[AMRadio] New Tower

[Robert Nickels]

On 4/29/2011 10:08 AM, Rick wrote:
>   how far above do I put the pulleys without endangering the integrity of the tower?
Rick, not to be a wet blanket, but there are smart guys who've done lots 
of tower work by the book, and there's lots of hams who've gotten away 
with things.  The guys on the Tower Talk reflector will tell you about 
the "prime directive" which has two parts::

1)  Always do what the tower manufacturer says to do
2)  Never do things the manufacturer doesn't say to do

What you're describing violates the "prime directive" on both counts.  
Can you get away with it?  You'll have to answer that, but the right way 
to tilt over a Rohn 25 is with their tilt-over kit that mounts hallfway 
up the tower and has been engineered to handle the stresses involved.  
I've got one on my 58 footer and while it works fine, it's still high 
pucker factor even when only half the tower plus a 3 element SteppIR 
beam is being raised.

73, Bob W9RAN