Hello everyone;
I am brand new to this racket and as such have a lot to learn ! My first interest is in learning all I can about the installation and proramming of these units ( have found this group to be most helpful in this regard - Thanks). Have only been with a company for a couple of weeks and already I find a problem 
The toweres we are using are a free standing Titan, which I believe to be ineffective in the job they are expected to do. These are a 92’ tower which we load with no less than three sectors and a back haul - already we have had towers crack and bolts loosen. Can any of you lend an experienced hand, and give me some info on what you are using for towers, and whether or not we are using a tower of significent strenght (we are in eastern Canada where winds frequently reach 100km + . Would really appreciate some feed back on this ie. is there any tricks to give the existing towers more strength - any input at all would be most appreciated. Thanks and best regards - Gordie
I’m based in Nebraska and we see around 50mph winds sustained on a regular basis. As far as the structures that I use for deploying new hardware, I tend to stick more towards grain elevators. Here they average about 300ft high, with a 50 ft or so flat platform and guardrails. We nebraskan’s are subject most to north and south winds.
I mostly use 900 mhz motorola canopy advantage due to the nlos applicability. For the antenna’s I use the 8ft MTI for omni-directional broadcasting. I situate the omni north and south to reduce wind load from those respective directions.
I guess it varies greatly due to the environment, and what you have to work with as far as structures for mounting the hardware necessary. Wind balancing and sturdy stand-offs for your antenna’s are a must, especially with your winds reaching those speeds.
If the bolts are losening on the tower or the antennas, try using alittle lock-tight on the threads. This will help keep the nuts from shacking loose.
As for the tower, what exactly is cracking? The Legs, the braces, or the pipe mount?
Cracking shouldn’t really ocur unless you are overloading the tower. Which would require an engineering study to determine.
In my expereince. Spending alittle more on the tower will save you many headaches down the road.
Without knowing more about your set up, you may want to consider the Trylon Super-Titan. It is a free-stand tower as well, just alittle more solid then the standard Titan.
You could also look at towers from Gord Telecom in Brampton, and Max-Tower in Brantford.
The bolts/nuts should never loosen up if installed and maintained properly (torque,lock nuts,etc.). Although, I am in the process of installing a Trylon Super Titan and its okay, but I dont care for angled steel contstructed towers. The Super Titan hardware did not include lock or captive nuts and I too am wondering about hardware becoming loose over the years. I really like Rohn towers. The Rohn SSV or 55G. To me, nothing beats a well designed 55. Easy to climb, work off, and load up several hundred feet. Another nice tower is made by Knudd.
I’m not a tower expert by any means, but I’ve heard that it would be possible to guy the top of a self support tower to prevent it from twisting due to wind loading.
If those cracks are happening at the bolt holes, that sounds like big problems to me. If the tower is old and corroding, you’ll see white pitting happening around the cracks. If that’s the case, than I would recommend putting up a new tower. Guying a tower is always an option too.
Hi Folks, I have been in tower engineering, design, manufacturing and construction for a couple decades. Typical loading for our application here shouldn't pose much of problem to an existing structure. Regarding new tower structures we can analyze the frequency of you backhaul antennas against the twist and sway of the tower structure service in a typical wind scenario for your region. "service wind". Regarding loosening bolts. The Tower Code for maintenance suggest a tower have the bolts tightened 1 year after installation, and every 3-5years after that. Guyed Towers require more maintenance with more moving parts, and should be inspected yearly especially after a major wind event.