[TowerTalk] My first tower section is not plumb...

[Jim Brown]

Doug,

I agree with all of the advice quoted below.  My two towers both have 
the bottom section in the concrete pour, and were plumbed simply using a 
standard bubble level, with the bottom section temporarily guyed during 
the pour. Once built, guys were tensioned using a Loos gauge, and are 
periodically (every few years) using that Loos gauge. During the initial 
build, tensions were adjusted so that there was no visible wiggle. The 
tallest of my towers is 120 ft of Rohn 25, with guys at 30, 60, 90, and 
120 ft. The shorter one is 45 ft of "Rohn 35" (really a private-labeled 
wider-gauge tower that's between 25 and 45 in spacing and construction, 
specified by Motorola for 2-way installations). The shorter tower is 
unguyed, and sits on a LOT of concrete.

73, Jim K9YC

On Fri,2/12/2016 4:19 AM, Stan Stockton wrote:
> Doug,
>
> What Ed and Ron said is ABSOLUTELY the best advice... but you had already gotten that advice and decided you wanted perfect.
>
> None of us have seen your tower so we don't know what it looks like.  We do have your measurement from your plumb bob and several of us believe you simply do not have a problem.
>
> If a knowledgable person can walk up, take a look at your tower and quickly tell you that it is not vertical, I might fix it.  If it is clearly and visually so out of plumb that you are embarrassed by it, I would fix it.  If you have to use levels and plumb bobs and spend ten minutes evaluating whether your tower is vertical, you don't have a problem.  You may have other problems but your tower not being straight enough isn't on the list.
>
> 73... Stan, K5GO
>
>> On Feb 12, 2016, at 5:20 AM, Ed Sawyer <sawyered at earthlink.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> "His tower is only out 1.5 inches at 20 feet which would be 3.0 inches at 40
>> feet his final height. I think he should put guy lines on it, go to 40 feet,
>> make sure the tower is straight (even at an 3" angle) then put an antenna on
>> top,  go inside and work a contest."
>>
>> Ron W8RJL
>>
>> I agree with Ron.  Define straight.  I looked into this back when my first
>> tower went up here and I saw that the tower was out of plumb about 3 inches
>> at its 70ft total height.  (my second one here is about 1 - 1.5 inch at 70
>> ft).  I found in research that perfectly plumb was neither easily achievable
>> nor necessary for a guyed tower.  It seemed that a few inches (maybe up to 5
>> inch for a 100 foot tower) was considered "acceptable".  So I decided to
>> just tension the 2 guys pulling in the favorable direction to compensate the
>> slight lean heavier than the 3rd one.  With a couple of beers - it sure
>> looks straight to me..
>>
>> That tower is rock solid with a 4 el 20M monobander stacked over a 15M
>> monobander (36 and 45 ft booms).  Up for 10 years now and the more I look at
>> it the straighter it gets.
>>
>> 73  Ed  N1UR
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> TowerTalk mailing list
>> TowerTalk at contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>