I had no intention to dig a hole or anything like that.  I was simply going
to fabricate a super strong adapter to fit the structure of the base of the
new tower with the base of the old tower as the cage protrudes up from the
concrete.
My existing base is sufficient to accommodate the new tower.  The existing
base is approximately 11 cubic yards of concrete with a very substantial
rebar cage.  I put over 250 feet of rebar in the hole.
The project would require a large crane to lift the old tower over the roof
of my house, then lift the new tower back over the roof and set it down on
the frabricated adapter.  Of course the current antennas would have to be
taken down and either set aside or disassembled to make way for the new, and
larger, antennas.  All in all, it is a big project.

73




Alan R. Downing
Phoenix, AZ


-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of richard fiorello
Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2014 6:04 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Quite a surprise

Hi;
No I'm not the voice of gloom, but buying or otherwise obtaining 
a tower is easy.  Then you have to dig that hole poar the 
concrete.  Don't know if I'd do all that for an additional 14 
feet.  Now 30 years ago I probably would have gone for the gusto.  
richard
sent from my braille note

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Ron Miller <[log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Date sent: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 22:09:52 -0400
Subject: Re: Quite a surprise

That's great, Alan.  What a very grand thing to do.

Ron Miller


-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators 
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Alan R.  Downing
Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2014 8:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Quite a surprise

Hello all,



I have often referenced a friend who recently bought a farm in 
northern
Florida for the sole purpose of building a world class ham 
station there.  I
have been assisting him with the design of his station, as well 
as helping
with the ordering of tons of equipment.



Early last week, Stan bought an 89 foot US Tower in Mesa, Arizona 
which is
perhaps 30 miles to my east.  Because the tower was close to my 
QTH, he
asked if I could store the tower for a few weeks while he 
arranged for
transportation to take it to his farm.  Of course I said sure, 
and so
arrangements were made to deliver the tower and related equipment 
to me.  A
day or two later, Stan found another 89 foot US Tower that had a 
few more
options than the one in Mesa.  Since he liked the second tower 
better than
the first one, he bought it.  With the purchase of these two 89 
foot US
Towers, he now had bought a total of ten towers.  Once he 
finalized the
purchase of the tower in Dallas, he told me that he no longer had 
any use
for the Mesa tower, and said that I might just as well keep the 
tower that
was coming to my QTH.  The tower was delivered to my place 
Thursday
afternoon.



Now I am trying to decide if replacing my tower is worth the 
effort.  The
new tower is bigger and better than my current 75 footer, but 
replacing a
tower is not a trivial exercise.  Thankfully time is not a 
factor, so I can
make up my mind at any time.  Needless to say, I was very 
surprised that
Stan told me that I could keep the tower.  It is worth well over 
ten grand.



Alan/KD7GC











Alan R.  Downing

Phoenix, AZ