(looking
for the picture for this one...)
N0RQ/KC5POV Tower Page 3
(looking
for the picture for this one...)
Yes, the sides will cave in and dirt will slide in from the top. Yes, it takes a fair amount of shoveling!
We waited for several weeks -- working on the rebar cage, etc. It was longer than ideal, as we had a number of minor wall cave-ins. Oh well, we know how shovels work!
(And yes, it was hot in August in Texas! And no, there isn't any air circulation in a hole in the ground!)
(looking
for the picture for this one...)
Yep, the YL likes finish work. She leveled the floor (note the fan!). After leveling, we used a couple bags of sand, and then set the concrete blocks. Instead of staking the blocks down, we used rebar tie wire and tied all the blocks together. I don't know which is better or if either is necessary, but when the concrete flowed (next page), we were concerned about something getting pushed out of place.
Oh yeah -- only put one or two blocks in for each leg -- then level them -- then add the remaining blocks.
Oh a non-ham note... take the opportunity to lay down on your back in your roughly 6 foot deep hole -- 6 feet under, as they say -- and look up at the sky -- and think about being buried. Ham radio is great, but it won't last forever. Eternity is real -- don't just 'not think about it' -- do something about it. You can read about it at Eternity. Are you ready? Now back to ham radio...
Not shown -- the rebar cage! What a pain that thing was. I'd just as soon not remember it at all. The only good suggestion I have is to follow the Trylon specs (which we did).
It only took the two of us to tip the base into the hole -- not really very
hard.
The only tricky part was what the legs would land on. The picture below shows that we used a left-over piece of OSB, about 5' x 4', sitting flat on the concrete blocks. Worked great!
There she is! Obviously we did not leave that sheet of wood under the legs.
A skill saw quickly cut it into pieces which were then easy to remove.
After the legs were sitting on the blocks, we used thin pieces of metal under the legs to level the tower. We used a good 4' level, and put it on the top of the stubs, which are on the outside of the legs of the bottom section.
I don't know of an easier way to get it level -- and being level is A Good Thing!
If you're off a little at the bottom, you'll be off by quite a bit at the top!
The
finished product, ready for concrete.