[TowerTalk] Question on R-TA-45 Torque Bracket

[Steve Maki]

All great points. A tall skinny tower with slip rings, with many large 
antennas, in a high wind area, is a temporary setup IMO.

-Steve K8LX

On 06/15/19 20:32 PM, Steve Bookout wrote:

> Hello all,
> 
> Couple of comments on K4JA's tower failure.
> 
> The lower half of the tower was shielded from some of the wind by way of 
> tall trees at the edge of the field, where the woods started.  The upper 
> half went way above the trees and took the full force of the wind.
> 
> Also, his stuff was fully rotating from the base up to the top, with 
> slip rings at the guy points.  Because of this, the guys really had 
> nothing to do with limiting the twisting of the tower. It just twisted 
> as it wanted all the way from the ground to the top.

>> I would not put more on a tower than Rohn's wind load ratings allow 
>> just because a torque guy is used. A 6 way star guy does a great job 
>> of minimizing twisting.  There is more leg compression since there are 
>> more guys wires however a Rohn 45 is designed to go 300' high and the 
>> tower in the post is only 110'. I believe that twisting can cause 
>> tower failure, K4JA's tower twisted back and forth in hurricane winds 
>> until it failed. Adding a star guy is probably a good thing if the 
>> antenna has a long boom. I use star guys and a taper pier pin base on 
>> all of my towers.
>>
>> John KK9A