Tower Poll

[alaska120]

Alright, I finally collected enough tower parts to actually make a tower. No easy feat in Alaska...you know how hard it is to get a 10' piece of Rohn in my PO box???
My genesis of this thread is this...how high do ya think I can go with an unsupported (or limited support) tower?
Rohn says 40 feet but that was with a 4'x4'x4' block of concrete. That ain't happening (see above on shipping difficulty).
I have 5 feet of tower sunk in the ground with 5 feet of concrete in a hole about 20" around. I intend on putting a bracket up about 15' up on the side of the garage but it will still end up being about 30' unsupported. I have 50' total of tower and will have the equivalent of a TA-33 and a dipole to install.
I suppose I don't need to put it all up but hate to see a section left over.
Thoughts?

 

[Melensdad]

Can you put up any guy wires to support it? I'd think those would be the most economical way to support the tower, and rolls of stainless cable should fit in your PO Box.

 

[Jim_S]

I had a similar setup at our home in Dallas before we moved to Virginia.

40' Rohn 25, house bracket at 14 feet, rotor inside tower and 10' of mast above the tower with a TH-3. Seemed to do ok but after a couple of years I noticed that the top of the tower was bowed out of line with the base a few inches. I took the tower down when we moved and the top 2 1/2 sections were slightly bent. We were able to reassemble it straight by turning the sections. It is now 80 feet with 3 sets of guys with torque arms.

I would worry about high winds in your area plus the extra weight and wind load of an ice coating if you can't get at least one set of guys.

Have you thought about using the legs of the dipole for two of the guys and a regular guy for the third leg? Even if short spaced they would be a lot better than nothing.

Jim
K4REL

 

[alaska120]

I like the idea of running the guy/dipole thing. I guess the reason for not running the guys is that they take up valuable real estate and I wanted a clean install. I could probably run two of them though as the wind usually runs SE and NW. About how high do you think? I have some wire and turn buckles I could use. What about duck bills? I really don't want to dig holes and pour more concrete if I can help it.