[TowerTalk] steps

[K7LXC at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/13/2009 7:07:01 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
towertalk-request at contesting.com writes:

>  I thought I read on reflector or in a Tower installation  book that
it is not a good thing to backfill the area around the tower  base,
but looks to me from photos as that was done as concrete was poured  into a
contained wood wall form and then area around
base filled back in  with dirt...

>  Am I missing something here or not interpreting  photos right ?
 
    I looked like they used a form around the rebar  cage so they would 
have had to backfill it. Typical tower base specs call for  pouring against 
"undisturbed earth" so the forms would have been against spec.  

Undisturbed earth has the maximum soil strength -  disturbed or backfilled 
does not. You can use a form and then backfill it but  it's not easy. You 
have to tamp the dirt back to its previous solidity with  powered jumping jack 
tamper. It's outside of the scope of your average ham  tower owner to do it 
properly so I'd recommend sticking with undisturbed  earth. 
 
Cheers,
Steve    K7LXC
TOWER TECH
author of UP THE TOWER - The Complete Guide To Tower Constrution
available from _www.championradio.com_ (http://www.championradio.com) 
Cell: 206-890-4188