Tower Accessories
The telecommunication and wireless communication industries use towers, poles and mounts as support structures for antennas, personal communication systems, commercial and amateur broadcasting, home television and cellular telephones. There are two basic types of towers: self-supporting and guyed. Self-supporting towers can be three- or four-sided steel-lattice pyramids or boxes or tubular monopoles. Guyed towers are a slender, steel structure supported by one or more levels of braided and stranded high-strength steel guy cables that anchor it to the ground. When selecting the proper tower type, it is important to consider how much land it will occupy, the soil type of the land and the overall height and weight of the finished installation.
Guyed towers have the compressive strength to support its own weight, but does not have the strength to stand unsupported, and requires guy lines to stay upright and resist lateral forces. Guy lines are usually spaced at equal angles around the structure’s base. Guyed towers require much more land than self-supporting towers. The guy lines are generally anchored to the ground at a distance from the base equal to approximately 80 percent of the tower’s height. Soil types need to be suitable for supporting foundations or for holding the guy anchors.
Self-standing or lattice towers are self-supporting structures typically made of steel latticework. They are generally constructed in triangular or square lattice shapes and are very stable. Their stable shape and easy construction make them the most flexible and widely-utilized towers.
Bracketed towers can be installed next to buildings using brackets to secure the tower in one or two points along the height of the building. Bracketed towers are commonly used for broadband, two-way communication, security and small dishes when the weight-bearing load restrictions prohibit installation on the roof of a structure. This way, it can rise above the structure as a self-supporting tower without guy wires or a large base support.
