The pictures almost don't do it justice. The larger tower fell over when the
footing for the guys on the upwind side of the tower actually pulled out of the
ground. We had a long dry spell causing the ground to contract followed by the
ice storm increasing the load on tower complicated by high winds. The tension
and vibrations pulled the very large block of concrete out of the ground.
The shorter tower stayed up a little longer but was doomed when ice and
possibly guys from the larger tower impacted the guys on the smaller tower. At
least one guy on the shorter tower failed and it came down. The shorter/older
tower did pretty much collapse on itself, but took out some power lines in the
process.
It was a mess, taking several transmitters off the air including CBS over the
air television for all of northeast South Dakota. The only ham repeater at the
site was removed a couple of years ago when the feedline failed and the new
owners changed the requirements to climb the tower. We are all curious as to if
they will re-build. When the ABC station's tower north of there was condemned a
couple years ago they tore it down and did not replace it. Leaving a large area
with no ABC over the air television.
73,
Joe kk0sd -- Watertown, SD
-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk <towertalk-bounces@contesting.com> On Behalf Of Steve Dyer
W1SRD via TowerTalk
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2023 12:22 PM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower Collapse in South Dakota
I recall reading somewhere that most guyed towers fall (crumple) within a
circle ~30% of their height. Obviously did not happen in SD for the reasons
cited.
Steve
W1SRD
On 1/20/2023 10:02 AM, sawyered@earthlink.net wrote:
> I believe that the reason it laid down full length is because it had a
> pier pin and the pin sheared when a guy let go. If the base had been
> cemented in (all 3 legs) like the majority of ham towers, it would not
> have failed like that. I would have crumpled in, twisted.
>
>
>
> Ed N1UR
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
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