[TowerTalk] Guy anchors in shallow soil

[Palmer C Byrne]

I have a 50' Roan 25G  tilt over tower that I installed using 8" MILSPEC
Anchors. http://milspecanchors.com . Pull out resistance is 9,000 pounds in
hard pan soil. They will drive through or around granite and sandstone rocks
which are common in northern Arkansas. Using an electric jack hammer took
less than 2 minutes to drive each anchor.   You can use the same tool to
drive your ground rods while you are at it.

 

Regards

Palmer W7NMD

Mountain Home, AR

Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 17:27:44 -0500

 

 

From: Linux Mercedes <linuxmercedes at gmail.com>

To: "towertalk at contesting.com" <towertalk at contesting.com>

Subject: [TowerTalk] Guy anchors in shallow soil

Message-ID: <54024FE0.6060404 at gmail.com>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

 

So I have been trying to put up a 50' 25G tower for a little while now. 

I bought some 6'x8" screw anchors thinking they'd go into the clay soil
pretty easily, and they do...for about two feet. Then they hit rock; I am
pretty sure it's bedrock or something similar from talking to my neighbors.
Obviously that's hardly enough earth for a screw anchor to hold on to.

 

What are my options here? Looking at Rohn's drawings, I am entirely sure
that going down 4' for a concrete base is out of the question. I am
currently thinking I'll bust a hole about 8" around down maybe 3', dig an
angled trench for the bar of the screw anchor, and set it in the hole with a
bag or two of concrete. Hand digging that hole doesn't sound fun, though.

 

For what it's worth, I'm in central Missouri.

 

Thanks!

--Nathan