Hi Dave,

Thanks for the info. I am recycling a 50' TV mast, and now that you mentioned the idea of
using 3 guy wires, it explains to me why the guy wire rings that came with this old mast
have an extra hole on one side (they give you a total of 5 holes). They were providing the
option for either 3 or 4 guy wires. On many roof peaks they just tied it to the corners of
the building thus using a 4 wire system. Since I will be putting this up in the middle of a
field for one of 5 masts to hold a 540' skywire loop, maybe I will just go ahead and use
three guy wires like you suggest since it is out in the middle of the orchard and not on a
four cornered roof.

In any case, I was previously in error when I said the side of the square at the base of a
4 guy wire 50' tall system was 100'. I meant that the diagonal of the square was 100',
making the sides of the square, as was suggested earlier in the thread by Crazy George, a
bit under 71' (100 divided by the square root of 2 which is 1.4142... or 100 times .707...

For the 3 wire guy system, I will just wing it and anchor the 3 guys in optimum position
considering the position of existing trees in the orchard.

Bill K6TAJ

Dave Shrader wrote:

Bill, that's correct. But, most guying systems are only 3 wires on a 120
degree spread at 45 degrees from the anchor on the tower/mast. That
requires only 75 feet. A three wire system is a STABLE solution. A four
wire system is also a stable system.

BTW, I used to have a Rohn 25 system at 50 feet. Rohn recommended double
guying. First level at the 30 foot height. Second level just below the
rotator platform. Point I'm making is that one set of guys at the 50
foot level may not meet Zoning and Insurance safety requirements.

Deacon Dave, W1MCE

zeno wrote:

With four guys the distance between any two 180 degree opposing guys will be 100' at
the base level. That is why I said that four guys at 45 degree angle at the top of a
50' mast will make a square at the four anchor points and that square at the base
level is 100' on each side. I am thinking that 30 degrees at the top might be fine for
my project in which case a smaller square.

Bill - K6TAJ