[UK-CONTEST] Mastrant ropes - Caution?

[Roger Cooke]

Hi Keith.

  I used to have wire guys broken up with insulators here on my 120ft tower, but I
changed to Phyllistran a couple of years ago for the top two sets of guys. The bottom
set are still the original wire guys from 28 years ago. They are greased every few years
and the tower was up and guyed with a 20m monobander topped with a 15/10m trapped
yagi in the hurricane. Nothing happened at that time so was quite pleased. The disadvantage
of the wire guys is the mess! Yuk!
  I see Nevada have stopped stocking Phyllistran now and just wondered if anybody knew
why? Having these on my top two sets of guys I am concerned.......
  A local had that blue poly rope on his P60 and that came down earlier this year.  I have just
bought some 12mm polysteel off Ebay for my two 80ft towers so hope they will be OK. 
Mastrant seem fine for halyards but not sure I would use it for guys.


 


Regards from Roger, G3LDI
Swardeston, Norfolk.




>________________________________
> From: Clive GM3POI <gm3poi2 at btinternet.com>
>To: "'Kerr, Prof.  K.M.'" <k.kerr at abdn.ac.uk>; uk-contest at contesting.com 
>Sent: Wednesday, 26 September 2012, 9:01
>Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] Mastrant ropes - Caution?
> 
>16mm Parafil is what my top guys are Keith. But keep in mind if the top guys
>survive then the crank up cables may be the next weak point in the chain.
>Having had 8mm crank up cables tear apart I now use 11mm.
>Good luck Clive GM3POI
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: UK-Contest [mailto:uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
>Kerr, Prof. K.M.
>Sent: 26 September 2012 08:17
>To: 'uk-contest at contesting.com'
>Subject: [UK-CONTEST] Mastrant ropes - Caution?
>
>It is only right to follow-up on earlier postings about my pursuit of a
>non-conductive guy rope solution over the summer.
>At the first serious test (and it was serious) I am afraid the Mastrant rope
>does not seem to be up to snuff. This is at least my initial impression.
>I think Don G3BJ asked a pertinent question at one point in our exchanges,
>regarding the performance of this rope under impulsive stresses such as wind
>gusts.
>Sad to say, I think the conclusion may be 'not good enough'. I got home last
>night to find the top section of the P80 guyed with the Mastrant rope (D12)
>bent right over and the yagi on top completely trashed. I have not had the
>chance to examine the damage in detail but it seems the top guy in the
>prevailing wind direction 'failed'. The turnbuckles, U bolts etc seem OK so
>I suspect the rope stretched to a point where it was serving no useful
>purpose.
>Difficult to be sure but my confidence in this stuff is now zero! I
>genuinely believe that the installation was otherwise well enough designed
>and assembled (but then I would say that, wouldn't I!)
>
>Keith GM4YXI/GM5X
>
>
>
>
>
>
>The University of Aberdeen is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013683.
>_______________________________________________
>UK-Contest mailing list
>UK-Contest at contesting.com
>http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>
>
>
>
>=======
>Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found.
>(Email Guard: 9.0.0.2308, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.20670)
>http://www.pctools.com/
>=======
>
>
>
>
>
>=======
>Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found.
>(Email Guard: 9.0.0.2308, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.20680)
>http://www.pctools.com/
>=======
>_______________________________________________
>UK-Contest mailing list
>UK-Contest at contesting.com
>http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>
>
>