 crank-ups.
> >
> > In all cases, I just let the coax and rotor cable "hang down" 
> right along
> > side of the tower.
> >
> > I never used standoffs or coax arms. Not sure why they are 
> necessary.>
> > Nothing ever got tangled or "hung up" in the tower. I think 
> that would be
> > really difficult to do.
> > I mean, why would coax (eg, RG8 type) want to or be able to 
> "decide" to
> > bend and enter into
> > the tower lattice? It is already handing from the very top to 
> the very
> > bottom. For me, it would
> > take an extraordinary act of nature to "convince" the coax to defy
> > gravity, bend into a small
> > loop, and "enter" the tower lattice.
> >
> > de Doug KR2Q
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> >
> >
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> >
>