[TowerTalk] Galvanic Protection of Guy Anchors

[Jim Thomson]

On a side note,   a  buddy across  town buried the  1st  3 feet of his  galvanized tower  directly into the  ground, adjacent to his garage. 
This  was at a rental home,  so the idea  was not to pour a  concrete base.  Tower was bracketed to the garage, at about  8  ft above ground.

Tower  was temp guyed, and was  50 ft tall.    After  10 years the tower was removed.    The portion that was embedded in the soil was almost dissolved !  
Depending on whether the  soil is acidic .....or alkaline plays  a big part in the demise  of galvanized material  in soil. 

IMO,  a better method to  terminate  guy lines is to use a   steel  tube embedded in concrete.     I did that back in the early 80s, with a thick flat plate  welded to the
4.5 inch OD tubing.  Plate was punched with 3 x 1 inch holes.   Inside of the tube is  filled with concrete..and slightly  domed on top.   A buddy also uses this scheme, using 6 inch OD tubing  for his
120 ft tower.      Another buddy uses  10 inch tubing for his 190 ft tower.   Tubes are typ   3-5 ft  above ground.    I have also seen  H  and  I beams used.   In all  these cases, the tubes were  hot dipped 
galvanized....ditto  with   H  and  I beams. 

Jim    VE7RF