I bought a used TH354 as my first tower in 1967. This was one of a series of
guyed crankups that Tri-Ex made in the 60s and a little into the 1970s. The
series was the T, TH, H, and HS, in heights from 37 feet (-237) to 122 feet
(-7122). Each version used combinations of the same tower sections depending on
how tall and what section widths you wanted. I was in the tower business in
the early 1970s and saw a number of them. They were much cheaper than the self
supporting models. But not nearly as strong.
I would not consider the TH-xxx “heavy duty”. It’s good for a tribander and a 2
ele shorty forty. I had those on mine and it survived winds in the 60 – 70 mph
range. The good thing is that you can squeeze a Ham-M rotator inside the top
section. I’m not sure about a TailTwister because they did not exist at the
time and they are larger in diameter.
Biggest problem is that this series of towers do not have diagonal bracing.
This makes the tower especially sensitive to torque forces from unbalanced long
booms and rotational torque. Tri-Ex always recommended installing a torque arm
at the top of the tower to transfer twisting forces to the guy system.
The other problem is that these towers have one continuous lift cable. This
means that the upper sections lift first, and as each one gets fully extended
then the next lower section lifts. Just before you get to full height you have
all of the tower (less the bottom section” extended without guying. You just
don’t crank these up or down on a windy day. Tri-Ex did have a section locking
system that was available so you could lock the upper sections during the lift
and unlock each one using a pull cable at ground level. They were pretty rare
though.
As to the winch system, at first blush it sounds like it would work but you’d
have to be real careful. Get one guy too tight and the side and down forces go
up quickly.
Ken K6MR
From: Gary Schafer<mailto:garyschafer@largeriver.net>
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 10:11
To: 'Joel Wilson'<mailto:joel1847@msn.com>;
towertalk@contesting.com<mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Finally got my crank up tilt over
Do you mean an LM 354 rather than a TH 354?
If it is an LM 354 that is a self supporting tower and doesn't need to be
guyed with proper concrete base.
73
Gary K4FMX
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of
> Joel Wilson
> Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 10:42 AM
> To: towertalk@contesting.com
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Finally got my crank up tilt over
>
> Finally got my crank up tilt over tower. 54', 3 sections, guyed and
> fairly heavy duty. It's an old Tri Ex TH 354 which I can find very
> little info on. What I'm planning on doing is replacing the hand winch
> with an ATV winch with braking. Superwinch makes a 3000lb one.
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Superwinch-1130220-LT3000ATV-fairlead-
> handlebar/dp/B0034ZUZM6/ref=pd_sim_sbs_469_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=51GD794UKQL&dp
> Src=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=1BCD5F92M22MGCQCZ87E
>
> What I'm curious about is what about using ATV winches for the guy
> wires? I have a couple reasons for wanting this. I want to do some
> experiments with antenna height and I still need to guy the tower off
> but want to be able to guy it off fairly quickly. With the winches, I
> could run all the power leads to one spot and be able to put a level on
> the tower as I tighten the winches one by one being careful not to
> torque the whole thing down.
>
> If anyone has any tips I'm all ears and any info on this tower like wind
> loading would be most appreciated.
>
> Joel
> norcal
> kj6dif
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
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