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Re: [TowerTalk] antenna height vs hassle

To: <TOWERTALK@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] antenna height vs hassle
From: "Tower (K8RI)" <tower@rogerhalstead.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 11:58:09 -0400
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>

I rented a small back hoe with an operator for a day. He dug three guy anchor holes and carried concrete. Total cost $350 for the day.


We did have to reseed part of the back and north yards. I think we almost lost the ready mix truck on the north side. It took two truck loads of dirt and a scraper on the other end of the tractor hauling the back hoe.

BTW, we rigged a long pole to the front bucket and he used that to cary the 16' X 5" steel pipe to the holes once the forms were in. Each of those were over 300#


Roger Halstead (K8RI, EN73 & ARRL Life Member) N833R, World's Oldest Debonair (S# CD-2) www.rogerhalstead.com
Wow.... after reading all this about the cost of
pumpers and backhoes etc... i have determined i need
to move.... when i had the hole for my tower base dug
which took the guy less than 20 mins it was $400.00...
when i checked on the price of a pumper truck it was
$900 just to show up , then there were additional
charges for the extra hose he was going to have to
use.

Dan N8DCJ
--- Robert Shohet <kq2m@earthlink.net> wrote:

Is it a matter of not being able to get the concrete
truck close to
the hole, or you can't get anything near the hole?

At my qth there was no way to get a concrete truck
closer than 150'
from my 130' tower base.

So I paid the guy with the backhoe to be at the
concrete pour.
We had the concrete truck pour (through the chute)
the concrete
into the backhoe shovel, about 1 cubic yard at a
time, and the
backhoe carried the concrete on my rock ledge over
VERY uneven
ground to the tower bases.

It went surprisingly fast and very well with
virtually no
concrete spillage.

I used a large backhoe.  You can also rent a small
backhoe
with a small shovel and bulldozer plow and the small
ones
can fit almost anywhere and navigate highly uneven
ground
and rock ledge very easily.

The project should take less than 1 hour - I had the
large
backhoe fill two tower bases, and six guy anchors
with
20 cu yds of concrete in about 1 hour!  Both tower
bases and
4 of the guy anchors were complete inaccessible to
the
concrete truck.

If you saw my QTH and where the tower bases and guy
anchors are in the
deep woods on rockledge, you would marvel at how it
was possible.

For the $200 I spent on the backhoe and operator, it
was amazingly
well worth it.

73
Bob KQ2M


----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Coleman" <aa4lr@arrl.net>
To: <KI9A@aol.com>
Cc: <towertalk@contesting.com>;
<smc@w9smc.contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2004 7:00 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] antenna height vs hassle



> > On Aug 15, 2004, at 6:27 PM, KI9A@aol.com wrote: > > > I live on a small lot, can't really have > > a guyed tower. I now have a roof tower with my 2 meter yagi at about > > 27', the > > A3 tribander at 30' & a 6 meter yagi at 33'. > > I had a similar situation at my old QTH - A3S at 35 feet, 2m boomer at > 43 feet. > > > In order to put this 40' tower up, I would have to hire out the hole > > (5'x5'x5'), then hand carry all of the concrete approx 120-150' > > across the grass, on > > an uneven area (ugh). No way to get the truck any closer. > > Here's some alternatives. First, you don't necessarily have to use a > ready-mix truck. You could consider mixing the concrete yourself. If > you did this, you could rent a small mixer, and do two bags at a time. > (Note that it would take in excess of 100 bags, so I wouldn't recommend > this) > > Second, you can rent a powered wheelbarrow to carry the concrete from > the curb to the hole. either that, or get about four good friends with > wheelbarrows to shuttle the concrete across the yard. > > Third, if the hole is downhill from the road, you can rig up a trough > to the hole. Failing that, you can rent a pump truck to move the > concrete uphill. > > > Bottom line is this...is the cost & hassle of this worth the potential > > gain? > > If the tower was 60-80', I'd say of course, but, going from 30' to > > 45', I > > dunno if there would be much improvement to be worth it. I'm beginning > > to think > > not. > > At my old QTH, I have the A3S at 35 feet. Today it is on a tower next > to the house at just under 50 feet. It certainly behaves differently, > especially on 20m. Further, I have much less RFI in the house. > > 125 cubic feet of concrete seems like a huge hassle, but I've gotten > much more enjoyment out of my station since I have a (modestly) > improved station. > > Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr@arrl.net > Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!" > -- Wilbur Wright, 1901 > > _______________________________________________ > > See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA. > > _______________________________________________ > TowerTalk mailing list > TowerTalk@contesting.com >

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_______________________________________________


See: http://www.mscomputer.com  for "Self Supporting
Towers", "Wireless Weather Stations", and lot's
more.  Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any
questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.

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See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.

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_______________________________________________

See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.

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