Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 21:36:48 -0500 (EST) From: Frank Donovan To: CQ-CONTEST@tgv.com >It seems to me that a widget to measure exactly that is made for tensioning the >standing rigging on sail boats. An old friend with a trailerable boat was >telling me about his aquisition of just such an instrument -- but I wasn't >listening very carefully... Any sailors out there want to comment? > >73, Dave NG0X The "widget" u refer to is known as a sailboat tension gauge, used by sailors to maintain proper balance of tension in rigging. I've used the Loos tension gauge for years to set the tension in my guys! Purists may argue that sailboat tension gauges are inaccurate, since they are calibrated for 7 x 7 stainless steel wirerope; however, they can be recalibrated for 7 strand guy wire with a dynamometer. The clear advantage of the tension gauge is ease of use and speed of application! I can do a routine check and retensioning of all 72 of my 5/16" guy wires in an afternoon hours with my sailboat tension gauge. It would take days with a dynamometer! My tension gauge is manufactured by Loos & Co., PO Box 7515, Naples FL 33942 phone: 813-774-5667 There are two versions of the Loos Tension gauge, one for small diameter cables and one for 3/16" - 9/32" cables. The latter version (known as Model B) is the one u want. With only a slight modification it will work perfectly well on 5/16" guy wire. The Loos Tension Gauge is commonly stocked by sailboat oriented businesses. My Boat/U.S. catalog lists the item as: Loos Tension Gauge Model 90 - 3/16" - 9/32" cable Boat/U.S. Item Number 338584-10 List price $ 40.95 Member price: $34.75 73! Frank W3LPL donovanf@sgate.com -------- Date: Sun, 21 Apr 1996 18:48:39 -0400 From: BK1ZX70SFL@aol.com To: cq-contest@tgv.com Subject: Loos Gauge - A Winner! Very cool. The contest reflector scores another winning idea in the K1ZX contester's amassed knowledge hints and kinks book. Spent today with W1CW uniformly tightening the guy wires of our two towers, and sweating - Summer is here, we had a week of Spring and today it was in the 90's. What's the big deal....uniformity and the peace if mind that comes with it. The tower is not being pulled more one way than another....I know this now! Thank you W6GO/K1KI/W3LPL who spoke of the PT2 Loos gauge here on the Contest Reflector. I don't do this posting to increase some sort of spin off personal income from this Florida company, as I in no way am associated with this outfit, it just is way cool. I don't know if the guy wires are at precisely the correct tension, but all our 1/4" EHS is set to prox the same tension: 640 lbs....just like the Rohn Bible, I mean catelogue, says....this is something we have never been able to do before. Prior to today it has always been "they look about the same" and that has been as good as it got. This afternoon we had the satisfaction of knowing they were all uniform in their degree of tightness! This sounds like no big deal at first, but there is a certain peace of mind that is associated with this, when we got done I really felt good about the days work. There were already guys in place on the two towers but I feel much better about the installation thanks to this 40 some odd dollar gadget. There were 42 guy wires tensioned, my Dad postulated that that is a little more than a buck each....and my Mom followed by adding that next Spring when the yearly tightening is done the Loos cost per guy will go down to half that, and then again and again. It doesn't look like 40 someodd bucks when it comes out of the box, but I feel it is worth it after todays session. This is not a precise scientific instrument but it is a must for the person who loves his towers, i.e. : most contesters! Like I say, this peace of mind is very good karma...and we all know that good karma when it comes to station design means good scores later on. Jim zx k1zx@contesting.com --- Date: Mon, 22 Apr 1996 22:02:04 -0400 From: BK1ZX70SFL@aol.com Subject: Loos addendum Several asked an obvious question...so how were your old eyeball sightings compared to the gauge....answer: Now you know why the gauge made me so happy....they were way out of whack with one another...even lines which seemed to sag equally were under different tension. A good point was made that the gauge may not accurately reflect the actual tension rating of the guys since we hams use it for the rigid-er EHS cable, and sailboat users, who the gauge was designed for, are probably working with the more flexable wire rope. The way I see it, since all the guys are of the same material and we set them all to the same settings they are equally off. Yup they are probably not on the money - but this is not an engineers technically demanding device, it is an approximation...however, it is a repeated approximation. I forgot to mention that the towers looked great as I drove away from the station yesterday....but then they always do. An interesting phenomenon we experienced and I forgot to mention in my posting is the inter relationships of the guy wires - when using an equalizer plate with three guys extending away the two outside ones most definately effect (or is that affect) each other. I was about to give up hope on one of the early guys and figured it was time to remove the dead ends and rework them - its turnbuckle was at the end of its run. When we went over to the opposite end of the equalizer plate, and adjusted that guy in the right neighborhood the first one was again in adjustment range. Sort of a push-pull operation. If you have equalizer plates tightening the top one or bottom is porbably the worst place to start as it will screw up the other...after a while we went to starting with the middle one, got it close then adjusted the outer ones. This thing is so easy to use that a hurdle like this is peanuts ...it pops on and off the guys so easily you just do it! Its no big thing to swap it around as you adjust...ez. Thanks for reminding me about that inter related push pull phenom, senor major league internet guru! Jim zx k1zx@contesting.com