I'm a couple hundred feet from the ocean in an area where there is almost
constant onshore airflow carrying salt.
The bee's wax on the crankup inner tower where the sections rub when
extending and lowering is a great idea and is durable plus water resistant.
I have been using paraffin but whatever is used, it is a good idea.
As to tower cables failing, in my 54 years of hamming, I have never heard
first hand from anyone that has had cable failure although I am sure this
has occurred, certainly there are enough stories floating around. I have to
imagine that the majority of cases was because of poor maintenance
procedures, pushing a reasonable replacement time limit, or undersized or
poor quality cable or improper eye swaging.
As to the cable 'slipping' from the pulleys, I have a hard time imagining
this if the pulley's are of the proper size for the cable. Vertical forces,
up or down, should keep the cable nested in a proper pulley size. Not using
a lube because the cable might slip off just does not make sense.
The commercial cable riggers I've talked to all feel that using properly
weight sized (including pull tensions) galvanized high quality cable
intended for COMMERCIAL operations should last for years if properly
maintained, but that pulley maintenance is also important. The riggers tell
me (but not unanimously) that the weak point is the swaged ends, that
improper swaging causing cable slipping or breaking is what they see more
often contributing to cable failure, not mid-cable breakage. All agree that
cables should be rigidly inspected and replaced on some periodic basis. I
would tend to put much faith in "commercial cable riggers speak' as in some
cases life can be at stake or a commercial fisherman/crabber or logger could
be put out of business.
Again, just another opinion. Inspect and maintain.
Don W7WLL
PS: IF ANYONE OUT THERE ALSO HAS A HYGAIN HG-70HD I'D LIKE TO TALK WITH THEM
OFFLINE. CONTACT ME AT W7WLL@ARRL.NET.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dale M" <dmess4391@verizon.net>
To: "Tower and HF antenna construction topics." <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 6:33 AM
Subject: [TowerTalk] lube on cables
This is the answer I got from UST when I asked about lube on the cables on a
TX-455 that I bought used.
We actually don't recommend putting anything on the cables at all. It can
make them slip from the pulley's on the tower. We recommend changing the
cable's every 3-4 years depending on the area you live in. You can use
bee's wax on the tower to help the tower extend and retract cleaner.
Dale K8NKE
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|