Some projects I have done

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first five are for a tower base for a 35' tower.  I will have to add pictures of the tower later.  nothing special 1/4" angle and plate.  I don't know why but I TIG the angle together and ran 7018 on the plate and plugs.  the tower is Rohn 25. Attached Images
Reply:here are the rest of the pictures.  it is bracketed to the house at 14', the base is about 9 tenths of a yard plus it is tied to the stem wall and the slabs around it.  the last picture makes it look taller than it really is.  I don't have the picture but ended up painting it with galvi paint. Attached Images
Reply:pics of the truck are the aluminum rack i built about 4 years ago,  super lite, and handles 1500 lbs of lumber (yeah I actually weighted, no there was a scale on the fork lift that loaded it).  had to take the turns slow.  the bumper is 3/16 plate that I got of a job for free,  measured it up and scored it, broke it then welded the corners, weighs a ton! Attached Images
Reply:I've got a 50 foot to put up mainly for TV reception from Dallas and FM. Tired of paying Directv huge amounts for crap. How deep did you dig your base? It looks like it only went down a couple of feet. Why did you secure the  tower to the house? Did you use bagged pre-mix concrete?Do you have any more pictures of your base installation? I like it and think I'll copy it for mine.Thanks.Glenn VE6GJTSign on East Texas payphone: Calls to God 40 cents......it's a local call...
Reply:I chose to secure to the house to help stabilize the tower.  free standing the tower is only rate to a couple of square feet of antenna.  plus why not the house is right there.  here is a great web site for info on the rohn towers.http://www.alabamatower.com/rohn_25.asp  click on the links at the right and you can get the spec info.  i think for a free standing unguyed tower, no house bracket the max antenna surface area for a 70 mph wind is around 1 foot.  also with what you spec, you will need 2 yards  of concrete.  my footing is 28" deep.  I had a yard of 6 sack delivered, to much to mix, plus cost was less than mixing bags.I will try and take a few more pictures today, including the house bracket.jim
Reply:Thanks a lot the site is very helpful. I'm not sure about ordering concrete here. It comes in a $220 per yard. Get's a little expensive. May have to do the old cement mixer 3:2:1 shovels.I also want to stick my 2 meter rig antenna on this tower. Then I can tune into the local net.Did you make your own house backet?Glenn.Sign on East Texas payphone: Calls to God 40 cents......it's a local call...
Reply:where are you that mud is $220 a yard!! must be WAAYYY out of town. Last quote I got was under $110/yd up here, $25 truck fee for over 20mi
Reply:Catch any of those hot air balloons ?
Reply:Nice base, that is strong.
Reply:here are a couple of pictures of the house bracket.  nothing fancy just some 1x1 and 2x2 1/4' angle  for the 2x2 that is attached to the fascia board i had to cut the ends down so that it fit with the slope of the roof.  the center of the tower is offset from the center of the ridge line by about 2 inches.  i centered the 2x2 on the tower and welder the 1x1 off center on that piece .I did all of the measuring after i put up the first two sections so that i could make sure the tower was plumb.  works great held of in the 50 mph wind gust we had last week.KF6OWC is my old call  my new call is W7OWC  I am fairly active on most amatuer bands when I have time.no i didnt catch any   but looks pretty cool.  they have an annual hot air balloon race each year here in reno, it goes on for about 3-5 days  most of the time they drift over the house Attached Images
Reply:Jim:I've brought this back up as I have a couple of questions about it as I'm getting closer to doing mine.First, is the plate 1/4 inch thick as well as the angle iron for the base?Second, why did you stand the tower two inches off the ground? The plate appears to be at the top of the angle iron rather than on the concrete slab.Thanks for all the pix on this. It's going to be real useful real soon......Cheers.Glenn.VE6GJTSign on East Texas payphone: Calls to God 40 cents......it's a local call...
Reply:My guess is so he can plumb the tower. That's pretty much the way we always had columns for buildings and poles for signs and lights done up. You can then run a nut down on the anchor bolts and put your base plate down on top and level it out or plumb the column by adjusting the nuts like leveling legs. You crank down the top nuts to lock everything in place. About 1/2 the time we'd grout under the base plate with nonshrink, especially if there was going to be a heavy load on it. Lighter stuff like smaller signs and light poles, we just left them as is and double nutted the top.I missed this the 1st time around. Form work and rebar are a bit odd. We never left bar sticking out unless it was to tie into another pour, and the diagonal pins would have been a SOB to get out in out ground without having to dig them all up..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:KF6OWC- Saw your profile picture on this thread...... a forest fire..... just wonderin' if your a wildland firefighter or not?
Reply:Originally Posted by DSWMy guess is so he can plumb the tower. That's pretty much the way we always had columns for buildings and poles for signs and lights done up. You can then run a nut down on the anchor bolts and put your base plate down on top and level it out or plumb the column by adjusting the nuts like leveling legs. You crank down the top nuts to lock everything in place. About 1/2 the time we'd grout under the base plate with nonshrink, especially if there was going to be a heavy load on it.
Reply:DSW:Form work and rebar are a bit old? How would you do it now?Thanks for the explanation. Now it makes more sense.Glenn.Sign on East Texas payphone: Calls to God 40 cents......it's a local call...
Reply:Hi:A grounding strap would be a good addition too. There may be one but, I don't see it.Jeff
Reply:JIm:What is the measurement of your base plate?What size holes did you use in your angle iron base?Did you use galvanized bolts out of the concrete?Thanks.Glenn.Sign on East Texas payphone: Calls to God 40 cents......it's a local call...
Reply:Originally Posted by StampederDSW:Form work and rebar are a bit old? How would you do it now?Thanks for the explanation. Now it makes more sense.Glenn.
Reply:well this is probably a bit late but I should do some explaining.  The footing ennded up being just shy of a yard, the tower is house bracketed at 18', and extends another 18 above that.  it has survived 2 winters now in windy Reno without a problem,  it supports a couple wire antennas and some other VHF UHF antennas as well.  the rebar sticking out of the forms ties into rebar in the new slab.  it the picture I havent poured it yet, I just wanted to be able to tie everything together.  it was easy to pull the forms, unscrew all the stakes, twist and pull them,  then take a old wood chisel being carefull not to hit the concrete and split the form right off.  It took me about 20 minutes to strip everything.  what isnt shown is the grounding stuff.. three 8' rod driven into the ground and tied together.  yes i built the base to be leveled, actually worked really well.oh and yes I am a ham, and yes I am a firefighter, the pic was from my USFS days not i work for CDF.Jim