Thread: Antennae base
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Old December 16th 06, 03:18 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.homebrew
[email protected] mcalhoun@ksu.edu is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 58
Default Antennae base

"rcklfrtz" writes:
Could use some help please. I have a tip over used tower. I want to install
it and don't know what depth and width the hole has to be and do I have to
use rebar. Can someone help me? Thanks.


I am NOT an expert, but I can tell you what I did for the base of
my 20-foot (when lowered) tip-over/crank-up tower: I purchased
an 8-inch diameter 6-foot long pole ("corner fence post") treated
against termites, cut it in half, sank the two halves side by side
until only 3-4 inches showed above ground, placed a five-sided box
made of treated 2-by boards (2x4 around the sides and probably (I
don't remember) a 2x12 on top) over the top, bolted the sides to
the posts, and mounted the base on the top with some long bolts
straight through the 2x12 and down into the posts.

The above base is about a foot away from an outer corner of my front
porch, and above that porch is an upper deck with a 4-foot-high
railing (railing is maybe 14 feet above the tower base). My tower
came with a kinda-Y-shaped gizmo probably made to attach to the side
of a house to hold the tower upright, so I attached that gizmo to
the railing (after reforcing the railing both directions).

I use a spur-geared (? May not be the right word, but it MUST be
cranked to raise AND lower) crank gizmo (my brain must be giving
out - I can't think of the correct words!) and long cable for
lifting and lowering the tower (always when the tower is cranked
to its lowest position, of course).

Installable by one person, no concrete, no rebar, not "engineered"
in the usual sense, but I live in the country with no houses nearby
so I didn't have to follow any "code", and I feel quite comfortable
with it. (If I didn't, I wouldn't have done it that way!)

--
--Myron A. Calhoun.
Five boxes preserve our freedoms: soap, ballot, witness, jury, and cartridge
NRA Life Member and Rifle, Pistol, & Home Firearm Safety Certified Instructor
Certified Instructor for the Kansas Concealed-Carry Handgun license