A while back, I described the horror story I found at a client’s Atlanta QTH–his 90-foot Rohn 25G tower with two of the legs totally rusted out. And only one set of guys ever installed, with one of THOSE wires missing! Amazingly enough, the tower was still standing, on one leg and the Z-bracing. This week, Joe and I went back to fix it, as best as possible, given the circumstances. There are two pictures, BEFORE and AFTER images. The odd shape and size of concrete block base are the direct result of two things: 1) my wanting to ensure the concrete abutted the chimney base and bonded to it; 2) the hole size after the client dug the base out in my absence (this required a bit more concrete than my original estimate). We were also faced with installing an elevated guy post in the yard (replacing the tree, to which the tower was originally guyed, which had fallen), and then installing two screw-in earth anchors. The guy post was truly tough, as we had to dig the 12-inch diameter hole with a two-man auger, almost always an unpleasant tool to use, made even more so by the yard’s soil, undisturbed for over 20+ years. Those same conditions existed with the screw-in anchors. I had to dig out little “deadman tops” (filling them with concrete) surrounding them, as we were never able to get the anchors fully screwed in to the ground. Literal back-breaking labor, all right.
In 30 days or so, on our next trip, we’ll install real guy brackets, real EHS guy cables with the proper hardware, then remove the broken TH-6, and install a new F-12 XR-4.
Local work returns this week, along with a likely trip to Ohio next.
stay tuned…
