In a message dated 6/30/2006 7:43:32 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
towertalk-request@contesting.com writes:
> As mentioned previously I am stick-building (like a giant erector set) a
new
AN-Wireless HD-80. I will be posting photos at:
http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a317/k0hps/Tower%20Project/
if anyone cares to watch it go up and the antenna stack go on it. We just
started digging the foundation yesterday. It's a pad and pier foundation
(like an inverted tee) with a 9'x9'x1.5' pad and a 5'x5'x3.5' pier.
> Has anyone on here ever dug one of these by digging the 5'x5' hole first
and
then undercutting the bottom to create the pad? If so, I'd sure appreciate
hearing how you did the digging for the undercut. We got the 5'x5' hole no
problem but our experiments (so far) with the undercutting haven't been very
successful. We are in clay soil, fortunately with no rocks. If things
don't go better today we will probably dig out the entire 9'x9' hole, pour
the pad, form the pier and backfill around it.
IMHO the tower base designs that utilize some sort of
undercutting/belled out at the bottom are stupid and potentially dangerous. In
some designs
the base is 6-9 feet deep and being that far down to hand dig the
undercutting is illegal under OSHA rules and dangerous in any case.
I know there's an engineering reason for it but it was designed by
an engineer in an air-conditioned office who never has to be out in the field
to install one. My suggestion would be to skip the undercutting and
compensate by making the hole a little bigger. It's easier and safer too!
Cheers,
Steve K7LXC
TOWER TECH -
Professional tower services for hams
Cell: 206-890-4188
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