Things are moving steadily along at the build site of this wireless ISP relay node, where I'll be developing and beta-testing the DAOWISP project.
Let's take a look at the progress of the tower, shall we?
We started by digging a decent 7ft (2.1m) deep hole in the ground, and setting the base. The framework is 1/2" (1.3cm) rebar welded together, with radials coming up through the culvert-section and attaching to the top plate.
Next, I pounded four 8-ft (2.4m) ground rods in at each corner of the base.
Then we cad-welded a hoop of 2ga copper wire to the tops of the rods.
Grounding is a multi-layer process when you're putting up a tower
There'll be a whole article about that, when we get to the wiring stage.
In goes the concrete! About 7 yards worth - this isn't going anywhere!
And after a few days of curing the concrete, the dirt's back on top. That's a solid base!
The pole rolled up on a truck a few days later. Made by Valmont, it's a 30ft steel monopole with top & bottom cable-entrances, foot pegs, a fall arrestor cable (safety first!) and it's plenty solid. With the help of a crane truck, we set and bolted it to the base.
Next steps? I've got a lot of Heavy Metal to lift up and bolt onto this thing, before we can hang the radio gear. Plenty of time up in the bucket truck, next week or so!
That's what's going on outside. Coming up, a look at how it's going inside!