I agree with Bill.
Guys are NOT intended to be used with self-supporting towers, but ...
can be used with much caution.
The reason the tower may 'sway' with winds after being up so long is,
as Bill notes, probably due to distortion of the bolt holes due to
stress.
You MUST re-tighten all the bolts AT LEAST ONCE per year! If you
haven't done that, those egg-shaped holes will cause you grief and the
tower will NOT stop swaying.
IF necessary, you might have to drill NEW holes in the legs to avoid
the egg-shaped bolt holes due to stress.
I suggest you first tighten all the bolts, bottom to top, and then
check the 'sway' to see if it has minimized. IF NOT, you may have to
take each bolt out and examine the bolt holes .. that's a lot of work,
but well worth the caution.
I have 4 Universal towers up now, and will put up 3 more soon.
73
Don
N8DE
Quoting Cqtestk4xs@aol.com:
> Two thoughts on that:
>
> 1. I think that violates the prime directive...not recommended by the
> manufacturer.
>
> 2. That constant movement back and forth eventually "eggs" out the
> openings where the tower flexes the most, causing further "egging"
> since more
> movement is allowed.
>
> This has been my experience with both Heights and Universal towers.
>
> By the way, I did guy an old Heights tower that was 64 feet with one set
> of 3/16 guys. Just be sure if you do this to put something between the guy
> grip and the tower (I used an old hose), otherwise galvanic action really
> tears up the aluminum.
>
> Bill K4XS/KH7XS
>
>
>
> In a message dated 11/18/2011 3:22:39 P.M. Greenwich Standard Time,
> w0jx@yahoo.com writes:
>
> Has anyone out there successfully guyed a Universal aluminum tower? My
> current configuration is 30 taper, 26 st, 26 taper, 22 st, 22 taper,
>
> 18 st, 18 taper, and 14 top. It has a huge monstrous concrete base. It is
> 80 feet total in height and nothing else in on the tower. I had a TH6 on it
> for 12 years with no problems but just replaced that with a TH-11 (a
> fantastic antennas BTW) which has a 12 sq. ft wind load,
> considerably more than
> the TH6. With high winds, it moves around quite a bit and I am
> uncomfortable with that. I am thinking of putting two sets of guys
> on it to stabilize
> the movement without shifting a lot of the load to the guys. The tower is
> protected in most directions by mature trees that are taller than the tower
> and that break the force of the wind quite a bit.
>
>
> I have seen these towers with a set of rope guys at the top to minimize
> the swaying but I think it was done without any real thought to it.
>
> 73, Dennis W0JX/8
> Milan, OH
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