Tower Install

[Redbeard U812]

I always dig a hole big enough for a dead body , just in case.

Shhhhhhhsh! I don't want anyone to know where I keep those.....

 

[Redbeard U812]

If he bolts it to the house as he suggested it won't move. Your problem was because you tried to make it freestanding. My first installation was a piece of 3 inch black iron pipe in the ground about 18 inches with a very small amount of concrete. The soil was heavy red clay. That pipe was bolted to the house eve. Another piece of 2 inch black iron pipe was sleeved inside collars welded to the 3 inch. This allowed me to raise and lower the antenna. I had a Wilson Shooting Star about 32 feet to the boom and I was wide open to the winds for about 270 compass degrees. It lasted for years until I got a tower. Anything very long WILL move in the wind and eventually loosen in the soil unless you provide a second anchor point near the top.

To be honest......I got in a hurry. My eyes where bigger than my stomach. Once started, realized I needed/ wanted more. With that mind set I got what I asked for .....more problems. Realized I wanted to be at least 1 wave length above. So ended up with a little more...38'. I had limited resources/ materials. Everything is scrap mostly.

Wanted to pass on my bad judgments to keep others aware. Had to modify and improve my design. Have 28 years of perpetual motion in structural/ piping construction. There will always be some voodoo out there. I can always be used as a bad example.