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[TowerTalk] Digging a 5'x5'x7' hole in sandy soil

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Subject: [TowerTalk] Digging a 5'x5'x7' hole in sandy soil
From: "Jim Thomson" <jim.thom@telus.net>
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 00:31:13 -0700
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 01:16:53 +0000
From: <n0tt1@juno.com>
To: TowerTalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Digging a 5'x5'x7' hole in sandy soil
 
On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 02:28:30 +0000 Brian Alsop <alsopb@nc.rr.com> writes:
> On Long Island, we had sandy soil.  The 40'tower EZway wonder post 
> was 
> installed.  It was an unsatisfactory installation.  The wonder post 
> had 
> to be braced when cranking tilting the tower up or down.  Not doing 
> so 
> caused it to end up 30 degrees out of plumb.

The sand there was most likely beach sand composed of rounded
grains that can "slip by" each other.  The fine sand, recommended
to me by EZ way in ~1973, has "sharp" grains that really pack
together and leave virtually no voids if it is "washed in" with water.
> 
> Sandy soil requires the assessment and recommendation from a local 
> professional engineer who knows the local soil conditions.

Yes.  If there is any doubt.

73,
Charlie, N0TT

##  what may well work would be either a flared concrete base.... or a  T base. 
If the base of the hole was say  8x8 x 2 ft thick  slab of concrete, with a
5x5 x 7 vertical column of concrete on top of it, I doubt it would go anywhere.
Of course the entire mess  would have to have loads of rebar  tying the two
together.   The tower falls over when its CG is beyond the edge of the 8x8
base.   A pro engineer could figure this all out.  Done right,  you should be 
able
to put the completed assy  on a flat level parking lot....and it still  wont 
fall over.  

##  You could also make just the top a lot bigger, like 8x8, etc. For the tower 
to lean
over, the expanded top would have to  compress the sand on one side. 

## Putting a base in sandy soil has been done b4, so this is not rocket 
science.  But it 
has to be designed right. 

Jim   VE7RF  


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