VK Logger Ham Radio Forum Archive

Hi All, I have a 2 section Hills Windup mast, I am trying to find the engineering details base and guying and guy points requirements.

Thank you Gary vk2kyp

Gary

Hope this helps Have other brochures if this isn't the one.

Thank you Scott.

I have a 13m version and have been looking for information for months. My next task is to engineer a post support mount to remove the need for guys.

Regards
Bernard

That would not be the best way forward - they are not designed to be mounted like a Nally - they are designed to be guyed - you can be sure it will all end in tears...

Trent is correct. They are a guyed tower... they stand a very strong chance of failing if not guyed. If you don't want a guyed tower find another tower.

Cheers


Richard
VK2AAH

well here goes . i hope this works as this is my first post...i have sucessfully turned a two section hills wind up tower into atilt over type just like a nally one. no guyes.useing a break winch for the tilt over section as nally does. i used ..150mm round tube 3 mtrs long for the support pole.. fabricated a new section that sits into the top ov the existing tower that takes rotator and bearing etc and send all away and got galvanised. and that should see me out..now to see if this goes grant

Over the years I have seen many of them fail and they were all guyed.

The clue is in the document Scott produced -

The max load at the top in a guyed installation is less than a Single TH3 - for Category One rating - they actually buckle in the middle of the section when the head wind load is too high.(even when guyed)

Good luck with your install Grant.

Hi Grant,

How are you ensuring that the top section doesn't exert pressure on the bottom section under wind load? The purpose of guying is to stiffen the tower to stop pressure being generated at the point where the sections overlap. If you get rid of that guy how is your approach addressing that? I'm very interested to understand this better...

By the way I had the 100ft version of one of these above my head for more than a decade at my office. It was guyed but not well maintained. It only had a very light load yet when we replaced it with a guyed butt section it was quite obviously buckled from incorrect tensioning of the guys. If a guy being over tensioned can buckle one over time I would be worried about what being unguyed & a decent antenna windload applied could do to one of these.

Cheers


Richard
VK2AAH

They would have had stacked CA16s on them back in the olden days. Along with 20 pink and grey galahs on each element. So must be reasonably well designed.

Thanks for the comments and information, all.

As I have the heavy base assembly my thought is to pivot from the base and stand a post beside the mast to hold it up. I can get an 8m long square tube so it could end up 5m up the mast and sit in a concrete base. A winch would lift from horizontal and the mast would be bolted to the post. I do not expect to raise the upper section much at all though I have pondered how to teather the upper section to the base section. I can not imagine it taking off in the wind mind you. I will also use a rotator cage and it will hold either a TET TE33 or a 6band hex beam.

It should be said that the mast has been sitting in the yard for 6 mths now...perhaps I need to get motivated.

Regards
Bernard