If anyone is considering a U.S. Towers heavy duty crank-up, this
information might be helpful, in terms of what it might cost.
I ordered the heavy duty 55 ft crank-up with the motorized winch in the
Fall of 2014. In retrospect, I'm glad I ordered the motorized version and the
tower raising feature. U.S. Towers told me there as a 10 week lead time on the
tower. As it turned out, the tower was ready a week ahead of schedule.
A snow storm was forecast, and we were nearing the Christmas vacation shut
down for the manufacturing plant. One of my in-laws had a 20 ft trailer and
made the trip with me to U.S. Tower's Kansas facility to pick up the tower.
the personnel were very helpful in loading the tower. It was scary driving
home in the blinding snow storm, but everything went smoothly.
I hired an experienced contractor to do the cement work. I was amazed that
he was able to dig the 5 x 5 x 7 hole so perfectly. The amount of cement
ordered was exactly enough! I'm glad I did not try to do this myself and hired
a pro.
I hit a rock layer when installing the ground rods, so some had to be cut
off at 4 ft. The others were 8 ft in length. The rotary hammer was very much
worth the rental fee. I was surprised that the grounding system with
arrestors was as much as it was. Anyway, here's the breakdown:
Tower and raising fixture $8,500
shipping for base plate 75
Gas for hauling __ 200
$8,775
Foundation work and rebar: $1,775
Grounding system (8 8ft rods, 7 4ft rods, copper conductors, arrestors for
rotator and 3 coax inputs)
$1,300
Total cost (a year ago) was $11,850.
There were other expenses for a new rotator, coax, mast, bearing and tree
trimmer services, but the basic cost of the tower installation as $11,850.
In short, I'm very pleased with the workmanship on the tower and it's
performance. Also, the neighbors were fine with the installation. In it's
nested position, the antenna is below the forest canopy and no one even knows
it's there.
Norm
KE0ZT
Rolla, MO
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