[TowerTalk] Foundation too close to Tower??

[ag0n@arrl.net]

On Sun, 27 Jan 2002 06:36:34 -0600, Barry Baker wrote:

> Tower is a US Tower Model TMM-433HD.
> Base requirement is 4'x4'x5'deep.

Slightly smaller than my HG54HD, but similar requirements.

> Building inspector at city hall says base must be 5' from the home's
> foundation. He based this statement on the fact I am going 5' deep with the
> hole.Would like to be much closer. The idea being that I could stand on the
> roof for antenna service. Although the tower collapses to 11' in it's
> retracted position, no big deal to stand on a extension ladder. Having never
> been involved with tower work, what do you guys think? I could try to argue
> a case for closer placement of the tower.

It may depend on the type of soil you have, and how strong your
foundation is.  However, I had a similar question of the previous owner
of my tower.  I didn't want to put it close to my house, but was curious
about "leveraging" the foundation on his installation.  For what it's
worth, he had no problem with his, and it was much closer than that to
the foundation.  I remember him saying he asked about it when he
installed it, but I don't remember who he asked.  He also used an anchor
bolt (eyelet) through the foundation as the raising fixture anchor for
laying the 600 lb tower over.  The tower was in place from 1985 until I
purchased it in 1999.  The last 8 years was spent at full height with
annual spring winds of 65-75MPH.

Feel free to look over the pictures on my tower web site.
www.qsl.net/ag0n
The specific group showing the old installation is at the top of the
"Moving Day" page.  If you want to print them to show precedence, go for
it.  Have patience.  Even though they are thumbnails, there are lots of
them, so each page takes a minute to load on a dialup.  Click on the
thumbnails for larger versions.

> Maybe I want this little short tower as far away as possible from the roof
> line, so as to reduce any reflection from the roof? Then what about line
> loss?

You'd have to be MUCH further away to completely eliminate the house
from interfering, so don't worry about it.  Line losses at HF aren't
enough of a problem to worry about either.  If you're worried about it,
use LMR.

> Why does US Towers not want me to tack my rebar cage with weld?
> I own a machine shop and it would be a much "cleaner" job than tie wire.

Hy-Gain said similar.  I've never had this one explained to me, so will
sit back and read replies to your post.  You'll notice on my page that
we went ahead and welded the whole fixture on mine.  The factory welds
the top half and ships the lower half as pieces.  Since the top half was
welded anyway, I couldn't see a reason not to weld the bottom.  It made
it much easier to work with for me.

> Original intent was to contract this entire job. I am in the Ham Radio
> business, not construction. Got my quote for installation, and now I am in
> the construction business  (Hi Hi). Quote was $4k. Included Foundation,
> erection, antenna/rotor installation, and two ground rods. I was to be
> responsible for all materials. Maybe was a good price? Please advise. (Have
> not  broke ground yet)

Every case will be different.  It will probably also depend on whether
you are in town or in the country.  Non-city installations can usually
ignore lots of things that they won't let you do in the city.  My basic
hole cost me $32 of hired labor, but I don't have a bunch of rock
either.  I put more work into cleaning up the hole than the guy who dug
it (read the text on the web page).  My concrete was $280 for 4.5 yds
delivered rural, and a friend helped me "finish" the top.  Now that I've
done it myself once, I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

If you have questions re anything you see on the web site, please feel
free to write off-list.

73, Gary
-- 
There is no x in my ISPs domain name.

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