[UK-CONTEST] High Winds...Rope ?

[Don Beattie]

Adrian,

Bob Henderson wrote:

> I have used the same P80HD for 12 years now and it has always been heavily
> (over)loaded.  Currently it supports a F12 C31XR, a Cushcraft XM240, a 5 
> ele
> 6m yagi  and an 80m delta loop, all on a very heavy 20ft chrome molly 
> mast.
> All the above apart from the delta loop are rotated by an M2 Orion 
> rotator.
> I use 10mm polypropelene rope to add stability to the system, providing 
> the
> benefits detailed in 1 & 2 above.  If it looks like it's going to be
> dangerously windy I retract the tower to about 45-50ft.

This is almost exactly the strategy I use here (on a windy hilltop on 
Shropshire), although I can't claim to have quite the collection of hardware 
on top that Bob has.

Touch wood, everything has survived well. Key thing is to keep it generally 
at (in my case) 55-60 ft and when it is up athe full height, to keep a 
careful eye on the met office website - recently dramatically improved, 
incidentally - you can now get a forecast for 5 days for your postcode.

73

Don, G3BJ



> Hi all
> Well with the high winds we've been experiencing (my home WX Station tells
> me gusts up to 91MPH) I've been thinking about what type of rope I'll need
> to use to guy my towers.
> Steel or Stainless Steel would (I guess) be the strongest, but that has
> the problem of Resonance (unless of course you break up the lengths with
> insulators).
>
> Anyway, what suggestions does the list have for guy rope ?
>
> I have been looking at Phillystran, but wonder if a cheaper-just-as-good
> version exists in the UK ? If so who supplies it ?
>
> As my QTH is on an exposed hill, its been pointed out that my biggest
> problem will not be when the Towers are up or down. The problem will be
> getting them up or down in high winds.
>
> Adrian MW1LCR