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The Tower Project - Getting,
Digging, Installing and Raising the Tower
I finally decided it was time to get a proper antenna farm
going with Solar Cycle 24 just around the
corner (although it sure has been a long corner). I knew I
wanted to start with a tower that had crank-up and tilt-over
capability because of my desires to experiment with different antenna
designs along with my homebrewing approach to things. We decided to go
with US Tower's HDX-555, which is a 55'
tower that cranks down to 22'
for those heavy winds that ripple down the Wasatch front - 50 mph winds
at the home QTH is not uncommon. I figured, with the addition of a 15'
mast to the tower, this would provide a good boom height (65' above
ground level) for a half-wavelength target on 10, 15 and 20 meters.
The only draw back is the tower will be about 175' from the
shack, which is fine for HF, but means the VHF/UHF/SHF farm will need
to be positioned on the roof above the ham shack to reduce the
transmission line length to 35' or less.
Video Part 1:
Finding, Getting and Positioning the Tower
With the HDX-555 selling for around $5K these days, I decided to go the
used market route. I found a tower on QTH.com that was located in
northern AZ.
After checking several shipping Companies on costs, my friend
Josh and I decided it would be great fun to make a 1,000 mile road trip
over a weekend to pick the tower up! We rented a 18' trailer,
connected it to the Tahoe, and off we went... The video to the left
shows more detail on getting the tower off the trailer and in position
for the installation.
Video Part 2: Digging the Hole and Setting the Foundation
So we under-estimated the work effort
required, BEFORE, we could even start digging the hole. After
some initial research, we discovered would have to jump over
a set of hurdles to get the building permit, engineering
certifications, etc. Fortunately, back in 2003, the Utah
State Governor, John Huntsman, adopted the Federal Statue PRB-1, as Utah Bill H.B. 79, which
essentially allows any ham operator in the State to be exempt from any
County or local municipalities zoning restrictions on radio towers and
antennas. This clearly recognizes the importance of Amateur Radio
Service as a critical element of our State-wide Emergency
Communication system. So, this now means, I can install
several 200' foot towers in my backyard with all my antennas
regardless of what my neighbors, my city (Cottonwood
Heights), or my
county (Salt Lake), think about the installation. The good
news was that both the County and the City are very "ham radio
friendly". In fact, myself and a group of local amateurs went on to
gain support from the local Mayor and received City funding to design,
develop and deploy an Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
at City Hall
that is ran by local ham radio operators!
Video
Part 3: Raising the Tower
It finally got up.....including a
M2 KT36XA 6-element tribander beam! In the first month I
worked over 35 different Countries, so needless to say, I am VERY
pleased with its performance. I also rented a backhoe this
fall to dig the trenches to lay my copper ground strap for lighting
protection which will most likely get in place next Spring.
The next addition to the tower will be a
M2 40M2L 2-element 40-meter beam and the addition of a red
tower light.
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