[TowerTalk] Home-made Towers - Wood!

[Eric Moore]

Guys,
I work for an electrical contractor here in the midwest.  Homebrewers
should contact their local electrical contractors and ask about old high
school track and football field wooden light poles.  I know we have several
laying in the back of our shop that are 90' tall.  Now these are not your
garden variety poles mind you, close to 36" diameter at the base and will
hold many, many square feet, think about how large stadium light fixtures
arrays are.  These would be available for the asking, as the contractor has
to dispose of these anyway. The ham would only have to, pay for road
permits and a line crew to come out, drill a hole, drop in the pole. NO
CONCRETE, and when you move take'em with you! HI! You might even get lucky
and have the contractor just drop them of at your house instead of hauling
them to his shop to save hisself money.

These are great for wires, and I am sure that a few creative individuals
could fabricate a steel top to hold a rotor and beams! All you would need
to do is screw lag type steps into the wood and it would be easy to climb!
(See US forestry design standards for lag bolted steps.)

You might even check with that local utility, as I have a few friends that
have had poles installed by the utility. Call your local electrical supply
houses or look in the yellow pages to find out who does line work in you
area.  You might be suprised at whats available "just for the asking!"
Another lead would be to check with Musco Lighting, at
http://www.musco.com/ they would have a list of contractors in your area
and could even fill you in on any projects they are doing in you area.

Hint: Lineman love to drink beer and some will do side jobs for beer!!

73,
Eric
K8CCA



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