Collapsed Tower

[HUGH]

In mid-Wales the remains of the tower with various antennas, some commercial for the local water company and 3 for the 6m, 2m and 70cm repeaters. After the last (third) winter storm it collapsed entirely. GB3ZW, GB3PW and GB3CW are back in business with a 10m pole on the equipment hut. They cover a very wide hilly area.

17920 17921 17922

[NQ6U]

It’s interesting to see how little material it takes to build a tower that tall. That’s a surprisingly small debris pile.

[HUGH]

There were 6 stainless steel guy ropes and the entire had been up for nearly 4 decades. Perhaps that was the problem. I expect the owner could claim on the insurance, including the fence which needed replacing anyway. It proves the severity of the storms especially 3 in a row.

[PA5COR]

Stainless steel depending on what quality, 304 or 316 gets brittle over time.
STill sad to see though hope the insurance pays out ;)

[NQ6U]

Stainless steel depending on what quality, 304 or 316 gets brittle over time.

I can attest to that. This picture is of the chainplate for my starboard forward lower shroud that snapped one day when I was sailing in only moderate winds. It sounded like a gunshot. Hydrogen embrittlement and crevice corrosion was the cause.

https://i.imgur.com/uJ3R0K4.png

(A chainplate is the thing that connects the cables that hold up the mast to the hull of the boat. I was lucky it was only a lower shroud; if it had been one of the two upper shrouds my boat could have been dismasted)

[N8YX]

I'm going to be putting up a couple in the next few years. 70' of Rohn 45 (primarily for VHF/UHF yagis, a vertically polarized 10M yagi and a few wires) and 80 of Rohn 55 (which will support the HF Big Log, a 6M yagi and more wires). I hope the things outlast me.

[HUGH]

I can attest to that. This picture is of the chainplate for my starboard forward lower shroud that snapped one day when I was sailing in only moderate winds. It sounded like a gunshot. Hydrogen embrittlement and crevice corrosion was the cause.

https://i.imgur.com/uJ3R0K4.png

(A chainplate is the thing that connects the cables that hold up the mast to the hull of the boat. I was lucky it was only a lower shroud; if it had been one of the two upper shrouds my boat could have been dismasted)

It's not entirely relevant but we relegated some Chinese S.S. cutlery to the garden shed as it's rusted as badly as plain steel. It leads me to think that many of these use recycled material of dubious quality.

[HUGH]

Sincerely, good luck with that.

[NQ6U]

It's not entirely relevant but we relegated some Chinese S.S. cutlery to the garden shed as it's rusted as badly as plain steel. It leads me to think that many of these use recycled material of dubious quality.

Yes, I’ve seen some crappy Chinese stainless too, but that’s not the case here, just 42 years of use in a salt water environment. Besides, back when my boat was built, the Chinese were still stinkin’ commie rat bastards and we didn’t buy anything from them.

It’s long since been replaced; I was out sailing my boat today, as a matter of fact.