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Re: [TowerTalk] new tower help - long post

To: "Tower Talk List" <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] new tower help - long post
From: "Jim Brown" <jim@audiosystemsgroup.com>
Date: Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:21:19 -0700
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
On Fri, 7 Aug 2009 14:57:55 -0500, Michael Goins wrote:

>Conditions are:

You're going to get a lof of good specific advice on tower 
construction and installation from others. I'll simply add these 
thoughts from my own recent experience. I have a lot of acreage, 
but  a very small footprint into which I could fit and turn an 
antenna, even a relatively small one. And, like you, I didn't want 
to do anything too big that would contribute a lot of wind load 
and increase the engineering requirements of the tower. 

What I chose was a 3-el SteppIR, and on good advice from others, 
put it on a Rohn 25G. In addition to its obvious performance 
virtues, this antenna is relatively small and light, and presents 
relatively little wind load. It's easy to work with on a tower, 
and a strong person can handle it alone. No, it isn't cheap. But 
it's worth it. 

As to guying. Your XYL may not like to see guys, but she also 
won't like to see the tower and antenna as a tangled mess on the 
ground after a big storm. Bite the bullet and do it right. An 
awfully good start is a really solid concrete base. Rohn 
recommends 1 cu yd with a form factor of 30 inches by 30 inches by 
4 ft deep, with 6 inches of gravel under the concrete, and with 
rebar in the concrete. That's what I did. It's literally two tons 
of concrete, and it means that the base of the tower, at least, 
isn't going ANYWHERE. :)  A beefy base like that contributes to 
making whatever you do more stable, and means that you might get 
away with less in the way of guys. 

Another point on the ugliness factor -- a tower and antenna are 
far less visible if they are painted in dull, dark colors. Mine is 
painted dark brown, and almost disappears in the trees. The 
SteppIR is mostly dark green, and I painted the aluminum parts 
black. That also helps. You can reduce the visibility of the guy 
wires by making them black, either Phillystran or painted EHS. 

73,

Jim K9YC 


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