In a message dated 7/3/2007 10:19:33 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
towertalk-request@contesting.com writes:
> I have the same combination: TX-455, 3-element SteppIR; also Ham-IV
rotator, a terminated inverted V (a few feet below the top) and a
half-sloper (at top of second section). I let the coaxes and control
cables simply drop through the cable guides. They need a little help in
laying out neatly while cranking down the tower.
> I do two extra steps: (1) I ran a strong #10 wire (Home Depot) down the
same guides and tape all the cables and wire together, (2) I have a 10"
dowel proped in the top guide (using a cross member larger than the coax
guide hole) and I tape the cables along the length of the dowel, with some
cable slack above the dowel. This reduces the strain at single cable points
at the top of the tower and prevents sharp bends at the top. Has worked OK
for several years.
> The #10 wire is attached to the tower at the top and bottom, on the theory
that the sliding joints and steel cables may not have the best connections.
Connections to what? Just curious.
> It may be unnecessary. It also provides additional support for the coaxes
and control cables. I tape them all together every 2' or so.
Umm, interesting. Glad it works for you. In all my years of tower work
and working on hundreds of ham stations and commercial sites and being a UST
authorized installer, I've never had an occasion to use dowels or a #10 wire
on the cables. Seems like a lot of redundant work to me. Just taping the
bundle together gives a bunch of stability to the bundle.
As long as you're happy with it and it doesn't cause any potential
problems, you're good to go.
Cheers,
Steve K7LXC
TOWER TECH
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