[TowerTalk] EF420/240

[Jim Thomson]

Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2014 11:05:13 -0600
From: "James C. Hall, MD" <heartdoc at nwtcc.com>
To: "'Dan Hearn'" <n5ardxcc at gmail.com>, "'towertalk reflector'"
<TowerTalk at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] EF420/240

####   After some extremely violent winds and snow storms recently the beam OVERHEAD TRUSS  GUY has
apparently come loose from the ATTACHMENT TO THE MAST  and now is lying
across the elements and boom. The beam, of course, is flopping around.

##  He means the mickey mouse F12 boom truss setup.....where it U bolts to the mast.   IMO,
it’s Fubar engineering.   What it does allow for however, is for the boom truss to be one continuous length. 
That makes it easier to mount at the CG.  You are better off to use a DX engineering  truss plate..with the offset
built into the plate.   Plate is U bolted to mast.   Cut the steel truss in the middle and install nicropress crimps.
Then use a DX eng turnbuckle on each side of mast.  Heavy ga wire is fed through the center of the turnbuckle...so it
can not move after it has been tweaked.  

##  If the boom is flopping all over the place with no truss line... IMO, the boom is not strong enough to begin with. 
The truss wont add any horizontal support..... only eliminate  vert sag.   Even if a short 6 foot cross boom was mounted to the
mast, with TWO truss lines on either side of the mast,  it still wont provide any additional  Horz support. 

Jim   VE7RF








OK, looking back at this, I mistakenly thought you were referring to the
linear loading wires. My mistake. 

Is this the boom truss lines, or the 40M element LL wires that also act to
truss the elements ?

73, Jamie
WB4YDL

-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Dan
Hearn
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2014 1:23 PM
To: towertalk reflector
Subject: [TowerTalk] EF420/240

I have one of these beams installed about 12 years ago. After some extremely
violent winds and snow storms recently the beam overhead truss guy has
apparently come loose from the attachment to the mast and now is lying
across the elements and boom. The beam, of course, is flopping around.
  I seem to remember some sort of threaded J hook attached to the mast but
need more information to build a replacement  for repair when the storms
abate. Can someone give me a verbal description of the attachment device or
maybe a copy of the manual page if it shows the device?

73, Dan, N5AR
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