To follow up on Jim's comments, K3LR tells me those towers were built pre-1950 ANSI standards. Tom/7 MT Sent from my iPad
-----Original Message----- From: Jim Weaver K8JE <K8JE@ARRL.org> To: 'Chris Imlay' <w3kd@aol.com>; 'arrl-odv' <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> Sent: Fri, Aug 6, 2010 4:56 pm Subject: RE: [arrl-odv:19253] Re: Date: Fri, 06 Aug 2010 09:03:18 -0400
Chris,
Excellent point for concern. I didn't include a comment that these towers were around 70 years old. Properly designed, built and maintained, this fact should have little if any difference in keeping them standing. Conversely, inadequately maintained could have resulted in them being weakened by corrosion. Incidentally, the WLW radio tower that handled the station's 500 kW transmissions and that was built in the 1030's still stand gloriously about 1 1/2 miles from my QTH. This tower literally rocks on a ball-to-ball pivot at its base and is held erect by several large guy wires. It truly is properly maintained.
From: Chris Imlay [mailto:w3kd@aol.com] Sent: Friday, August 06, 2010 9:04 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:19253] Re: Date: Fri, 06 Aug 2010 09:03:18 -0400
This makes me nervous, because a cornerstone of our argument about setbacks in antenna cases and ordinance negotiations are that towers typically fall within a narrow radius around the base of the tower; a small percentage of their height. These towers most certainly did not do that, but that may be due to the fact that it was a three-tower DA. Not sure.
And the towers were "windmill" type, too. Not a design that one would think would collapse near the base and fall laterally.