K8RLM Antenna Systems

Rising of the Tower and Antenna Systems: The Tower is a 56 foot Titan self supporting tower manufactured by Trylon. (Some assembly required). In the beginning a spot was selected as the tower's location. The tower required a hole to be dug 5x5x5 to hold the cement and tower base. This is to ensure the tower specifications were upheld. The hole was dug by hand by myself and Bil (W8EB). I'm kind of cheep when it comes to digging holes and wouldn't spring for a backhoe to dig the hole. When I was a kig, my dad always made us dig holes by hand when needed so I had childhood experiences to fall back on for this project. It took about 3 1/2 hours to dig the hole.

What do we need next? Why cement of course. I rented a cement buggy to transport to the installation site. I wasn't about to mix all the cement by hand but I thought about it. Hi Hi. The first few trips were a learning experience. The operation of the buggy was a challenge. I came close to dumping the load in the yard or worse yet, in the neighbor�s yard. After a few trips it became much easier to control. Part way through the process, the transmission cable broke. We used a quick method to rectify the problem. Bil shifted from forward to reverse with a pair of pliers. He had to walk along side while I steered. He even wound up in a bush on one of the trips. What are friends for?

After the 4 1/2 yards of cement had filled the hole, Bil inspects his handy work. At least he didn't write his name or place his hand print in the cement. We should have written our call signs in the cement. The only thing left to do is to wait 4 weeks for the cement to dry.