"Jerry Stuckle" wrote in message
...
On 10/13/2014 10:12 AM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
"Lostgallifreyan" wrote in message
Rohn towers specifies about 10 % for their guy cables. That is for the
4000
breaking of 3/16 cable they recommend 400 pounds of tension on the guy
cables.


That is STATIC tension - that is, when no wind is blowing. Tension
increases significantly when there is a wind. Rohn tower specs are
designed to withstand winds of 85mph, IIRC (I last did commercial tower
work in 1972 or so, so I don't remember the exact specs). At that wind
they have maybe a 50% safety margin. Still significant for new cable,
but when your guys are 25 years old, the tower should still withstand
that wind.

And yes, some of the towers I put up over 40 years ago are still
standing. But I'm sure they've had some maintenance since that time.


Yes, static tension. I was thinking along the same line for the wire
antenna. YOu only want to put a fraction of the breaking tension on the
wire to allow for the wind and if on a swaying support like a tree.

Rohn 25g is specified for several differant wind speeds. Probably with
difffrant ammounts of antenna surface area. Sometimes either more or larger
guy wires are used.
I put a 60 foot tower up for myself about 10 years ago and it is still up.
Don't think we had any 75 mph winds, but could have during the gusts. I
tried to meet their specs or beter when I put it up. I know a couple of
local hams that over the years did not put them up to what I would have
thought was to specs and then came down.



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On 10/13/2014 10:42 AM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
"Jerry Stuckle" wrote in message
...
On 10/13/2014 10:12 AM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
"Lostgallifreyan" wrote in message
Rohn towers specifies about 10 % for their guy cables. That is for the
4000
breaking of 3/16 cable they recommend 400 pounds of tension on the guy
cables.


That is STATIC tension - that is, when no wind is blowing. Tension
increases significantly when there is a wind. Rohn tower specs are
designed to withstand winds of 85mph, IIRC (I last did commercial tower
work in 1972 or so, so I don't remember the exact specs). At that wind
they have maybe a 50% safety margin. Still significant for new cable,
but when your guys are 25 years old, the tower should still withstand
that wind.

And yes, some of the towers I put up over 40 years ago are still
standing. But I'm sure they've had some maintenance since that time.


Yes, static tension. I was thinking along the same line for the wire
antenna. YOu only want to put a fraction of the breaking tension on the
wire to allow for the wind and if on a swaying support like a tree.

Rohn 25g is specified for several differant wind speeds. Probably with
difffrant ammounts of antenna surface area. Sometimes either more or larger
guy wires are used.
I put a 60 foot tower up for myself about 10 years ago and it is still up.
Don't think we had any 75 mph winds, but could have during the gusts. I
tried to meet their specs or beter when I put it up. I know a couple of
local hams that over the years did not put them up to what I would have
thought was to specs and then came down.



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When I was doing it, we were putting up 150' towers. These towers were
guyed eery 35'. The biggest job was the concrete for the baseplate and
anchors - it would take use 2-3 days to dig those, depending on how hard
the ground was. But once those were in, it took us two days to put up
the tower, install the antenna (typically VHF Hi-band; this was the
early 70's, after all) and run the coax.

These towers were typically on high hills, often leased land from a
farmer. In Iowa, it's not at all unusual to get 75mph winds in the
summer thunderstorms on top of the hills. But they stayed up.

I was smart and got out of it in one piece. The first guy I worked for
fell from 60' up and broke his back on a guy wire. He was paralyzed
from the waist down. The second guy I worked for was working on a
platform at 425' and got pulled over the side while trying to lower a
beacon light (those things are heavy). Unfortunately, that day his wife
was the ground crew.

I enjoyed the work - you can't imagine the view from 1800' up a TV
tower. But I'm glad I'm not doing it any more.

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Jerry Stuckle wrote in news:m1gumv$73s$1@dont-
email.me:

I enjoyed the work - you can't imagine the view from 1800' up a TV
tower. But I'm glad I'm not doing it any more.


I doubt I could cope with that much risk of vertigo (occasionally I sufer the
real, medical thing, just waking up in the morning, but it's still rare enouh
that I prefer not to know more about why). I did see a video once though, I
saved it somewhere. Extremely interesting, as well as having a chance to see
so much of the climb in detail. I suspect you or someone here might even know
who made it.

On 10/13/2014 1:06 PM, Lostgallifreyan wrote:
Jerry Stuckle wrote in news:m1gumv$73s$1@dont-
email.me:

I enjoyed the work - you can't imagine the view from 1800' up a TV
tower. But I'm glad I'm not doing it any more.


I doubt I could cope with that much risk of vertigo (occasionally I sufer the
real, medical thing, just waking up in the morning, but it's still rare enouh
that I prefer not to know more about why). I did see a video once though, I
saved it somewhere. Extremely interesting, as well as having a chance to see
so much of the climb in detail. I suspect you or someone here might even know
who made it.


It was not I, and almost assuredly no on I know. The ones I knew back
then got out of the business - one way or the other.

I did see a video about a couple of guys free climbing an television
antenna about 2K feet in the air. I lost count how many safety
practices they violated. If OSHA had seen them doing that, they would
have been grounded big time. The fines would have probably put the
company out of business.

--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry, AI0K

==================

"Jerry Stuckle" wrote in message
...
On 10/13/2014 1:06 PM, Lostgallifreyan wrote:
I did see a video about a couple of guys free climbing an television
antenna about 2K feet in the air. I lost count how many safety
practices they violated. If OSHA had seen them doing that, they would
have been grounded big time. The fines would have probably put the
company out of business.


I saw that video also. Don't think I would have been up there like that.

Saw another with a man and woman on the tower all dressed up for a formal
diner and singing a song.

Most I have climbed was 100 ft of Rohn 25. I did climb some silos at work
that were about 130 feet up. Just a ladder up the side, but they did have a
stepoff offset platform about every 30 feet.



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"Ralph Mowery" wrote in
:

Saw another with a man and woman on the tower all dressed up for a formal
diner and singing a song.


Whatever I saw, it wasn't that. Ò^O

"Ralph Mowery" wrote in
:

Most I have climbed was 100 ft of Rohn 25. I did climb some silos at
work that were about 130 feet up. Just a ladder up the side, but they
did have a stepoff offset platform about every 30 feet.



Axtually that I could cope with. I know what I said before about vertigo, but
I have crewed on a tall ship, and I got by despite hanging over the Irish Sea
in awkward coircumstances at about 60 foot up for a while, watching the sheet
I'd managed to drop as it swept through the racing water below.. I just tend
to freeze for a moment if overwhelmed by the insecurity of it. At moments
like those I think the best thing is being able to trust the other people
you're with. I'll never forget Charlie the cook on the Jean de la Lune.

Jerry Stuckle wrote in news:m1h7sm$9bc$1@dont-
email.me:

I did see a video about a couple of guys free climbing an television
antenna about 2K feet in the air. I lost count how many safety
practices they violated. If OSHA had seen them doing that, they would
have been grounded big time. The fines would have probably put the
company out of business.


I can't find it to check, but I do remember it being very up-front about who
and where they were, and it was connected to soem company. The one I had was
probably kosher enough, if was effectively a promotional video, because
other, as you say, the effect would have been dramatically unwanted for them.
I could be wrong, but I won't know till I find it, and I have no idea where I
stowed it yet..

On 10/13/2014 4:56 PM, Lostgallifreyan wrote:
Jerry Stuckle wrote in news:m1h7sm$9bc$1@dont-
email.me:

I did see a video about a couple of guys free climbing an television
antenna about 2K feet in the air. I lost count how many safety
practices they violated. If OSHA had seen them doing that, they would
have been grounded big time. The fines would have probably put the
company out of business.


I can't find it to check, but I do remember it being very up-front about who
and where they were, and it was connected to soem company. The one I had was
probably kosher enough, if was effectively a promotional video, because
other, as you say, the effect would have been dramatically unwanted for them.
I could be wrong, but I won't know till I find it, and I have no idea where I
stowed it yet..


I don't know where it is, either - I never saved it. But AFAIK, OSHA
won't take action based on a youtube video - they want to see it
occurring.

I could be wrong, though. However, since I don't know what the company
was, there is no reasonable way to check the OSHA records (they are public).


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Remove the "x" from my email address
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On Mon, 13 Oct 2014 17:01:10 -0400, Jerry Stuckle wrote:


I don't know where it is, either - I never saved it. But AFAIK, OSHA
won't take action based on a youtube video - they want to see it
occurring.

I could be wrong, though. However, since I don't know what the company
was, there is no reasonable way to check the OSHA records (they are
public).

Was it this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbEqnLjHyf8