Help me dig a hole. Literally

Realtor MA · Sep 23, 2010

I'm wondering if there's anyone on NES that does excavating work. I'm still working on my ham tower project and I'm ready to dig the hole. It needs to be about 5' x 5' x 6' deep. Obviously I'm willing to pay. The site is in Waltham.
I also need someone who can do some tree work for me. Mostly clearing some overhead limbs so a climber is probably the best bet.

PM or reply to this post if you can help or if you know of someone who can.
Thanks in advance.

Kevlar · Sep 23, 2010

I can't help with your request, but the thread title reminded me of this...

atmay · Sep 24, 2010

I know you're probably looking for someone with heavy equipment, but I own a shovel and am perfectly happy being paid in beer and pizza.

boilermaker · Sep 24, 2010

atmay said:
I own a shovel and am perfectly happy being paid in beer and pizza.

do you realize how big a 5'x5'x6' hole is? I am all for helping someone out but that would take A LOT of pizza and beer [wink]

Rep to you for the offer

T(1)of(3) · Sep 24, 2010

I usually only did the holes 2'x6'x6'.

atmay · Sep 25, 2010

boilermaker said:
do you realize how big a 5'x5'x6' hole is? I am all for helping someone out but that would take A LOT of pizza and beer
Rep to you for the offer

What can I say, I don't have much going on on a daily basis, and could use some excitement in my life.

HooVooLoo · Sep 25, 2010

5x5x6? Good lord man, you're putting up a monster of a tower!

radioman · Sep 25, 2010

Make sure you separate the RF ground from the lightning ground or you'll get big bang!!

Realtor MA · Sep 25, 2010

Atmay, thanks for then offer. If I have no other options I'll let you know.
Radioman, I'm grounding the tower legs and I was planning on bonding to my rf ground which is out side the shack

Bad13Luck · Sep 25, 2010

Make sure to call dig safe.......................

radioman · Sep 30, 2010

Realtor MA said:
Atmay, thanks for then offer. If I have no other options I'll let you know.
Radioman, I'm grounding the tower legs and I was planning on bonding to my rf ground which is out side the shack

Make sure the leg grounding does not go through your footing in anyway. It must go around the concrete!! If it goes through the concrete in anyway and lightning hits, your footing will turn to dust. Keep all re-bar encapsulated within the concrete and away from all grounding. The process of grounding a tower goes all the way back to Ben Franklin. It hasn't changed much but is very involved and complicated to the novice. Be careful!!

PS- Do not bond the leg ground(lightning ground) to your RF ground. In the event of a strike lightning will be directed into your shack instead of the ground. The grounding systems need to be kept separate and share no similarities in design. Please consult a professional.

Realtor MA · Sep 30, 2010

Thanks for the info. Hole is finished. I hired a landscaper to do it for me. Expensive but it was back breaking work. Working on the rebar cage and base. Hope to get the cement poured next week. I'm way over engineering the cement base and steel. The tower is on a grade and I want to be certain that it will stay put in the heftiest of winds.

radioman said:
Make sure the leg grounding does not go through your footing in anyway. It must go around the concrete!! If it goes through the concrete in anyway and lightning hits, your footing will turn to dust. Keep all re-bar encapsulated within the concrete and away from all grounding. The process of grounding a tower goes all the way back to Ben Franklin. It hasn't changed much but is very involved and complicated to the novice. Be careful!!

PS- Do not bond the leg ground(lightning ground) to your RF ground. In the event of a strike lightning will be directed into your shack instead of the ground. The grounding systems need to be kept separate and share no similarities in design. Please consult a professional.

Realtor MA · Dec 1, 2010

Here's an update. They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

cockpitbob · Dec 2, 2010

Realtor MA said:
I'm way over engineering the cement base and steel.

I'm no expert, but I won't argue with you. [grin]

That's one beefy pad. I think you'll rest easy in the high winds.

Realtor MA · Dec 2, 2010

There's more than 7 yards of concrete in that base. Because it's on a hill there is a percentage of the base that's not below grade but I still have at least 5 yards of buried concrete. Not to mention a whole bunch of rebar. I never realized how much concrete costs!!

ETA The tradesman I had help me with the pour was fantastic. If anybody needs any concrete work done I'll get you his info.

Martlet · Dec 3, 2010

Go big or go home.

Realtor MA · Jan 7, 2011

After about 5 months of planning and a ton of work I'm ready to raise the tower. I figure I've got over 200 hours invested in this little project so sorry if I seem like a little kid. Unless something goes wrong, Saturday is the big day. Here's a photo I took with my cell phone early this morning on my way to work.

Everything is wired and ready. The SWR on the uhf/vhf and WARC band antennas is great. The SWR on the tri-bander is up around 3:1 depending upon the band. I know it will change when it gets off the ground but I'm still a little worried about that. Wish there was a way to check it.

cockpitbob · Jan 7, 2011

Realtor, that looks really nice...and I believe you have 200+ hours into it. Good luck tomorrow!!!!!

C-pher · Jan 7, 2011

SUPER COOL!

I guess seeing if you want to come over Sat is out. LOL!

Joe G · Jan 7, 2011

I want to see the helmet cam video when you climb it to change the lightbulb.

Good luck!

C-pher · Jan 8, 2011

C-pher said:
SUPER COOL!

I guess seeing if you want to come over Sat is out. LOL!

So, how did it go? I just got home a little bit ago from the class...I was hoping to see some pictures of how it went when I got back.

BigBird · Jan 8, 2011

Pretty slab....hope all is going well.

cockpitbob · Jan 8, 2011

Realtor MA · Jan 8, 2011

No pictures because we finished as it was getting dark. It's up. Took all day. Had to call a couple of friends to finish up.

cockpitbob · Jan 9, 2011

Realtor MA said:
No pictures because we finished as it was getting dark. It's up. Took all day. Had to call a couple of friends to finish up.

Realtor MA · Jan 9, 2011

Ok. Here's a photo as promised. The last stages of the 'raising' had a few nervous moments. Mostly because I didn't want to mess up so close to the finish line. I had a little trouble with the crank up mechanism so I was back on the ladder this morning straightening that out. Just a little jam of the cable.
I've only got it cranked up to about 35 feet in this picture. That's all my nerves could take this morning. I'll extend it more later.

C-pher · Jan 10, 2011

Realtor MA said:
Ok. Here's a photo as promised. The last stages of the 'raising' had a few nervous moments. Mostly because I didn't want to mess up so close to the finish line. I had a little trouble with the crank up mechanism so I was back on the ladder this morning straightening that out. Just a little jam of the cable.
I've only got it cranked up to about 35 feet in this picture. That's all my nerves could take this morning. I'll extend it more later.

View attachment 15299

Looks good...

DukeInFlorida · Jan 11, 2011

Wow! How high will it be when it's cranked up all the way???

Realtor MA · Jan 11, 2011

DukeInMaine said:
Wow! How high will it be when it's cranked up all the way???

It's a 51 foot tower with about 12 feet of mast So 63 feet is the answer.

cockpitbob · Jan 14, 2011

Realtor, how did the tower survive the snow load? Got any pictures???? [popcorn]

Help me dig a hole. Literally

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