[aklug] Re: WTB: freestanding tower

On Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 10:04 PM, Mike Tibor <tibor@tibor.org> wrote:

> On Tue, 24 Jun 2014, Jeremy Austin wrote:
>
> Anyone know who in the state might stock larger freestanding towers, if
>> any?
>> Looking in the 70-80 foot range, medium duty. Also would consider used if
>> condition warrants.
>>
>
> It might be best if you define what medium duty means in terms of wind
> load of the antennas you want to use.
>

Thanks, Mike. I didn't start with a lot of details as it's a little OT for
this list. That said, there are lots of communications folk on the list and
I knew I'd get some good answers. Specifically I'm looking in the 15 to 30
square foot range, @ 100-120 mph. We get a lot of wind.

Topically, I do use a lot of Linux to make my towers useful. :)

> Be very careful considering used towers of any kind. The cost of the
> tower itself is almost always the cheapest part of the total cost. Other
> parts will be the cost of a properly sized foundation, delivery cost,
> assembly, adequate grounding, etc. A 70 ft. free standing tower will need
> a beefy foundation.
>

Good advice. I have several free-standing towers, as well as guyed towers,
pop-up masts, and the ol' roof pole here and there. I'm losing space on a
colo tower (telco is out of copper, so to speak) and needing to add another
myself.

> That said, I believe most of the three-legged towers you see around
> Anchorage for certain cell sites, most SOA and Muni repeater sites, etc.
> are manufactured by Sabre Industries. Depending on the size of the
> antenna(s) you intend to install, those towers could be considered anything
> from light to very heavy duty.
>

Sabre does have at least two lines that would work for this particular
task, as does Titan. I have found a better match with Sabre.

For vendors, it's always possible Frigid North has something, but I believe
> they mostly deal in Rohn guyed towers. Note that Rohn has engineering
> specs on installing their guyed towers in a free-standing configuration,
> and it's possible Rohn 55g or 65g might work to 70 ft free standing, I
> don't really know.
>

I can check on this, but Frigid North only has lighter towers in stock, I
believe.

> In addition to New Horizons Telecom, it might also be worth checking with
> North Slope Telecom. If all else fails, I guarantee that Marsh Creek can
> get you set up with exactly what you need, but it'll probably be pricey.

Thanks for the leads. I will check them out.

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Received on Wed Jun 25 22:21:59 2014