[TowerTalk] Fwd: Attaching winch cable to Universal Tower

[Hans Hammarquist]

Hi Kirk,


First: I suggest you attach the lifting cable between the third and fourth section (22-TARP and 18-TARP). That will minimize the load on the top sections and at the same time give you a better attach angle on the lifting cable.


I am using a plate I custom made that fit between the sections. It has three holes, one for each leg. The legs of upper section fit rather precisely in the holes and at the same time the plate rest in the lower section. I attached the guy cables in other holes, drilled in the plate. That way the guying force is spread between the three legs.


I was told that you should never attach a guy or lifting cable directly to a leg as you may pull off the leg from the cross member, some not good. If you want to put a wire to the tower, wrap the wire to include the cross member.


If you check through the photos of my tower installations you find a photo of that plate:


https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150198503693539.328964.579753538&type=1&l=b4a8463457


I know it's not the cheapest way but I think it's one of the better.


Good luck,


Hans - N2JFS



-----Original Message-----
From: Kirk Kendrick <kmkendrick at gmail.com>
To: towertalk <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Sun, Dec 27, 2015 10:34 pm
Subject: [TowerTalk] Attaching winch cable to Universal Tower

To those of you who have used aluminum towers:

QUESTION:  What's the best method to attach a raising cable to an aluminum
tower?

I'm looking for ideas on how to attach a winch cable to raise and lower an
HD 21-50 Universal Tower with about 100# of antenna gear at the top.  I'm
worried that the forces during tilt up/down could damage or deform the
aluminum tower near the attachment point. Anyone have a design of an
attachment method/fixture that minimizes this risk?

I'm NOT looking for a "temporary" solution (that is, no "lifting straps"
that would deteriorate in the weather). The gin pole, winch, and cable will
remain attached so the tower can be lowered (by one person) whenever
needed. My hope is that the tower and raising fixture will be up for years
of service.

NOTE:  My plan is a raising fixture consisting of a 20' gin pole with back
stay, winch bolted to gin pole, cable from winch through pulley at top of
gin pole to an attachment point 20-25' up the tower.

I'm sure some of you have already solved this attachment issue...and can
share successes (& approaches to avoid)

Tnx in advance,
Kirk KK2Z
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