[TowerTalk] tower installation HG52SS / options

[Michael Goins]

Okay, I guess I'm going to end the discussion by sincerely thanking
all who responded.

The array of answers, here and privately, was impressive to say the
least and ran the gamut from really helpful, typical ham responses of
"what I'd do," to some that were basically "you are an idiot for even
asking such a question without a certified engineer and thinking you
could possibly put up a tower without mega-money."

I do thank all for the response, regardless of the side you took. Some
very fine information came my way and the few responses that were
incredibly negative or amazingly over-engineered also helped, in their
own way.

This is not planned to be a 150 foot commercial tower, engineered to
death with every possible legal contingency figured and refigured - it
is simply a relatively small ham setup - like 99% of us have -  on
nine acres out in the country, designed to handle a relatively small
antenna load (per the manufacturer's specs).

I sincerely appreciate all the help and I believe I now know exactly
what I will do here. It will be done well, it will be very safe, and
it will be very permanent. Thanks again all.

Michael Goins, k5wmg
Professor, Writing
University of Texas at San Antonio







On Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 9:40 PM, Jim Thomson <Jim.thom at telus.net> wrote:
> gents
>
> When installing free standing towers on ROCK,  you have a few options.   My buddy has a huge trylon,  that is located on solid rock.
> Instead of messing about  with jack hammers,  he used TRYLON'S    suggested method and used  rock anchor bolts.
>
> Three  holes were drilled into the rock,  about  2"  diam  x  XXX feet deep.    Anchor's inserted and packed  with special epoxy goop
> [ NON shrinkable epoxy]   On some trylon towers,   2 x  anchor rods  are used for each tower leg  [  6 x anchor's in total.. and 5' long]
>
> We also used the same technique at the Telco I worked at for 34 yrs...  for  microwave tower's and also cell towers... located on remote
> mountain tops [ read  100++ mph winds + 1-3"  of radial ice]    Rock anchors also used [ usually in pair's]   for guy anchors, for guyed microwave
> tower's.
>
> Plan B  [ also from Trylon]   is  to use huge  jumbo size  HILTI  anchors.    These  things  are  are  24"  long  x 2"  diam ... and made  spec
> for anchoring towers !     I have installed thousands of hilti anchor's  at work, yr ago.. and usually in both floors and also hundreds of em
> in the concrete  ceiling's  [+ elevator shafts etc]    We  hung  thousands of lbs of cable  runways  on small hilti anchors, suspended from the ceilings.
>
> These day's  everything has to be seismic rated in BC.  In the last few years, all our  equipment bays [19"-30" wide] are heavy duty steel
> with these monster size  hilti's  in the floor.    When that earthquake in wash state hit us.. a few yrs ago.... they held just fine... didn't budge.
>
> Didn't even know they made these  super  jumbo size ones for tower's.   The internal bolts  for em are  1" diam  x 30"  long.  The anchor itself
> is  2"  diam   x 24"  long... and requires a special  hilti  drill.    These 2"  x 24" long hilti's  I believe, are made for CONCRETE... dunno if they can also be used in
> rock..or not.     The idea of em is so an  existing concrete  base can  be re-used  on another tower.  All this info is on Trylon's  site.. or just phone em.
>
> later....... Jim   VE7RF
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