This page last modified on 2008 Jan 18

Water in Hole

This happened in Kemah TX My qth there was mile from Trinity Bay to east and Clear Lake to north. The water table was high and had asked several in business of boring and pouring what I should do if had water in the hole. Most said the concrete would displace the water and in general I would have a better foundation. When I started the pour in Kemah there was a foot of water in the bottom. First let me say they are correct that the water will be displaced. Ponder - it's going to float and gush over the top. That would be where you are standing. By the time the hole is full the top mixture will be colored water with some cement. Continue pouring until you are sure the hole is full of concrete. This will cause the thin stuff to run out on the yard. A safety item that you will not be able to tell any more where the hole is - so be careful where you step. Also the template with the anchor bolts will try and float on the water. It was an experience but one of the finer bases once it got setup and cleaned up.

some triva on this Wilson 77 foot pole. It is NOT the highest wind rating type tower but being able to crank over was a plus to me. I saw the tower for sale back in 88 in what was the "yellow sheets". The tower was in SLC and stored. It had never been installed. I think even at that time Wilson had been out of business for awhile.

I contacted Central Trucking in Amarillo and they said if we could load & unload it would could be done. I insisted no fork lifts. They managed the route so it never changed trucks. It was loaded in SLC came through Amarillo to OKC - then back to Amarillo with only the tower. From there it drove out about sixty miles to my qth where local hams helped me unload it (one of them had a truck with a boom & steel cable on it which made it all possible - tnx Mr. King)

A fellow who had just bought a boring truck in Amarillo drove over as he wanted to try out his new toy. He said if I'd pay gas ($50) he'd bore the hole. The tower was up in time for CQ WW SSB and I entered 28mhz single band that year with a 105BA. I seem to recall the 105ba came down and a TH6 was installed. In 1990 we moved and the company I worked for put the pole in the moving van. A friend at work that saw how sad I was at not having a tower up had his dad divert a boring truck to my house ($zero) and the tower was up (1991). In that area it was typical to charge $600 to get the truck on site and then $50 a hole after that. I never saw that boring truck. My wife called me at work one Tuesday to say they were done - down 8 feet. Poured concrete that same afternoon. Had a foot of water in the bottom. We lived close to the bay and it was easy to hit water and get a good ground there.

The tower saw many configurations: 105BA, Stacked 105BA's, 402 with TH3, TH3 & 105BA, TH3 & 15-4cd, etc. Several versions of feeding the tower on 160 were tried. At one time an aux. pole was attached to the raising fixture and used to hold a 160 dipole.

In 2002 we moved and the company I worked for put the pole in the moving van. This time I had trouble finding a boring machine and finally rented a BIG bit for a company to use to bore the hole. This time we are putting a 204BA and a 15-4CD on the pole. The (two) 204BA came via a Dayton where another Tx ham picked up the yagi and carried it back to Houston for me. (tnx Madison) That was a few years ago and the beam was stored until now. Dec. 2004 update. The two monobanders and WTX wind are too much for the guide channel on the tower. Almost have the tower retracted. It will be tilted over for some extensive repairs and a Tribander will go back on top sometime in 2005.

so I'm on my 3rd set of anchor bolts.
set one - Pampa
set two - Kemah

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