Construction Begins – Holes and Concrete

March 31, 2025

I arrived at the house in Ohio after a two-hour drive from K3LR, following the CQ WPX SSB contest. The weather was good, so I headed out to the field to finalize the location of the towers.

I spent some time in the preceding weeks with a plot plan and the HFTA (terrain analysis) software to determine what antenna heights might be the most advantageous. (That will be another blog post.) I decided that two 80-foot towers should be sufficient, but I wanted the guy anchors out far enough that I could go to 100 feet later if needed.

I spent a lot of time tramping around the field with a tape measure, some posts stuck in the ground, and some string.

I started by hammering in a post at the proposed tower base locations. Then, I measured 80′ in three directions to estimate the probable anchor locations. The last step was to run a string from the base post to each anchor point. It eventually resulted in the strings being 120 degrees apart.

I then marked the size of each hole using some bright orange paint.

The base holes were to be 3′ x 3′ square and 4′ deep. The anchor holes were 3′ x 4′ by 4′ deep. All of them ended up slightly bigger during the digging process.

April 1, 2025

I had found a contractor on Facebook who was available to dig the holes. We agreed on Tuesday, April 1, as the day. That turned out to be the best day of the week as far as the weather. It was sunny and springtime warm.

The holes showed about 6 inches of rich black topsoil on top of a very firm clay. After years of dealing with the rocky soil in New England, it was amazing to see so much digging and only a few rocks!

He had all 8 holes dug in about 3 hours! It was well worth the expense.

April 2, 2025

The next day, the weather started to turn. It rained almost non-stop overnight. I came out to find all but one of the holes filled with water.

Because of the clay, the water did not drain out either. It just stayed there. How does 3″ of rain fill a 4′ deep hole?! Runoff from higher on the hill…

The guy I bought the house from stopped by. As we were talking, he mentioned there was a spring on the property next door. “Really?” I asked. We walked down into the pasture, and one guy anchor hole was right in line with the runoff from the spring. Argh! I had been wondering why the water in that hole had been so clear.

More water was flowing down the hill so I did my best to cut a trench and divert it away from the hole.

I can’t believe I did not notice any water in this area during the survey and hole marking. I don’t think it will be a problem, but I could have easily reoriented the guy points to avoid this area.

April 3-4, 2025

In the weeks before, I had identified several concrete contractors on Facebook and contacted them. I sent them the Rohn drawings and some text of what I was looking for. Once the holes were dug, they each came by to look over the job. I think they were all a bit curious about my unusual project.

I had considered doing the concrete myself, but the number of holes, the distance from the mixer, and the amount of concrete for each hole would have made that impossible. Once again, for speed and access to materials, it was worth it to hire professionals.

I told the contractors that I would like to get the job done while I was in town, but would drive back from Boston if needed. Only one contractor said they could move some jobs around and accommodate my schedule.

They did ask for extra money to pump out the holes. Anything to avoid the 10-hour drive each way!

April 7, 2025

Josh and his team from Stone Brick Construction showed up on Monday to pump out the holes.

With the water mostly removed, we could see how much cave-ins and erosion into the holes had occurred.

I donned my waterproof boots and waded into some of the holes to muck them out. The composition of the clay was amazing. It was super sticky and yet acted like quicksand. I would put my foot down, thinking that the sediment should only be 6 inches deep, and my foot would keep sinking. At times, it was almost impossible to pull my boot out of the mud. The clay would stick to the shovel, so getting it out of the hole was not easy. Once I thought I had done enough in a hole, I had to find a way to get out. There were a few times when I thought I might have to call someone to come pull me up!

This photo does not do justice to how messy and difficult the bottom of the holes were!

April 8, 2025

The rain had stopped, but the temperature had really dropped. It was about 25 degrees Fahrenheit at sunrise! Brrr. The Stone Brick team had said they would be back today to do the forms. They arrived about 9 am and had things ready by 11:30 or so. They called the cement company, and 45 minutes later, it was time to pour!

The key to this job was the buggy. It took a lot of trips from the truck to fill the holes. Even with that, it still took more than 2 hours to get everything filled.

It was above freezing by the time the truck had arrived, and it turned out to be a perfect day for working outdoors.

The final step was setting the pier pin for each base.

We confirmed that all the guy anchors were aligned and pointing at the pin for their respective bases. Job done!

April 9, 2025

Stone Brick returned in the afternoon to get their forms. The suggestion had been to wait a few days before doing the backfill of the holes.

With the amount of water that was filling up the “spring” anchor hole and the forecast for a lot more rain, I decided to backfill that one. Once again, the wet clay presented a challenge. It didn’t help that the backhoe operator had left the pile about 5 feet from the hole…

The rest of them will have to wait for the next trip.

When I arrived 9 days earlier, I never expected to accomplish completion of the concrete portion of the tower construction. Nothing to do now but give it 30 days or so to cure.