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What Is a Guy Wire?
A guy wire is a stabilizing brace used to secure or steady a sign or structure. It can be made of rope, wire, or cable. One end of the wire is attached to the structure or sign and the other end is anchored at a distance to a stable ground object through tension. These wires are commonly used to brace tents, ship and radio masts, utility poles, wind turbines, awnings, or canopies.
To permit the tension of several guy wires to offset the tension of others and provide optimum support, they are frequently equally spaced around the structure. This configuration can be trios, pairs of pairs, or other sets appropriate to the structure being secured. An example of a once-common trio configuration would be a residential roof television antenna secured by three evenly spaced wires.
Electrical utility poles are good examples of shorter, stronger structures that only need a single guy wire to stabilize against the pull of the electrical wires attached to it. Some wires are on structures so tall that aircraft safety markers must be attached to ensure their visibility. Another common use is on a sailboat, where a rope is used to control the end of a spar or spinnaker pole. Depending on the boat, one or more guy ropes may be needed for stability.
Mast antennas are the most common structures that regularly use guy wires for stability. The material used for a guy wire is important when a mast antenna is involved, as the metal or other highly conductive substance and length of the wire can greatly influence radiation signal patterns. They can also obstruct signals on the ground if they are in close proximity to the site.
To prevent interference, porcelain insulators were used in the past as dividers on the guy wire if it was to be used in conjunction with a mast antenna. The insulators prevented the development of large static electricity pockets that could cause hazardous discharges. Attentive maintenance to these insulators was necessary to prevent the mast from collapsing.
In recent years, many mast antennas are manufactured with insulators already installed and grounded with coils on the ground. This prevents the guy wire from interfering with the radiation patterns. It also makes maintenance of the structure easier and safer.
An alternative to the steel guy wire commonly used on mast antennas is a wire made of non-conductive polymers or plastics. This option alleviates interference caused by steel wires. It is not a popular choice in most cases, however, as the polymers do not withstand weather very well and must be regularly replaced.
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![A guy wire is used to brace wind turbines.]()
By: Richard VillalonA guy wire is used to brace wind turbines. -
![Guy wires may be used to brace utility poles and towers.]()
By: Sarah FieldsGuy wires may be used to brace utility poles and towers.
Discussion Comments
When I went on my first Boy Scouts retreat, we all had to carry our tents to an assigned part of the campground. I'd never put up a tent before, and I forgot to use any guy wires. We went off to play some field games and when we got back, half the tents had collapsed. We had to reset all of the tent frames and then attach guy wires to them. Once we had the wire stretched out, we tied the end to a spike and drove it into the ground at an angle. Those tents survived a wind storm that night.
When I was young, I thought it was called a "guide wire", not a guy wire. I kept wondering why all these people were saying it wrong. We had a few telephone poles in our yard, and every once in a while I'd hit one of the guy wires with a hammer just to hear the sound it made. I found out later that the sound effects team at LucasFilm used that same sound in the movie Star Wars whenever a weapon was fired.
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