Sounds like a lot of Nervous Nellie knee knocking to me Tim. Caution within
reason is a good thing, understanding that all Rohn tower specs plus PLP and
other hardware providers are extremely conservative has to be considered
also. Going overboard with disaster predictions does nobody any good.
First of all Im only going to 90' of 25G where 3/16 is the Rohn spec and Im
going to 1/4". The tower will be lightly loaded, by my standards, and even
grips that are 2" shorter will have far more holding power than the tower
calls for. All my towers use Rohn guy brackets with torque arms, none of the
Hammy Hambone method of wrapping the guy around a tower leg.
The difference between properly tensioned 3/16 and 1/4" guys on 25 and 45G
is immediately felt as the tower is much more stable feeling with the
latter; especially when muscling around heavy stuff at the top and/or with 2
people.
My 180' 45G has been up since 1990 and the Rohn spec is still for 3/16. Im
using 1/4 with the guy anchors at the full Rohn spec distance. For added
safety I used the proper size guy clamp near the end of each grip as
recommended by a REAL tower professional who I used to assist on 300-600'
work. The tower also sits on a pier pin so the guys do all the work.
As you and many others know Im on top of the highest hill in 20+ miles and
subject to intense hill effect updraft winds plus numerous nor'easters,
micobursts, high speed T storms, Cat 1-2 hurricanes plus general unamed
coastal storms with hurricane class gusts. The ocean is 20-30 miles from
here over a wide azimuth and it is all downhill from here.
Im also known for exceeding Rohn loading specs as far back as the 60's. For
several years here the 180' had a 4/4 KLM 4el 40 plus 4/4/4/4 PV-4's (40'
booms) on 20. The only damage was keeping the top KLM from breaking element
to boom insulators. The pier pin and oversized 1/4 guys did exactly what I
intended. The 100' 25G was also overloaded with 10 and 15M stacks plus 2M
and 222MHz pairs of long booms. Those two towers also have 22' chrome moly
masts.
The above is Real World Testimonial.
Carl
KM1H
Be very careful with "real world" testimonials - giving advice to use
products for the wrong application is really dangerous. We are talking
about
serious tower projects that can turn fatal if you use the wrong equipment.
I
don't care how high the tower is. PLEASE USE THE RIGHT STUFF!
If anyone uses the wrong tower hardware and does not have problems or does
not get killed, I call that "luck". Do you want to bet your life on luck?
Use the EXACT product that is specifically designed for tower
applications.
Do not take short cuts! Pay attention to the tower, guy wire and antenna
manufactures instructions. Tower guy wires are special. Talk to a
professional mechanical engineer with tower engineering experience, he
will
tell you. There is a reason there are two different PLP products for two
very different applications.
Every year several Hams are killed in tower accidents because they took
short cuts, bad chances or tried to save money - or worst of all, they got
bad advice. What is your life or one of your friend's lives worth?
Have you ever gone to a funeral of a tower climber?
I have - and it changed my life forever.
PLEASE BE SAFE
73,
Tim K3LR
-----Original Message-----
From: Topband [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Cecil
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2014 10:44 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: Carl; [email protected]
Subject: Re: Topband: WTB: Guy wire stuff
Have been for the last 7 years...no issues at all. The tower products are
just an adaptation of products used in the power distribution business for
years. I work for an electric utility, one of the largest in the US.
I've
seen both products and see no difference in their design. The preformed
line products grips are used to guy transmission towers on a routine
basis.
We also use them to support fiber optic cables on distribution and
transmission structures.
I chose the PLP grips for my 65' tower...they were a good bit cheaper.
I also used screw down anchors for my guy points...the ones used in the
electrical distribution business. Bigger plates, galvanized instead of
painted and heavier duty....for less money.
But it is a personal choice....
Cecil
K5DL
Sent from my iPad
On Sep 4, 2014, at 3:13 PM, [email protected] wrote:
Hi Carl,
Preformed Line Products says: ""Guy-Grip Dead-ends are intended for
use on single wood poles associated with distribution construction."
If you examine the Rohn tower hardware catalog, they list only Big Grips,
never a mention of using wood pole Guy Grips on any of their towers
For a few dollars more you can use the BG-2144 Big Grip product
recommended by the manufacturer for use on towers.
Use Guy Grips for wood poles at your own risk...
73
Frank
W3LPL
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected], "Bill Wichers" <[email protected]>
Cc: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, September 4, 2014 7:14:00 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: WTB: Guy wire stuff
Not according to the folks that invented them Frank. The Big Grip is a
Guy
Grip for serious towers.
http://www.preformed.com/index.php%3Foption%3Dcom_phocadownload%26view%3Dcat
egory%26download%3D44:plp-commcatsec20-2012%26id%3D15:strand-and-cable-produ
cts%26Itemid%3D145&rct=j&frm=1&q=&esrc=s&sa=U&ei=nqoIVJWDDcmayAT5hoHQDA&ved=
0CBQQFjAA&sig2=1aPQDpfnvYFm8XWlxXxgjw&usg=AFQjCNEns72sjImeKDRibuLmm62WL9bSqA
The Preform name is often used as a noun by cable apes (-;
Carl
KM1H
----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: "Bill Wichers" <[email protected]>
Cc: "Carl" <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2014 1:40 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: WTB: Guy wire stuff
Tower guys should use Big Grips, not the performs used by electric
utilities. You can purchase Big Grips from Texas Towers and many other
suppliers
73
Frank
W3LPL
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Wichers <[email protected]>
To: Carl <[email protected]>, [email protected]
Sent: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 13:31:07 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Topband: WTB: Guy wire stuff
If you only need a few like this, try calling some of the utility
contractors in your area. They will always have the dead ends and the
guys
that also do the power work will also have the insulators. They will
probably be able to sell you a few without too much trouble.
BTW, the utility guys will usually call the "dead ends" "preforms"
(different industry, different terminology :-), but they are the same
thing. The telco/cable guys use 1/4" EHS strand for a support line for
their cables so they will always have hardware for that. The preforms
are
cheap enough from the crew's perspective that they are occasionally used
as temporary "twist ties" to hole up cable prior to lashing.
You can order the stuff from Graybar too (probably the telecom division,
but the power division can get stuff too), but I don't know about their
prices. I've only ever ordered by the carton at work.
-Bill
> What I need is:
>
> Up to 12 502 guy insulators
> Up to 18 1/4" deadends/guy grips
>
> Individually prices from dealers is ridiculous and I dont need case
loads as I
> bought when building the other 3 towers in 90-91 and wound up
giving
away
> what I didnt use.
>
> Any help appreciated.
>
> Carl
> KM1H
>
> _________________
> Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
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