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Re: [TowerTalk] Tower Foundation

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Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower Foundation
From: Chuck Smallhouse <w7cs@theriver.com>
Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2014 01:30:18 -0700
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I guess that I was somewhat fortunate, When I moved to Oracle (Pinal Co) AZ, I purchased enough land, 3.5 AC on a ridge to put up 7 ea, "antenna support structures" for which I applied for a zoning approval and received. Pinal Co didn't and still doesn't have any Ham tower ordinances, All I need to do was to hand draw a outline of my lot and my house location on it. I than also had to indicate the location, the height and type of each "support structure, on my plot plan. My location at 5K' has a negative horizon from about 270 degrees around to 120 degrees so I don't require much antenna height and most antenna systems are VHF/UHF/MF for weak signal work and quite a bit of EME. One of the structures was to support a 5M dish using a base support and a 4' pillar elevated track system for azimuth rotation. Another was for a 55' Sky Needle for an KLM/M2 KT36XA, another 30' of Rohn 55 to support a large 16 yagi array for 2M EME use.

I became friends with fellow down the road, who contracted out extra work using a good size back hoe, after his day job and on weekends. One afternoon at the end of his work shift (mining), he came buy and dug all seven of my different size holes in only 2 or three hours. Of course he could drive right to them and the ground was decomposed granite and was relative easy digging and held it shape and didn't tend to cave in. He did an outstanding job with very good corners and well within the size constraints that I gave him. He only charged me $50, but I would have paid more !

After the holes were dug I threw all kinds of scrape metal into the holes , including rebar. I stick spot welded it all together with 175 A Miller stick metal welder, that I'd recently acquired at a hamfest. I also was taking welding classes at tha t time( my limited college welding classes was over 50 years ago!) . It was an AC one that I was gong to convert to DC, but procrastinated too long and traded it in for a new Miller 175 A Mig welder that also came with provisions/circuitry and the appropriate spool gun for Mig welding aluminum.

I purchased custom made large J bolts from Copper State metals. They were up to 4' long and 3/4" to 1 " in diameter. I think that their price was about $15 ea. Their was a family own concrete producer about 15 miles away, on the San Pedro river and I ordered two trucks full ( about 6 to 8 yards each) and in one morning they filled all my holes and i grade finished them my self. I think that the concrete prices from that local vender was running about $60 a yard. Up a bIt from what I'd paid 13 years earlier, in the SF Bay Area, at $40.

I'd dug some of the smaller holes my self and all 6 of the pillars that held the 5M dish traveling rail above the ground by four feet, These were done sometime after the original pouring, using about 12' long and about 12' in diameter cardboard tubes, I cut them in half and sunk them into the ground and filled them with concrete and a couple of J bars. There's about an 10" x 10" X 3/16: steel plate bolted to the J bars and a bit above the top of the concrete pilars. This double nutting allows for track leveling This plate is welded to the I beam shaped rack.

I mixed all the cement that I got from HD (30+ bags?) in a wheelbarrow. I found it took not much more time, this way than with a small 1 yard mixer and it was a hell of lot easier to clean .

GL es 73,

Chuck,  W7CS

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