[TowerTalk] Rebar or No Rebar

[Dennis W0JX]

I have had Universal towers of varying heights since 1977. I am now in my 5th location using these tower sections. Three tower installations used a 26 inch base and two used 30 inch bases. In each instance, I have never used rebar although in one installation, I did toss some steel pieces into the concrete.

I even did two minimum installations by boring three 4 foot deep holes for the steel stub legs plug some excavation in between to get down to three feet. This was in South Dakota where the ground does freeze deep.

The antennas ranged from a TH6 on a 60 foot  tower, then to a stack of 20, 15, and 10 meter beams on a 70 foot tower, and the latest is an 80 foot tower with a 30 inch base and a Hy-Gain TH-11 on top. I have never seen any kind of cracks in the five foundations I poured.

Incidentally, in two of the installations using 26 inch bases, I made my own steel stub mounting legs using square steel tubing and angle iron all assembled with steel bolts. This worked fine.

Lastly, you must use stainless steel bolts and nuts with these towers except for the connection with the base stubs. The galvanized bolts will corrode quickly.

73, Dennis W0JX
Milan, Ohio