[TowerTalk] Tower maintenance person wanted - MN

[Alan Swinger]

Steve, all - Matt, KC1XX, and asst Andrew changed out my TX-472 MDP tower cables yesterday (Mon - 5/24)in a few hrs at a reasonable price here in Charlottesville, VA. I had the Cable kit from UST, but they came prepared in case I did not! Since I had the ant off the tower and it was horizontal, they were able to do quickly.
After finishing my tower, they did another larger tower that was vertical with ants on it . . . an still finished all OK on Mon.

I recommend Matt and XX Towers to anyone who needs cable work on a crankup! Good guys and a first rate operation.

Gud DX!
Alan K9MBQ 
-----Original Message-----
>From: Alan Swinger <awswinger at earthlink.net>
>Sent: May 15, 2016 2:34 PM
>To: K7LXC at aol.com, fred.hurd at cox.net, towertalk at contesting.com
>Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower maintenance person wanted - MN
>
>Steve - Response per your two bullets:
>- UST's tech did the cable/pulley replacement in 2010. I have all the replaced pulleys should I need them - they are all good per the tech who did the work. Cost for the job then was ~$2500 since the tech did another 4-5 jobs in the area and I got UST (Gary Smith - and/or bosses) to agree to spread the Tech's tvl costs. Latest est to send a tech here (no other jobs) to re-cable my twr is $7500!! I have the cable kit (($313)
>
>- I am with you on the Psych matter - more of a Driver for me than the physics/mechanics of the cables.
>
>- That said, I and all the rest of us who have US Towers and other crank-up towers need a qualified tech source to change out the Cables if and when they need it!
>
>Surely there is a company and/or group of persons out there that can do this work at a more reasonable cost than what I have been quoted by US Tower!!?
>
>Pls respond and 73,
>
>Alan Swinger K9MBQ
>Charlottesville, VA
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>>From: K7LXC--- via TowerTalk <towertalk at contesting.com>
>>Sent: May 15, 2016 12:46 PM
>>To: awswinger at earthlink.net, fred.hurd at cox.net, towertalk at contesting.com
>>Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower maintenance person wanted - MN
>>
>>>  - Cables last changed by a UST tech in 2010
>> 
>>    Which begs the question who did it and what  did it cost? 
>> 
>>>  - during 2014/2015 winter (~Dec 2014) cable at base of  tower jumped the 
>>pulley (I guess due to ice) when I was lowering the tower. So,  cable was 
>>riding on the Pulley axle until I could lower it to get at the  cable/Spring 
>>end. Used several cans of pre-lube during this lowering process.  Once down, 
>>I was able to Stop-off the cable and release the spring tension to  get the 
>>cable back onto the pulley. Checked for broken strands, and only found  one 
>>surface strand broken in the 8-10 ft of cable that underwent the sharp 
>>bend.  Otherwise, cables look good and tower works all OK.  
>>. . . thus my  concern, at least about the lower cable.
>> 
>>>  Comments?
>> 
>>    Industry standards are typically for wire rope in a  working 
>>environment where it might go thru dozens or hundreds of cycles a day.  Normal ham use 
>>is so intermittent that the cables don't get to work much, thus  my 
>>recommendation to exercise a crank-up occasionally so that it actually does  some 
>>work. 
>> 
>>    Your damaged spot was probably relatively small so  it probably wasn't 
>>fatal even in the long term. I'm not going to discourage  doing PM like this 
>>but sometimes it's more psychological help.
>> 
>>Cheers,
>>Steve    K7LXC
>>TOWER TECH 
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