Prior to tower project, 44 ft fiberglass poles hold up a G5RV non-resonant dipole at the WB7CNV/WA7DUH residence.

Benton County exemption from Benton County Code (BCC) 11.65 Communications Facilities that is really aimed at commercial installations such as TV/Radio stations or cell towers. However, this exemption did not remove the requirement for a building permit, structural analysis and original drawings with original (not copy) signature/stamp of Wash. State licensed Professional Engineer. Tower manufacturer's analysis and drawings were not acceptable (not original or Wash. licensed).

Also, county building dept. wanted to impose most of the requirements of BCC 11.65 anyway "for your and neighbor's protection". We battled several issues.

Tower base hole as specificed will be 4ft x 4ft x 5ft deep. 1st 6 inches is gravel and sand for moisture drainage, followed by 4 cement blocks that hold the bottom rebar grid up into the poured concrete. Tower base legs stick down into the gravel/sand (below the concrete so as to drain any water that may form in the tower legs. Another rebar grid will be embedded in the poured concrete 42 inches above the bottom grid seen in the picture.

Gary's (W7TYQ) dog Fritz watches the action from the deck.

Guy station base ready to be lowered into a guy station hole. Guy station blocks are buried about 4 feet down, so only half the dirt is hauled away. The pile in the background is what goes back in to cover it up.

Time to pour concrete. The concrete truck can only reach one guy station, so a motorized wheel barrel is used to transport 8 yards of concrete into the main tower and guy station holes.

Fritz "I own this tractor. Let's go for a ride"

This is Duffy, Dave's (W7DJE) dog.

Rebar cage for guy station is lowered onto concrete blocks that elevate up off the bottom.

How is this supposed to go???

Originally tried to lift rebar cage from a single point, but it caused the rebar cage to deform. A lifting frame was then built which pulled up vertical instead of an angle.

Mast installed is 2 inch high strength galvanized steel about 8 feet long.

The engineered specs call for #7 rebar (7/8"). Are we holding up a 2000 ft TV station antenna?

It's 104 today, so sweat band and wet neck towell in use!

Holes for guy station anchors are 6ft long,4 ft wide and 4 ft deep. Concrete blocks are used to hold the rebar cage up off the bottom 6 inches so they are embedded in concrete when poured. Painted lines indicate the level of concrete when poured.

Steve is a slave driver. Time for lunch!

Diagonal rebar wires are used to keep the grid square.

A view of the trench heading down to the ham shack. That white bottle in the picture is copper anti-seize/anti-corrosion goop that is used liberally on ALL copper-to-copper connections.

Distance between this driven element EHU and the element return fixture is critical. Houston, we have a problem. The driven element is centered on the mast, which means it will loop around the tower. This will cause great difficulty with the tower guy lines.

Coax switching unit. All three active elements may be driven.