[TowerTalk] Largest 20M Array

[Jim White, K4OJ]

You are missing the point, Greg... if someone has a yagi with a boom 
larger than most ham's towers he is NOT mixing Sakrete!

A ham tower reflector is the last place I would look to find political 
correctness!  Towertalk is however a great repository for ideas on 
making your job of putting up antenna towers easier... the archives of 
this reflector could be packaged and published as Towers for Dummies!

Smaller installations are not being looked down at - everyone starts 
there - some chose to "go large" as part of their enjoyment of the hobby.


The act of mixing Sakrete has been performed by probably everyone here - 
it is hard work and always amazes anyone how you can end up with less 
than you start with when mixing up a batch (at least it seems that way)...

What you tend to find is that some of the guys who at one time did the 
Sakrete thing have moved on in their Radio Propagation Experiments and 
now are "pushing the envelope" with bigger arrays which demand bigger 
towers.... bigger towers require substantial amounts of concrete.

When you do a cost analysis that includes the value of your labor and 
your back, suddenly calling up the redimix truck gets real attractive, 
as in doing it yourself is NOT an option.

Other than having minimums I think you will find that it takes a LOT of 
bags of Sakrete to do any sort of antenna or guy point job - and - while 
a sack of Sakrete is relatively inexpensive it does NOT go very far...

A 90 lb sack of Sakrete concrete mix makes two thirds (2/3) of a cubic 
FOOT - so, dividing 27 cubic foot (number of CF in a cubic yard) by 2/3
you get 40 bags per yard....

Last I knew the concrete truck would deliver concrete in the sixties per 
yard.... for the sake of argument lets say it is 80 dollars a yard 
delivered to your QTH in this day and age.

IF $80.00 is the delivered price, and you could slave and make a yard of 
Sakrete by buying 40 sacks it would have to be $2.00 per bag or less if 
you were to "save money"...

I do not think you will find that Sakrete is that cheap!  Last time I 
bought it, it was 3 something a sack...

When you add in a value for your own labor, and the cost of liniment 
afterwards, you are much better off using the phone to call for concrete!

Don't forget loading and unloading those sacks... and placing them in a 
dry place 'til used... and, the sacks do get heavier as the day goes on.

A suggestion:

If there is someone building near you, you would be wise to speak with 
the concrete truck driver - he will almost always have "overage" in the 
truck, and you can slip him a bill or a case of beer to squirt that 
stuff into one of your tower holes... otherwise he will return to the 
yard and then dump that stuff on the ground...

Life is too short... spend your time and money on the tower and 
antennas, not mixing Sakrete.

Jim, K4OJ






Daly, Greg TQO wrote:

> 
>      What's wrong with sakrete? It's cheap, and it works. My 80 feet of R-25
> with screw-in guy anchors has survived the collapse of 2 tribanders..... I
> suppose if I were made of money I could afford to have Oregon ice storms
> destroy "real" antennas. 
> 
>      By the way, reading about huge 20 meter antennas was rather
> entertaining, but slamming tribanders and cheap tower installations is
> rather hurtful to we who can afford no more........... The subject has left
> the building!
> 
> 73 / GOOD DX DE WB7RSG
> 
>