Engineering Completed. Mast Building Underway

The engineering firm completed their work last Thursday. The changes they asked for were minor. They felt that a 24″ diameter footing four feet deep would be better than a three-foot deep foundation. That means 4′ below ground and 4′ above ground, moving the pivot point down one foot.

Everything else was just fine. “The bolts and anchoring posts are sufficient to resist lateral loads at the base.”

So this morning I picked up the starting materials, the 4×4 pressure treated 8′ posts, the first length of galvanized steel conduit, and a bag of Sacreet cement. I’ll get the 4×4’s spaced properly, drill the pivot bolt hole in the 4×4’s near the top, and mix up some concrete. I’ll stand the 4×4’s in a Home Depot Homer’s Bucket and fill that with concrete. That’ll set in the garage for a couple of days before being moved to the hole in the backyard.

The hole is currently three feet deep. I’ll have to climb down there and dig out another foot. I’ll do that while the concrete is setting in the bucket in the garage. That’s going to be a Very Heavy Bucket!!!

The Hole for the Antenna Mast
The Hole for the Antenna Mast

I still need to stop by Tooele City Planning and get their final approval. I talked with the guy on the phone and read him what the engineer said. He grunted, then said I could proceed but to stop by his office to drop off a copy of the engineering. I’ll do that on Monday.

It’s going to take a week or so, but the mast is coming. I’ve decided to put a 2-meter J-pole antenna at the top of the mast to use for a Allstar node. I’ve got the radio, the Raspberry Pi, and interface unit. It just needed an antenna.

Of course, an antenna needs coax. I had my trusty Xfinity installer guy (lives up the street) come over and climb up on the roof. I have a hundred feet of LMR-400 coax, so he fed that down to me along with a length of Radio Shack RG-58U coax (very lossy coax, but should be sufficient for what I need for an Allstar simplex node). The LMR-400 will connect to the G5RV antenna and the RG-58U will connect to the home-made 2-meter J-pole.

More as the project nears completion.