Up till this year I’ve had a friend down the coast who had a tow truck come up
and lay the tower over for me when needed. He retired and sold the truck. So, a
friend in the Phoenix area gave me an old layover fixture (given to him) that
resembles both the HyGain and TRX-80 fixtures.
I had a local fleet rigging and welding shopup the coast refurbish and
strengthen the fixture. It looks very similar to the current TRX-80 which seems
to equipped with a Fulton K1550 winch and 1/4 in cable. My K1550 spare however
has a different mounting hole arrangement than that of the layover winch
mounting plate on my fixture (so I have two assumptions – the original winch
was not a K1550 or the fixture was an early HyGain - maybe an early TRX?), In
any case I’ve adapted of course.
Here comes the question. The original fixture had a single pulley. I had the
shop adapt it to accommodate two pulleys. Since the tower did not have a welded
bracket on it for attaching the cable I had the shop make a two pulley device
that is held by a 1/4 in cable around the outer tower at about the 8 foot level
which appears to be a height consistent with pictures I can find. I calculated
that I would need about 60 feet of cable with a double pulley system to do the
layover but before I cast this in stone I’d like someone to double check my
number.
Because of the lower beam boom length I plan to lay the tower over onto a
wooden X frame with a cross-piece at the top, placed far enough along so that
the boom of the bottom beam will clear the ground (did this with my Triex
WT-51). Then will use a short ladder to get to the mast and rotator etc. The
layover fixture for the WT-51 was a 15 foot piece of tubular steel put in the
concrete behind the tower. Single pulley and smaller cable since the tower and
antennas were less heavy.
I do have some pics of the fixture and maybe someone knows what it was.
Anyway, before I complete this effort (a long long way from anything or
anywhere so want to be sure I’ve thought everything thru!!). Any suggestions
welcome.
Don W7WLL
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