Sheet I-200 · Turns & elevation changes

Making 90° turns and elevation changes

ANDREW makes no 90° corner or elbow for the rooftop bridge line. The adjustable splices make the turn: each one bends from 0 to 45°, so a 90° takes two of them with a straight section between. None of these parts come in the bridge kits. Order them separately.

What's in the box and what you order separately

Talley lists the splices as special order and non-returnable. Count them carefully the first time, because you can't send extras back.

Horizontal turns

• Turn angle → splices at the turn: one splice per 45° or less. A 30° or 45° jog takes 1, a 90° takes 2, and a 135° takes 3, each with a full section between splices.
• Each straight leg ends at a joint, so it has to be a whole number of 8 ft sections unless ANDREW authorizes a field cut in writing (warranty §8(g)). Round each leg up separately.
• Tees and crosses: no tee or cross part is listed for the rooftop bridge line. If the design branches, send the question to ANDREW before you draw it (RFI 11).
• Don't substitute ladder-tray fittings. CommScope / Cope 90° covers and fittings (the LDRLT-V90, VRI90/VRO90 and VTJ series) belong to a different ladder-tray system and aren't listed as compatible with the bridge kits.

Can two 45° splices go back to back?

Not as a designed assembly. Plan on a section between them. The outline drawing shows what the splice is: a flat 45° wedge plate, not a piece of tray. One section end bolts through fixed 7/16 in holes along one straight edge. The other section end bolts through curved slots, which is what lets it swing from 0 to 45°. The plate joins two channel ends, so:

• Stack two plates and the second plate's fixed edge has no channel to bolt to. The slots are laid out for a section's end, not for another plate.
• The full 90° would happen over one plate's footprint (about 33 in on the 12-run). The inside cables would bend far tighter than across two turns 8 ft apart, and the corner would have no channel or cover over it.
• The designed fix for a tight corner is a shorter diagonal, not a stacked plate. That means cutting a section, which needs ANDREW's written authorization (warranty §8(g)). Get it, along with the minimum diagonal length, the hole pattern to drill in the cut end and the touch-up method (zinc-rich coating to ASTM A780), and make sure at least one sleeper still bears under the short piece (RFI 11).
• If ANDREW approves a back-to-back detail in writing, follow their drawing. Until then, don't improvise an adapter plate. A fabricated part is a modification too.

Protecting the cable through a turn

Use the datasheet for the exact cable on your BOM. Other families (AVA, superflexible jumpers, hybrid fiber/power) have their own figures.

1. Let the cable sweep, not kink. Spread the 45° across the whole plate so the bend starts before the joint and finishes after it. Never bend a cable over the end of the channel or the edge of the plate.
2. Put the biggest cables on the outside of the turn. The inside position has the tightest radius, so give it to the smallest cable.
3. Pad every edge the cable can touch. Fit UV-rated edge guard or grommet strip on channel ends, plate edges and the curved slots. Sheared galvanized edges cut jackets when the roof heats and cools every day.
4. Support both sides of the turn. Snap-in hangers in the kit holes as close to the joint as the hole pattern allows, at the cable maker's hanger spacing. No cable should hang unsupported across the gap.
5. Leave slack, don't pull tight. Coax grows and shrinks with roof temperature (a dark membrane can pass 150 °F in a San Antonio summer). A cable pulled tight against the inside of a turn saws itself on the edge. Leave an easy, supported curve.
6. No tight zip ties on coax. Use the hanger system. If ties are allowed at all, they must be UV-rated, snug and never crush the corrugation.
7. Cover the turn. The splice plate has no lid, so the cables at a turn are exposed to UV, hail and boots. Ask ANDREW what covers a turn. Until then, keep turns out of walk paths, flag them, and use protection the roofing manufacturer accepts.
8. Keep connectors, ground kits and splices off the bend. Land ground kits on straight runs.
9. Inspect turns first after every hail or high-wind event. Look for jacket scuffs at the edges, crushed hangers and shifted sleepers.

Elevation changes

• Use a hinged extension kit (MT-F1703 for 4-run, MT-F1704 for 8-run). Each one hinges from 0 to 45° vertically to take the tray up or down a curb, parapet or roof step.
• MT-F1703's function comes from the distributor listing (12 in W × 24 in L, 0–45° vertical, hinged). MT-F1704's is inferred from its sibling and the matching envelope, because no listing was available for it. Confirm before you order (RFI 3).
• The 12-run bridge (MT-F1595) has no extension kit. Route a 12-run tray around level changes, split it into a 4-run and an 8-run tray at that point, or get ANDREW's solution in writing.
• Check the cable's minimum bend radius at every hinge, and remember that a sloped section carries its dead load onto fewer sleepers.
• Crossing a walkway is a different problem: the RT-ST step-over lets people climb over the tray. It doesn't carry the tray over an obstruction.

SnapStak cover kits

The RT-CB4D / RT-CB8D / RT-CB12D cover kits don't list any splice, turn or extension part. Their sheets don't say how sections are joined, turned or raised. Don't plan a cover-kit route with turns until ANDREW answers RFI 6.

Adding turns to the estimate

1. Break the route into straight legs at every turn and every elevation change.
2. Run the estimator once per leg. It rounds each leg to whole sections and counts that leg's internal joints.
3. Add, for each 90° turn, 2 splices + 1 bridge kit (the diagonal). For each 45° jog, add 1 splice.
4. For each elevation change on a 4- or 8-run tray, add 1 extension kit, plus a splice for each joint the hinge creates, as the assembly drawing shows.
5. Add the weight of the extra kits to the dead load the engineer checks.

Example: an L-shaped 8-run route with legs of 40 ft and 24 ft. Leg A is 5 sections with 4 splices; leg B is 3 sections with 2 splices. The 90° adds 1 diagonal kit and 2 splices. The total is 9 × MT-F1543 and 8 × MT-F1574.

Where this comes from

• Talley (ANDREW distributor), coax-support category and product listings: MT-F1573-11 and MT-F1574 ("Horizontal Adj Splice Plate, 0-45 Deg"), plus the category list for MT-F1597 and MT-F1703 ("0-45 Deg Vert Adj Hinged Coax Bridge Ext Kit"). Retrieved 2026-10-27.
• ANDREW spec sheets for the bridge kits (contents: section, hardware, 3 sleepers). See Sources.