[TowerTalk] Cost of Tower & Installation

[JC Smith]

I'm a little behind you, Mike.  I have a hole in the ground with the tower
base in it and I'm building the rebar cage now.  I have almost all the
materials except the concrete and I still have to purchase four sheets of
plywood for the forms.  My costs so far:

Backhoe & dump trailer:  500
Labor to help move dirt:  330
Base rock, cinder blocks, etc:  72
Rebar, ties & twist tool:  225
Crew lunches:  52
Land fill cost (dirt dump):  275
and coming soon:
10.5 cu. Yd. 6-sack-3/4 (4000 PSI) concrete: 1,506 (quote)
Concrete pump rental:  350 (quote)
Plywood forms:  80 (est.)

That's a total of $1,454 so far and $1,936 coming soon.

Of course that doesn't include the tower itself or the antennas.

73 - JC, K0HPS

PS: I have a daughter.  For those making the comparison, one year tuition at
UC: $6,950, food & dorm: $10,560, books & misc: $1,500, personal expenses:
$2,400, transportation: $500 (approx.).  Four years of that would build
quite an antenna farm.




-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Dr M J DiGirolamo
Sent: Friday, August 18, 2006 5:06 PM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Cost of Tower & Installation

Dear Colleagues,

   I was planning to finish my tower project before listing all the costs
I've
incurred in its move and erection. Due to the series titled "Cheap Hams" I
figured it was a good time to begin telling about tower and antenna
expenses.

   I picked up a 6 year old US Tower, Model HDX-572 MDPL (72' self standing)
complete with tilt over fixture, motor, remote control, a HyGain TH-11DX
beam
and several side mount antennas and accessories.  The cost from the estate
of a
SK was $3,000.00  The deal called for the buyer to lower and transport, at
their
expense.  Total roundtrip mileage was under 750 miles.  I rented a trailer
and
went to get it - thus beginning my "Tower Project."

    I'm at the stage where the concrete is curing for the base.  I have
another
2 weeks to go and then I'll be ready to hoist it up with a crane and place
it on
the brace/base assembly.  I am currently working on the radial and
peripheral
ground system.  I'm having a work party here tomorrow to finish driving the
remaining 26, 5/8x8' ground rods, connecting and Cadwelding them together.

    To date, that fantastic $3,000.00 deal (after all, that was about 25
cents
on the dollar) has grown to an out of pocket expense of $10,301.58.   I'm
hoping
to cap it off at something under $13,000.00 before it's all done.

    Will keep you all informed -- now I know why I've been a ham for 38
years
and never had a tower until now, when I'm retired!

73,

Mike DiGiroalmo, W4XN
Charlottesville, VA

-------------------------

  -> . Message: 1
  -> . Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2006 17:11:19 -0400
  -> . From: "K8RI on TowerTalk" <K8RI-on-TowerTalk at tm.net>
  -> . Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] cheap hams
  -> . To: <TOWERTALK at contesting.com>
  -> . Message-ID: <003301c6c30b$47280720$6500a8c0 at SecondOne>
  -> . Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
  -> .  reply-type=original
  -> .
  -> .
  -> .
  -> .
  -> . > On Fri, 18 Aug 2006 12:42:40 -0500, Keith Dutson wrote:
  -> . >
  -> . >>Two words come to mind:
  -> . >>Resourceful
  -> . >>Thrifty
  -> . >
  -> . > Yes. And not all hams have spare cash laying around.
  -> . For many, it is
  -> . > a stretch to own one decent radio. The cost of a beam
  -> . on a properly
  -> . > engineered tower could put a child through a year at
  -> . some colleges!
  -> .
  -> . That's either a very expensive college or cheap tower
  -> . installation.  A good
  -> . size tower that requires engineering at the local level
  -> . (in some areas)
  -> . could send a kid all the way through some four year colleges.
  -> .
  -> . Roger Halstead (K8RI and ARRL 40 year Life Member)
  -> . N833R - World's oldest Debonair CD-2
  -> . www.rogerhalstead.com (Use return address from home page)
  -> . >
  -> . > 73,
  -> . >
  -> . > Jim Brown K9YC

_______________________________________________



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