[TowerTalk] Guying mast above rotor

[w6rgs at cox.net]

Matt,
You didn't mention the height of your tower or if it is crank-up or 
guyed. If it's a crank-up, I'd just lower the tower when a storm is expected.
If the tower has no other guying, think about where your tower is 
going to be flexing during that hypothetical severe storm, while the 
mast is guyed and the base is in concrete.  While I don't have an 
engineering degree, I'm picturing the tower flexing in the 
middle.  Seems like the tower would fail in the middle.  I'd rather 
lose the antenna, instead of an expensive tower.  I'm sure there is 
someone with engineering experience here that can use facts instead 
of speculation.
Bill W6RGS

At 11:45 AM 2/12/2014, Matt wrote:
>I know the subject line sounds dumb,, but I have 15' of mast above 
>my tower and live in South Florida. Read on...
>Im thinking of putting a guy ring at about 12' above the top of the 
>tower, and, only in event of a severe storm, attach 3 guy wires, 
>which would be anchored in concrete, the cables sitting on the 
>ground, affixing them to the collar in event of storm.
>  I've also thought of having  short guy wires permanently mounted 
> on the guy ring collar, with the short guy cables running down the 
> mast to the top of the tower.  Then i could climb up and attach the 
> guy wires, if needed. No need for a bucket truck.
>I think this would provide additional survivability to the mast in heavy wind
>Any thoughts on this? Good idea, bad?
>
>Thanks/73
>Matt w1mbb