[TowerTalk] Size of TX-455 hole?

[Bob Nielsen]

On Fri, May 09, 2003 at 06:21:56PM -0700, David Greer wrote:
> The backhoe operator is coming here on Monday morning to dig the hole
> for my new U.S. Tower TX-455 55-foot free-standing crank-up. I
> initially told him to dig a hole 3-feet square by 6-feet deep because
> that's what a chart on page 4 of the U.S Tower catalog shows. But
> last night I was looking over the "formal stress analysis document"
> supplied by the company so I could determine how much rebar I need to
> buy Saturday. On the page titled "Installation of pier footing TX-455
> crank-up tower," it clearly shows the hole for this tower as being
> 5-feet square by 6 feet deep. So which size is correct? That's a
> rather large difference. Obviously, such a hole cannot be too big so
> I could always have him dig the bigger size but don't want to if not
> necessary. My two phone calls today to U.S. Tower went unanswered.
> 73, Dave, N4KZ

I checked the U.S. Towers website and found a detailed drawing for the
foundation which also showed 5 feet square by 6 feet deep.  This was
signed by a professional engineer making it more "official" than the
data in the catalog, which might have been miscopied (hopefully not
edited by the advertising types).  If it were me, I would definitely go
with the larger hole.

Bob, N7XY