[TowerTalk] re How much concrete to set a pole?

[Jon Zaimes AA1K]

I've used dozens of elevated guy posts for towers up to 120 feet over the past 24 years. Some with 4-inch pipe filled with concrete, others more recently with I-beams. Never had any break off.

In one case at a previous QTH I had to clear a driveway and used a 4-inch pipe with about 6 feet in the ground. The hole was about  10-12 inches diameter filled with concrete, this in somewhat rocky soil in northern Delaware.. The pipe stuck out  7 feet, and inserted into it was a 2.5 inch diameter pipe about 14 feet long that stuck up 7 feet above the larger pipe -- total height about 14 feet. Both pipes were filled with concrete. A threaded rod at the tip of the small pipe, perpendicular to the guy wire, and another through the top of the larger pipe, provided the attachment points for the turnbuckles. The tower was 120 feet of Rohn 45, house bracketed at 28 feet and guyed at 60 and 100 feet. The upper guy attached to the top of the larger pipe; the lower guy attached to the top of the smaller pipe, 14 feet or so above ground. This post was rock solid and did not budge in the 8 years I was there. There were no backstays on any of the elevated guy posts.

This worked for me. YMMV.

Some previous discussion on elevated guy posts here:

http://www.qth.com/ka9fox/guy_posts.txt

Some pix of my current installation here:

www.aa1k.us

73/Jon AA1K