The Building & Erecting of Ham Radio Tower - Station K2PTL
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- This video shows how much work goes into an amateur radio antenna tower project. This is my first tower, and I learned a lot from my senior Hams, and the Tech Net crew. It is a Hy-Gain self-supporting crank-up antenna tower, with a rotor motor, Alliance dual speed control, and 5 band KIO directional Hex Beam antenna. Below are some of the logistics involved.
• I purchased a used HY-GAIN Tower
• It came with a 2 speed motor & a thrust bearing
• It comes with a short mast & longer one
• It came with a Tri Band Yagi (10, 15 & 20 meters) (but I later learned it was too big for our backyard)
• Order the High-Gain TB-37 tilt base for this tower (871095) (done)
• Rent long truck or long trailer to transport tower and antenna, then pick up tower (done)
• Read base instructions for dimensions, then mark ground (done)
• Have ground examined for pipes, via calling 811 (done)
• Dig hole according to instructions (30” square by 4’ deep (or 48” deep, I went 33” wide 4 1/2 ‘ deep (done)
• Build ‘construction frame form’ for concrete base (done)
• Pour cement into base (Hy-Gain suggested strength of 2,000 PSI, we used 4,000 PSI - done)
• Relocate dirt that ‘used’ to be a hole (done)
• Order KIO Hex Beam antenna (done)
• Paint Hex Beam for UV protection (done)
• Put Hex Bean together (done)
• Put 8’ ‘electrical ground rod’ in (done)
• Attach tower to base, attach Hex Beam, raise tower (invite the Tech Net Hams for this - done)
Jersey? What exit? Ahhhh- hahhhh- hahhhh.
Nice job on super tower!
Love the" Rocky " music.
FB OM !!!!!
I appreciate your humor with the pups and the gofer. The mast was excellent.
Great video. Scott reminds me alot of my dad for some reason
Loved hearing November Rain while you were oiling the alignment boards
Love the tower and the antenna. Watched the whole video because of the music! Nice job on the project. Hard work digging 4.5 foot hole by hand. Kudos, brother.
Great tower install.. You did a great job....Love the Rocky music... Now I need to figure out where to buy a tower.... Appreciate you sharing the build with us..
i watch loads of these ham radio tower videos, and this so far has been my favourite, its got everything - but the best thing is how fun it is. Thanks for uploading and I hope one day I can get my signals thru this mighty, and fun - antenna ! 73's M7ALU
So glad I live somewhere I can just put up whatever I want without permits or plans.
Me too, moved to Tennessee last year. www.theexpositor.tv/blog/american-by-birth-tennessean-by-choice-christian-by-gods-sovereign-election-conservative-by-common-sense/
That bit with the dogs was just too cute!
I’m about to put an HF tower out in one of my pastured and this is exactly what I needed to see before starting the dig. Thanks so much!
Excellent video. Nothing like it anywhere else. Thanks for the help.
I am so glad I saw this video. I love to watch every phase of a tower going up. Digging that hole and adding cement was very cool. I felt envious. I am live in a NYC middle income CO-OP with antenna restrictions. So I can only have antennas inside my apartment. Your video made me laugh, love the dogs out of the hold part and made me misty eyed when the music came on and the tower was put on. You are blessed. I just hope your neighbors don't mind the tower. Hope to work you. Go Bless, 73 from N2LRB
I'm glad I ran into your comment cause I always wondered what restrictions are in an urban area. I think about living in the uptown dallas area but I feel like there will be restrictions with ham radio over there.
There's Federal Laws that override ANY local restrictions. If you have a HAM License then you have Federal permission to put up equipment. Many have beat there local BS restrictions.
Great video of a great project. Congrats.
Thanks now I know what Im in for when I go to do mine. I also got a good NEEDED laugh when the dogs came out. Cheers
Thank you, I learned a lot from this video. I am putting up a tower near Fresno, Loved the dogs. My chiwawa helped dig.
Wow! Sure Makes My 102" Whip & Homemade Ground Plane Look Like A Booger!! 8-)
very nice achievement, greetings from Belgium 73 👍
I really enjoyed doing mine myself as well. I thought I was bad having to do 58 wheelbarrow loads from the cement truck to the hole, wow you guys did 5 gallon buckets!! Looks great, good work!! 73, W3SCA
Good little video show how to put a tower in. Liked the straight forward way you did the base. Didn't envy you the digging! Terry, KI7M
You're just like me. I work in my bare feet too! LOVED THE DOGS.
I am doing that exact same set up this weekend.... Hole is dug, box frame and base supports are in place... just waiting for the weekend to get a concrete mixer...
Beautiful - No candy-assin around here.
Nicely put together video. I'm looking at tower options and this video was the best fixed tower video I've seen. Ignore the people nitpicking everything. Nice job.
Really cool video thank you it help me with my project..God bless
Looked great!
So Well built I can receive it way here in the Netherlands!!!
Good Job
If you were actually a contact, that is very cool. These are the kind of things that peak my interest even more.
Wonderful video on the process helpful to a new guy like me when trying to set up my first base station
Glad it was helpful!
Just received my tower similar to yours but have extra base, but swivel. could also be extended. Thank you for sharing.
Great video! Inspiring!
Cool beans and great looking install! Gave me the idea of adding a rod IN the hole as a ufer ground added to the rebar/base section.
Tnx for the fun video and well done om, 73
j
GREAT JOB BILL !!
Nice rock music!
Great video Bill, my wife to be has an obsession for Chihuahua's so she liked the video too. Very well put together I might add. 73 de KB6MAT in World Famous Apple Valley.
Awesome job!
Great video
Nice Vid. I think I'll build one as well.
Nice video. Greetings from Poland.
Loved the video! Thanks for posting.
Gonna Fly Now - lmao you had me rolling.. thanks
Love the video! All the steps I wanted to see. Very jealous - hope you get decades of use out of her!
Man, what an awesome antenna. I'm renting my place so I can't put in anything permanent, so I can only get away with 9m random-length antenna on a collapsible flag pole when the weather permits (which in the UK is not often). Great job!
Wow I was just looking into making a ham radio station for a missionary project. Maybe the lord is trying to tell me something though your video. God bless!
Amazing!!
Good and excellent work!!!!
Great video and love the dogs!
LOVE the HAT!!
First of all, a big thanks to you for making and uploading this video!
I am here bcs I am planning on my own tower soon. I live in a rural area and I own 3 firestick devises and 3 T.V.'s. All the internet provider companies are saying that I'd need atleast a 60ft tower to recieve a signal. I've called around for installation pricing but who's got $2000 to pay someone to install it? So I'm doing my research on how to do it myself. We've been in our house for 16 years and we already have pretty much the same type of base as shown in your video. Although I'm not sure how deep in the ground it is bcs I have yet to dig around and inspect to find out. I'm not sure if its a concrete pad with a plate or if its actually several feet deep! It had guy wires on it and one wire was tied off around a huge cedar tree close to my neighbors house so like dummies we had the whole tower removed instead of rerouting the guy wire bcs we were affraid that the wire was gonna kill yhe tree and fall on their house. So now we are back at square one reinstalling a 60ft tower in the same place. The tower that was there had an old rotary t.v. antenna on it. So the new one will have just an internet reciever on it. The thing I dont get is why are these towers so expensive? All I want to do is be able to recieve a decent signal for my firestick to work properly without buffering constantly! Thanks again for this video, it waz very helpful!
A job well done
Thanks for the TH-cam video I'm looking up these kits now. think I'm going to get one and set my Antron 99 on top of a 40-foot Tower run me about 500 watt linear probably a Palomar.
When I installed my MA-40 tower I had the hole dug professionally. He only had to drive 5 blocks and it was $85 bucks. Prior to the concrete pour I added 4 ground rods into the side of the hole and fastened a grounding cable from them to the tower anchors rods. Adding grounding was just a hedge against wishing I had done it later. I then after the tower was up added 2 more grounds to the anchor bolts above ground. I shared the concrete delivery with my neighbor that poured a concrete apron for his garage. $250 bucks total cost. Delivery truck only had to change driveways.Neighbor and I shared the delivery charge.
Very cool 👌
wel done
You lucky dog! Actual soil! There's no chance of ever digging a hole like that where I live; you'd need a jack-hammer! Even ground rods are a big challenge... Great video though! 😆
Very satisfying to watch!
73 de Kevin, VK4KK
At field day years ago I learned how to drive a ground rod into the ground by using water and my hands. Start a hole with the rod and then pour a little bit of water into the hole. Let it soak for 30 seconds and then ram the rod into the hole. Pull it out and repeat with the water. Ram the ground rod again, and repeat the process. After a few minutes the rod will be 8' in the ground minus the few inches needed for a ground clamp.
The gravitation levels the mast foundation itself, simply fill it with concrete roughly until you have about 3 inches left, then you take an epoxy two-component filler mix it with 1/3 quart silica sand and replenish the rest, which is liquid and hardens evenly. A similar technique was used by architects in ancient Egypt to level the foundations of their pyramids.
Love the doggies!!! 🐕 so cute!!!
Very good work, 73 de IK3QNF.
KICKING MYSELF IN THE BUTT BECAUSE I LISTENED TO MY HAM RADIO CLUB! NOW I HAVE A SOLID PIECE OF TOWER SITTING CONCRETE WAITING FOR MY TOWER AND ANTENNA FOR MONTHS NOW!!! YOU LIVE AND LEARN!!!
1:00: That's It!!!! I'm not digging a hole for a ham radio tower!!! Two tin cans and a wire for me! 🤣
Great Job!! I hope to be able to do the same someday. I do a lot of VHF SSB and height is might in VHF land.
Great job excellent bravo! how wide and deep is the plinth hole?
Your neighbors must love you...
I saw you cut the 2 plastic pvc lines , but what was that steel line on the edge of the hole? is it your water main line ? . awesome job by the way 73's
nice thanks
Most welcome
The black and white gopher wasn't laughing.
I just subed you for the dogs and the radio stuff. i have 4 furbabys too.
Really a good team work, can be an inspiration for us ... greetings from Indonesia ... ... de. YC2BTH 73 & GL
Man I so wish I could do this one day. I rent here and landlords likely wont go for it. Too bad cause I could do very well not only with ham radio but helium mining.
Did you mix all the concrete in that tiny bucket by hand? That must have taken ages. Could you not get a concrete mixer to make that part a little easier and quicker? Nice job, well done!
Jajaja, I do they same way, when i Saw that I felt very Good about that Skil
cool its the best
Now...that is my near future goal...save enough money and put a tower up!
That music was perfect! De AD5TD
My cat said to put the dogs back an cover the hole,,nice tower,,glad I'm out of the tower stage,,moved to a 2120 ft hill,,just u a 20 ft pole a router,, enjoy,,gb
Those dogs very funny :)
Excellent job ! Thanks for sharing. 73 de ok8msw
BRASIL PRECISA DISTO . GOODDDDDDDDDDDDDD
How many bags of concrete did it take? I have a tower laying in my back yard and just need to dig the hole and pour concrete.
Looks awesome, very envious! What have your neighbors comments been like? Mine ask me what the heck is going on in my backyard. I just have a multiband vertical and sometimes put up a 20m full wave delta loop.
Nice looking tower.
1. What do your neighbors think? In other words, do HAMs generally get their neighbors OK? All I have is a YAESU 2 meter.
2. How long did it take to convince your wife to allow this? 👍😀
1) Two of my neighbors helped me tilt it up, but I'm sure there are some that might not like it. A couple days after it was erected, I saw a city vehicle in front taking photos of it, but I never heard from them again. 2) my wife is a Ham too, but not on HF (yet). :)
If you got to get your wife permission we need your man card BACK lol
wow...nice job.....good luck....with I had one....lol
You could have installed a grounding wire loop on the bottom of the concrete block to make even better lightning protection. The lower surge impedance you get, the lees damage. 😊
You can't do that. If 20ka lightning surge goes through concrete it's going to explode like a bomb because of the water content in concrete. A single lightning strike would not only destroy your equipment but probably also bring down the tower.
@@ForbiddenUser403 Sure you can, a matter of fact the NEC (National Electric Code) now requires all Buildings Commercial and residential that the ground be connected to the rebar in the footers and slabs and extend out to the ground rods
Just makes it impossible to detect galvanic corrosion on the joint if it's buried in concrete.
BILL, I LIKE THAT HAA
Hi from KT1R
All that for a Hex Beam .I was expecting a nice Log-Periodic T-11😆
or for whatever I choose to put on the top.
All the best Friends. ..hope c u on air.... Friends thru Airwave...
9w2li.. West Malaysia
Where did u get this base. Looks like you have the same tower i have and ive been looking for a base like that for it.
Working in sandals seems real safe....
Nice hex beam! I am KI5DZH in Texas, my name is israel
I was wondering how much cubic yards of concrete you used ?.?
Technically.. You're supposed to have an 8 foot grounding rod for each leg on the tower.
And CAD welded.
yo adrian, you mixed all that concrete in a bucket?
You never showed how tall the tower is? It’s quite a bit of concrete but it looks as if the tower is very short? Is it a crank up tower and if so how tall?
37' not including the very tall mast, but we moved from Calif to Tennessee. So we left the tower behind for another ham to take for free.
@@ForensicPI Smart move leaving Comifornia.👍🎙
Hello buddy, what tower is it?
Im interested in the antenna, do a video about it
Thumbs up for NRA hat. Nice tower too I guess
Have two similar dogs staring at me right now! Love the video. Where did you get the tower? I am in North Carolina but any suggestions would be appreciated.
This is a Hy-Gain tower, and I bought mine used from another Ham.
Damn!!!!!!
Impertinent question. $$? Tower bits and pieces and the spider? I have access to friends (aka grunt labor) but budget is finite.
So many stray dogs, which country please?