DIY Ham radio antenna tower hinge plate installation 12-19-18 

Around here that is a standard with anything that needs to stay upright and straight. The frost will eventually heave anything without a 6' deep footer. The joys of living in in an area with much ground moisture and lot of cold.

thats to get it level?

used to run my own fabrication shop and did small steel erection and this is exactly what I would have done too. In a triangle, with only 3 bolts 3/4 " bolts min, prob 1". I also hate the idea of mounting a bracket to his house. If it was a concrete block wall/garage or icf home etc, then the brackets would be fine but over time your just asking for trouble with the stress on the studs he would anchor to... But glad he is trying to get a tower up, just not the way i would have done it.

You know I thought of that but just thought that it would not be sturdy enough..... however, I might have to think on it some more, since it is a 'self supported' tower (without a hinge plate on it)... hmmm, you've brought me back to that idea now... thanks.

Has not been a problem at all.

Give that man a cigar! I like that idea!!! I will try that first, because I really don't like the idea of shims under the nice flat plate, but I'll do what is necessary! Thanks man.

good price

Since you've got so much experience, far more than any of us... maybe you should start making some videos and putting up content so we can learn from you. Just reading how qualified you are doesn't really tell us much.

Don't know how to find people with knowledge... so finding most info on HAM on RU-vid. Nothing comes up when searching for "Antenna Install or Service" on Google for example. Nobody really covers 80% of the detail needed to connect the dots unfortunately, but when you watch 50 of them on a topic, you usually can deduce the info needed to connect those dots.

I made the concrete base extra large and heavy just to be safe. So far it has survived years with many tornado warnings and straight line winds of up to 80 mph.

There were several things I could criticize about this video but for me, the part where he used a precision bubble level tool as a concrete screed really took the cake. When someone loans you tools, they're doing you a favor so for me this is the ultimate form of disresect. That is why I NEVER loan out tools.

eh, maybe so, but I don't think so..? As long as the lock washer flattens out I don't think it matters. However, I am sure no pro at this, just trying to make something new happen. But so far after what 3 or more years or so, it has withstood some 50 to 70 ish mph winds! I did have my doubts watching it sway up there, but it is still all good. Thank you.

Well it's all about improvising and learning new things. The important part is this tower has withstood every bad storm and many high winds so far for a few years, so I'll still call that a success. I am a hack when I am learning new things and taking on new challenges but it has worked for me thus far. Thanks.

Well its still standing through some serious wind storms! Thanks

eek, I don't know. You'd have to make some pretty heft support brackets!

They are coming.... Not ready for them just yet.

ok know when i did my cement base i burried a 8 foot rod on edge of where the my plate went

Cement acts as a good ground, if rods go well into it. Cement maintains a viable moisture content. That’s a way to establish grounding in deserts. There’s a formula to establish ground w enough cement.

@@treeclimbing7798 Ground rods are NOT to go into cement but 10' out from the base. A lightning strike would explode the concrete. Check the Rohn website for the engineering drawings and warnings. You also need multiple ground rods.

I know!!! And of course its raining out now!!!!!

yeah sure was not perfection but it is very functional! Has withstood many big wind storms so far. Thanks

Hope so. I do think that it will decrease stability though as much of the platform won't be pressing a flat, stable surface. We'll see how it goes, thanks.

I'm sure you have already erected your tower by now, so this info is for any new people reading this, back in the day I helped my father erect many, many towers, usually 40/45 foot, but on occasion a 50/60 foot tower for TV use. For 45' and less a 3x3x3 foot [1 yard] would hold and self support any tower in the central Illinois climate. Sometimes he would also install eve brackets for better stability. We would plumb a 3 foot base section in the hole then pour the cement around it, allowing 3 days cure time. Then slope the slab away from the legs to help keep water from rusting the legs. Above 45 foot a tower would always get guy wires to ensure it would remain stable. If you check the Rohn website they show excellent data on how to install towers.

Not necessary, mostly you can just put a short length of conduit or pipe over the stud and whack it with a hammer. (gently) A lot of people just use two nuts to protect the threads.

Not sure if it would fit together like that because the top obviously has to be the tip, and then from there down it will only fit one way. But from a rust standpoint it makes perfect sense to me.

@@kapperoutdoors dummy me .. i forgot the top... hahahhahah. that iam still tryin to find one for my r25.

Thanks man. Lots of work to go yet til I start tipping it up!

LOL, she said it "I'll just go get a new one!" Guess I'll have yet another level... Lets see, I've got concrete, wood chips, paint, rustoleum, dents, etc in all of my levels!

Ha. Well at least you'll have a new "pretty" level for Mrs K. Funny, how we have all these tools of our own and darn if we don't seem to end up using the ones we're not supposed to use (smile).

Yep, you are right. But I am not a builder, lol. Thanks

Well it's still standing and we've had a lot of tornado warnings and straight line winds that I wondered if this tower was coming down! But still standing today! :) Thanks

Well, I'm working my way down the comments, so I see this one first! Yeah, it might be worth less headache to have it tilted! lol

Dang good question! Read a lot of forums asking the same thing!!! Sure wish I didn't have to mess around with the house brackets.... But the hinging will make it much easier to stand up and take down for any repairs..

@@kapperoutdoors Believe it or not I actually made my own hinged base for my 25G tower. It was 30-feet of tower with 12-feet of pipe sticking out the top onto which I mounted a 5-element HF yagi and a 2-meter yagi. For the base I used 1/2" inch thick plate secured to the concrete with 1-1/4" bolts. For the hinge plate I used another 1/2" thick plate and 3/8" thick angle iron with 3/4" bolts. For the hinge itself instead of bolts I used sections of 1-1/4" black pipe and a 1" solid rod. That baby wasn't going anywhere! Even with a tower this small laying it over on the ground for maintenance was no small feat as once it tilts beyond a certain point the weight became almost too much to handle. I only tilted it over ONCE and after that I rented a bucket truck anytime I needed to work on the antennas. That is one advantage to the tilt-over towers that pivot over one-section above the ground as opposed to ground level. You can lay them over simply by using a base-mounted hand crank.

I'm going to explore a couple of options here... Had some good ideas come in.

I opted to not attach it to the house, but I added the 3 steel leg/feet at the bottom. And It has held for several years now with some pretty nasty wind storms. Thanks

Any slab would surely help especially if you put additional supports like I did. Good luck!

My real hidden agenda is that when the SHTF, I can communicate with other alien races to barter for goods.....

I did not want to invest too much time in trying to make a form, so I just rolled with it :)

Thanks, lets just hope the grand finally is not tipping over the tower!! lol

Thanks, wait til you see my next plan change for it :)

LOL, yeah that's because I didn't have the camera running most of the time! thanks.

Don't have a drawing I bought the hinge plate pretty built. Thanks

You shouldn't over tighten guy wires. They need to be a specific and uniform tension else you risk the whole thing crumbling onto the house roof.

@@eosjoe565 he's not going very high.

@@Chris_L034 He said 50 feet

Thanks man. I guess that is a real call sign! LOL At first I thought it was one of those prank acronyms :) Thanks man, W9KAP.

Wow man, too much to explain on one comment! Emergency preparedness, fun, long range, worldwide communications and more..

I got mine for $100 in mn. 30’ rohn 25 with the top pole and the hinged base plate. Neighbor got one for $100 too.

My guess would be if the antenna OR pole would get struck by lightning, the pole can either catch fire or actually blow apart in splinters. Like a tree would if hit by lightning. At least that's my opinion.

Telephone poles are heavy as heck. They need large machinery to mount it. It also needs someone who knows what they are doing because it's not obvious. Some of the details are weird.

Thanks, have a good one

because I need to level the tower, and take measurements with the tower sections on for bracketing.

Maybe so, but it IS still standing today with many near tornado wind storms.. :)

lol right! That's why I'm not a professional installer! :)