[TowerTalk] Tower questions

[Steve Maki]

We use Polecrete often, when it's advantageous to do a dig and pole 
install on the same day. Amazing stuff. We've been setting 90' poles 
that way on a project where time is of the essence. In some cases where 
hole cave-ins have occurred and the excavations have expanded as a 
result, we've simply bit the (financial) bullet and used more foam, and 
the foundation seems as strong as concrete. Or as strong as needed at least.

If time is on your side though (IOW, if you have enough of it), and a 
concrete truck can get in OK, I'd recommend concrete because it's 
cheaper and proven long term.

-Steve K8LX

On 11/3/2011 6:22 PM, Michael Goins wrote:

> Finally got the hole done today for the HG-52-SS tower going up here. I am
> up on the side of a hill and the antenna is to be a two element quad. The
> hole is 5 feet deep and is in solid rock. Not shale or scattered rocks,
> solid. No dirt whatsoever. It is essentially a five foot hole drilled just
> slightly over the diameter of the factory one inch rebar welded base for
> the tower.  With rock under the tower, it is going nowhere from a
> compression point. With the base five feet into solid rock, it cannot ever
> tip over.
>
> Has anyone ever used polecrete? I have access to it and it is now used to
> set roadside billboards, light poles, telephone/power poles, etc. and I'm
> considering that instead of regular concrete because this hole is a stable
> as any possibly ever could be. The factory base is almost five feet tall,
> is made of one inch rebar that is welded and it touches the sides of the
> rock hole at all three sides, already preventing any lateral movement. I
> seriously doubt that if I simply repacked the rock dust back and wet it
> that the base would ever move. I am looking at the polecrete as a serious
> possibility as the fill.
>
> Again, it's a solid rock hole, factory one inch rebar base, and will only
> have a quad on it. Any help would be much appreciated.
>
> Mike, k5wmg