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[Towertalk] Phillystran and cable clamps

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [Towertalk] Phillystran and cable clamps
From: Cqtestk4xs@aol.com (Cqtestk4xs@aol.com)
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 08:01:21 EDT
I believe the 1200 pound old style Phillystran was used for the truss guys on 
the KLM antennas.  However, they did not use guy grips or cable clamps...just 
a thimble and a cube about one inch square of a plastic-like material which 
might have been Lexan.  The cube had five holes in which the Philly was woven 
back and forth on itself.  This system works quite well for this application 
and I have never had a Phillystran failure on the trusses.

I have used the 1200 pound Philly for a different purpose and have used four 
cable clamps and a thimble for it.  The Philly is run between my towers and 
supports a variety of various loops for eighty meters.  At first when I 
tightened the clamps it seemed like it was going to squash the cable to 
nothing, so I loosened them up a bit and have been happy with the results.  
They have held up well with no failures for four years.

I would have used the cubes from KLM but they were out of business by that 
time.  I did manufacture some when I had some extra potting compound left 
over from some of the resin ends.  I put some of the resin into an old ice 
cube tray and wound up with half a dozen cubes.  When I get the time I'll 
drill holes in them to see if they can be used as the KLM lock cubes were.

By the way, the Philly used in all the applications above was the old style 
skinny Philly.

Bill K4XS

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