*Building A Little Tower*
We just put up 130 feet of Rohn 45G tower.
After putting in a base and anchor points, which are covered in other articles, it’s time to stack the tower. Each section is 10 feet long and weighs 70 pounds.
The first 2 sections went up and were temporarily guyed before putting up 2 more sections and installing permanent guy wires at 32 feet.
The electric winch is mounted in the Reese hitch of the vehicle. There’s a block (pulley) at the base of the tower. The rope runs down the tower, through the block and to the winch so that the operator isn’t directly under the tower.
I guyed again at 64 feet and then at 96 feet. Here’s section 10 coming up to make 100 feet.
As the section is coming up to me, I have to guide it and make sure it doesn’t snag in guy wires or cross members of lower sections. When it gets up to me I have the winch operator stop when the bottom of it is a couple of inches above the section I’m standing on. Then he slowly lets it down and holds mild tension while I put the sections together. Once the section is a couple of inches down the winch operator slacks the line completely and I then pull the section down and line up the bolt holes and install bolts.
The last set of wires is at about 127’. I didn’t put them on top so that they wouldn’t be in the way of the top mounted antenna.
The day I put the antenna on top it was blowing about 40 MPH and was cold and managed to snow. It was slightly nippy up there.
Yep, it looks like one of the towers is crooked. The old tower next to it is leaning slightly. Considering the seriously and completely and in all other ways bad FUBAR’d guy system on it, it’s amazing it’s still standing. It’s scary to think people have climbed it.
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