Antenna tower guide wire

[smoke blower]

I have a question about guide wires going to my tower. My question is should I have insulators between the wire and the tower. I feel like I am not getting out as good as I should and I had a friend come by this weekend and he said the problem could be that I don't have the guide wires insulated from the tower. It is a 60' Tower with a set of Maco shootingstars and my guide wires are either stainless steel or galvanized I had a friend give me a spool of guide wire from Dominion Power that they use to support poles. I just wrapped the wire around the tower and put cable clamps on them and they are running to 20' 6x6 poles. I have some insulator rods of some sort they are like 10' or 12' long there fiberglass they are also from The power company.

-- Sunday, 26 February 2017, 16:04 PM --

Should I be using the fiberglass rods to insulate the guide wires from the tower or does it not really make any difference

[sonoma]

I have ran a tower with insulators and with out. never noticed a big difference in the antenna performance my self . others may have seen a problem. main thing is what is your SWR.
I always kept the guy wires about 10 foot from the top of the tower also.

[smoke blower]

My Swr is 1.1 on the flat side and 1.5 on the vertical side and guide wires are about 10' or so from the top of the tower also. So I quess there is nothing to worry about

[jessejamesdallas]

Depending on what type of guy wire you use, whether or not you would need to use insulators...

I used Phillystran guy wire on mine, and if you use that you don't need insulators since the wire is coated in a plastic type stuff. Plus it's lighter and stronger than the steel wire that is of equal diameter...(cost a bit more tho)

Google Phillystran guy wire...

[MDYoungblood]

How high above the tower top is the antenna, that could explain he SWR on the vertical side. As far as interfering with the antenna, I really don't see it happening.

3's

Greg

[smoke blower]

The antenna is like 10 to 12' above where the guide wires connect to the tower. The guide wire is galvanized like 1/4" round it is from Dominion Power the wire they use to help support poll's a friend that works there gave it to me.

[MDYoungblood]

Okay I understand the cable you are using and how you have it installed. I would keep an eye on where the cable is on the tower, the antenna turning and wind load can cause a sawing action there cutting through the thin tower tubing. The higher SWR can be explained by the lower driven element at the tower getting closer to the triangle as it turns. You can see what I mean by checking the SWR with that element close to the tower tube and then check it where it's farthest away.

3's

Greg

[smoke blower]

OK that's great thanks and I will keep an eye on it.