On Tue, 16 Jan 2001 14:39:26 -0500 Bill Coleman <aa4lr@arrl.net> writes:
> On 1/15/01 4:43 PM, rmoodyg@juno.com at rmoodyg@juno.com wrote:
>
> >Seems to me that the gist of all this is that those of us who live
> in
> >Florida or
> >on the Gulf coast can't have an antenna larger than a rubber duckie
> on
> >top
> >of any reasonably tall tower.
>
> It has to be a really STOUT tall tower to support more than a rubber
>
> duckie. Some towers wouldn't even support themselves at 110 mph.
>
> > I see all these ads for towers with X
> >number
> >of square feet of antenna at 50 mph! What a joke.
>
> Absolutely. There's no where in the country that isn't at least 70
> mph.
> 50 mph capacities are meaningless. The reason these companies don't
> publish 70 mph figures is their antenna capacities would be
> embarrassingly small.
>
> So, instead, hams are encouraged to massively overload their towers.
>
> > My unguyed, house
> >bracketed, 40 foot Rohn 25 has been up for the last 20+ years. I
> don't
> >have a permit, (A bad idea, I agree) and it's made it through
> Andrew and
> >a couple of lesser hurricanes.
>
> So, when the tower DOES fail, even though you've been lucky for 20
> years,
> and does damage, are you SURE your insurance company will pay to fix
>
> everything?
What makes you think that the insurance companies will pay for everything
anyway??
They wouldn't pay to save a tree that was partially blown over in Andrew,
but
would pay to have it removed. I saved it at my own expense.
They don't hesitate to raise rates on us. They're the only business that
is
not allowed to lose money. Any other business can fail, declare
chapter 11 or 17 bankruptcy and no body will give 'em the time of day,
but
the insurance companies, who engage in legal wagering, can't lose a cent!
They bet you won't have a claim, and you bet you will.. try getting your
money
back from the croupier after you lose a wad at any casino.. Hah
Enough of the soapbox.
>
> >When I looked at the Rohn catalogue when I
> >bought the tower, I realized that getting it approved would be
> >impossible, so
> >I didn't try. What's a feller to do?? I sympathize with anyone
> trying
> >to put up
> >any kind of stick here or wherever the county wind figure is 110 or
> >higher.
>
> I sympathize, too. But you can do things. You can properly engineer
> your
> tower. You can put up a shorter tower than you thought. You can put
> up a
> much more robust tower than you thought.
>
> That's the one thing I realised after reading TowerTalk a couple of
> years. If you want to put a tower up right, it's going to cost you,
> but
> you'll end up with something that won't keep you awake on stormy
> nights.
>
I haven't tried to cut corners, I've done the best I could with what I
have.
The bracket is Rohn, not home brew, and it's mounted to the concrete
and steel tiebeam required on all CBS construction homes in south
Florida. That in turn is tied to the concrete and steel footing via
concrete and steel columns at the corners and spaced along any
long wall. There is 30 feet of tower unguyed above the bracket as
shown in the Rohn catalogue, and the concrete base has a half
section of 25 imbeded in it also per the drawings by Rohn. Andrew
tried to push it down. He bent the bracket and left the tower about 6"
out of plumb (at 40 ft.).. I replaced the bracket with a new one and
pulled
the tower plumb and inspected every inch of it. During a hurricane I
worry less about the tower than I do about my roof. Lightning has
been more of a problem, but after two direct hits, I've managed to put
down an adequate ground system (another story).
Thanks for the comments all..
73
Gil, W4PJI
>
>
>
> Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr@arrl.net
> Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
> -- Wilbur Wright, 1901
>
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