[TowerTalk] Calculations for a 43 Foot Vertical base...

[Dave Tipton, W5DMT]

So tonight, while attempting to pound a 54 inch piece of Galvanized pipe
into the ground, I hit something that felt like rock..  Upon digging down
with a post hole digger, I discovered someone had buried at least a small
pile of bricks (Literally the same bricks that they built my house with 50
years ago) about 20 inches down.

 

Instead of excavating my entire yard, I decided to just stop at 20 inches,
and dig out at the bottom about 6 inches around the bottom of the hole.
(Think a hole that is an inverted mushroom)  I think proceeded to lop off
part of the 1 ½ Inch galvanized pipe, burying 20 inches of it, and leaving
22 inches exposed, which is 3 inches higher than the directions call for,
but I’m adding a DX Engineering UNUN at the bottom of the thing, mounted to
that same pipe.  Once end will connect to the radial plate, and the other to
the 43 foot vertical.  (Which is a telescoping Fiberglass whip with a wire
in it, if anybody cares.)

 

To my point, and question
  Does anyone see this becoming an issue? I know
it’s only about 120lbs of concrete in the whole, but the soil is left
unmoved below ground where the “Feet” are, and I still have a pretty
substantial amount of 2 inch (Outer Diameter) pipe below the ground.

 

It’s not like I can undo it at this point, short of digging it up and
tossing it, but I did think I should run it by the experts.  Final note..
The vertical is rated to about 40MPH and if I think we’re getting more than
that, I really need to go lay it down anyway.

 

Thanks,
Dave

 

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Dave Tipton, W5DMT --  <http://www.w5dmt.com/> http://www.w5dmt.com

(940) 239-7368 or (214) 690-2512

Has it really been 25 years of Ham Radio fun?

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