Thank you Joe for your unsolicited candor.....

--

Charlie
Ham Radio - AD5TH
www.ad5th.com
Deep South 2 Meter SSB Net
www.deepsouthnet.net





"Joe S." wrote in message
...

"Charlie" wrote in message
...
Those trees have withstood every storm the past 30+ years.....

Any tower can be blown down no matter what ..just let mother nature have
her
way.

--

Charlie
Ham Radio - AD5TH
www.ad5th.com
Deep South 2 Meter SSB Net
www.deepsouthnet.net


No, any tower cannot blow down no matter what. A properly installed
tower,
installed to manufacturer's specs, will withstand at least the wind load
specified by the manufacturer.

In my initial reply in which I pointed out that the tower was guyed to one
or more trees, I was trying to be nice. Now that others have chimed in,
no
more nice guy.

That piece of **** will come down on your house, possibly on neighbors'
houses, and possibly on a power line. And when it does, this is a little
bit of what will happen:
-- your homeowner's insurance company will send out a tower engineer to
check the wreckage and will refuse to pay one penny.
-- your neighbors will sue for damages, their insurance companies will
send
out real tower engineers to inspect, and your homeowner's liability
insurance will not pay a penny.
-- the power company will send out their engineers and will charge you to
repair the damage to their lines and equipment.
-- you'll be damn lucky if no one is killed or injured when it comes down.
And if anyone is, you could be looking at jail time, depending on whether
or
not your local prosecuting attorney wants to be a badass.

Here is a short list of problems with your tower:
-- not installed any way close to manufacturer's specs
-- mixed parts of different towers; what the hell is a "Sears" tower?
Intended for TV antenna use? There is a BIG difference between real
towers
(Rohn) and make-believe towers.
-- base is a joke; a guyed 50-foot 25G requires 1.5 cubic yards of
concrete.
You are supporting 75 feet with less than a yard.
-- base is an even bigger joke when you consider that you used a homemade,
non-galvanized base plate welded to some odd pieces of pipe buried a
couple
of feet in the ground. Welds are not cleaned and galvanized -- they will
rust and break. Did you ever stop to think why tower parts are hot-dipped
galvanized?
-- guyed to trees. Problem is not that the trees will come down, problem
is
that in a big blow, the trees will sway one way, pulling the guy wires
with
them, while the tower is swaying in the other direction, thereby popping
the
guy wires.
-- guyed to power pole. Did you clear this with the local power company
first? When they discover what you have done to their pole, you'll need a
lawyer and a big bank account.
-- too close to house -- when that thing comes down, it'll take out a big
piece of house.
-- no thrust bearing so all the whipping around the mast will do will be
absorbed by the rotator. But that's okay, when the tower comes down you
can
replace the rotator by standing on the ground.
-- did you use high-tensile steel for the mast or another piece of Radio
Shack junk?

I'll look for you in QST -- Silent Keys in a couple of months.


--

-----
Joe S.





"Dave" wrote in message
...
they may be forgiven, but that won't keep a tower in the air nor make
it
safer to climb. those sins are things you should seriously look at
correcting as they all affect the strength and safety of your
investment
as well as anyone working on it or playing near it.

"Charlie" wrote in message
...
Thank you all very much for your kindness and courtesy in responding
to
my post.
Typically those that berate others have significant problems with self
esteem.

Oh..as for those "sins"...mine are already forgiven.
--

Charlie
Ham Radio - AD5TH
www.ad5th.com
Deep South 2 Meter SSB Net
www.deepsouthnet.net





"Joe S." wrote in message
...


"Charlie" wrote in message
...
75 ft guyed tower with 21 foot mast. 2M M2 HO LOOP antenna at 95
ft.
M2
2M9SSB beam antenna at 90 ft.
The difference from antennas at around 30 ft to the same antennas at
90-95
ft is astonishing. Anyone considering raising their antennas should
"just
do it"

1. http://deepsouthnet.net/tower.html

I am founder and net control for the Deep South 2 Meter SSB Net
located
in
Union,Mississippi. Come join us 7 nights a week at 8:30PM CDT on
144.240
MHz
USB. We have 10-15 or more check-ins nightly with 38 on our All
Time
Total
Roster and nearly 25 on our Active Roster! The net has grown
from
it's
first Roll Call on April 8,2005 at an amazing rate.

--

Charlie
Ham Radio - AD5TH
www.ad5th.com
Deep South 2 Meter SSB Net
www.deepsouthnet.net







Do I understand that the guy wires terminate to trees? Is that a
permanent
arrangement?

--

-----
Joe S.