Hi Guys
I'm hoping to tap into your collective wisdom on this.
I am about to do major work on a tower system which consists of 45
foot free-standing commercial tower and KT34XA with a T2X rotor.
The tower itself is very rugged steel "angle-iron" about 3/8 in. thick
in 15 ft. sections. It was originally used in broadcast and has about
18in face. It is incredibly solid.
We have up to three additional sections which can be considered
spares.
These are the problems:
1. Rotor plate has rusted through and the antenna/rotor are now
turning freely in the wind with the top-plate of the tower taking the
weight... hoping that stays put!!!
2. The tower was originally installed using a base-plate and 4 1-inch
J-bolts sunk into the appropiate amount of concrete. This base-plate
has now become terribly rusted.
We are trying to take pre-emptive strike to "save" the system at
reasonable cost.
1. Should we plan to simply re-locate the entire system and rather
than using base-plate which we would have to have fabricated - should
we sink a spare section into the appropiate amount of concrete and use
that as a base?? Or is there some relatively cheap way to
re-habilitate the existing base??
2. Should the new rotor plate and top-plate be welded to the tower (as
it was before) or should we try some other way of repair (this might
mean drilling the tower).
3. What should be the thickness of these plates.
4. If we were going to use a 20ft mast, with the KT34XA mounted just 1
ft. above tower top, and mount 6m. and maybe warc 12/17m beams above
the KT34XA - is it reasonable to mount 8ft of mast within the tower
and mount the 12/17m beam 6ft above that and the 5 el. 6m. beam at the
top of the mast?
5. How can we best weatherproof the whole thing??
6. Should we consider investing in philly guys as added insurance??
7. Is it logical to replace the COAX cables and rotor control cable
(been up 15 years now) at this point or should either of them be OK?
8. Can the T2X handle this load -
KT34XA...
Force 12 EF606 - 6m 6el. yagi 2.5 sq. ft.
Force 12 WARC 2/2 12/17m yagi 3.1 sq. ft.
9. Is a brake delay useful addition and should we consider mounting
the rotor start capacitor on the tower?? Any advantages??
Thanks and promise to keep everyone uptodate on progress.
73, Dean - 8P6SH
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