[TowerTalk] guy posts math

[Kelly Taylor]

I’m pretty sure the 20-foot utility poles in many neighborhoods are not 80 feet long. (Three feet down for every one foot up would be 60 feet buried and 20 feet in the air.)

I could see 20/3 (6.66 feet) as the required depth but not 3/20.

That being said, even if Lee did get the correct formulas, is he the best person to ascertain the variables that need to go into them? Certainly some of the variables can simply be taken as fact (wind speed rating, weight of tower, weight of antennas, total windload, etc.). But the one that is perhaps most critical requires testing and experience: soil quality. 

All of this is weighed against risk: if the tower is in the middle of nowhere and isn’t going to hit anybody or anything on the way down, your risk is considerably less than if something valuable lies within the fall radius.

If it’s the latter, then you need to consider at least the minimum of what your insurance company would demand as an acceptable manner of mitigating risk. I wouldn’t be surprised if the insurer’s response to a claim isn’t “Show me the wet-stamp…”

73, kelly
ve4xt 

> On Jul 19, 2015, at 11:11 AM, Bill Aycock <baycock at mediacombb.net> wrote:
> 
> Lee-
> Don't be so touchy; The first sentence of Bills post was the only answer you need.
> There is NO "Formula" for designing an elevated guy post; it involves too many variables and options. Because there are many options, a trained, experienced specialist is required.
> BTW- Your "Rule of thumb" for wooden poles seems to be inverted, to me.  Can you tell me where you found that?
> Bill--W4BSG
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: ak4qa
> Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2015 4:33 PM
> To: Cqtestk4xs at aol.com
> Cc: TOWERTALK at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] guy posts math
> 
> 
> If you read my message, the formula that I am asking for includes those variables.
> 
> Not trying to be snarky but I am a engineer, just not a structural engineer.
> 
> You may have just been trying to be helpful and the texting may have not communicated that. However your response seemed a bit condescending.
> 
> I am fully aware of railroad rails being used but I do not want to make a educated guess.
> 
> Again, let me reiterate looking for the 'formula' so no guess work is involved.
> 
> 73,
> Lee
> AK4QA
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device
> 
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Cqtestk4xs at aol.com
> Date:07/16/2015  2:41 PM  (GMT-06:00)
> To: ak4qa at msn.com
> Cc: TOWERTALK at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] guy posts math
> 
> Suggest you contact an engineer.  Wood is a far different material than whatever you are using.  Variables include:  diameter of the pipe, thickness of the wall, whether the interior is filled with concrete and rebar. Anything you might come up on your own is an educated guess at best .  I'm not a big fan of guessing on a 100 ft tower.
> 
> Some guys use a steel girder as the post.
> 
> Bill K4XS/KH7XS
> 
> In a message dated 7/16/2015 7:24:58 P.M. Coordinated Universal Time, ak4qa at msn.com writes:
> Does anyone have a the formula for guy posts?
> I have a friend that wants tall guy posts (7 feet) for a 100 foot tower so he can walk under them.  I need to show him the stress that is involved in that as opposed to 2 feet out of the ground.
> I've always used the wooden pole rule of thumb; for every foot up you need 3 feet down.
> Also, if you have the calculation for    the back guy (i.e. earth screws) well my friends, that would be gravy on my biscuit!
> All the best and
> 73,LeeAK4QA
> 
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