Lowering and Raising 60' Rohn 25 Tower, Homemade HInge

Just needed to do some work to tower and decided to film it. Took down 20 meter yagi and put up Tv antenna and 2 Meter Omnidirectional.

[@WILDGEESE399]

Thats one of the best designs ive seen yet, simple and brilliant .

[@JLPicard440]

Thanks for the Great comment! Simple is best!

[@carlbrutananadilewski3345]

The intro is soo true with antenna towers LOL!

[@duckthis17]

Great idea on sinking rod into concrete to make the hinge.I'm afraid of heights,so looking for hinged base ideas and yours seems very simple (no welding).Thanks

[@JLPicard440]

Nunofyour beesiness yes simple is better sometimes! Thanks

[@duckthis17]

Just getting around to getting mine done.waiting a few days for the concrete to dry which gives me time to get the winch cable and pulley set up.Any idea how heavy these towers are,mine is similar to yours but not a Rohn,I'm guessing it may be a touch heavier than your but very similar.I am not able to run a cable over my roof because it is a 2-1/2 story house and I would need a couple hundred feet of cable to reach the winch.I therefore am putting in an anchor hook on the side of my house (reinforced of course) and am wondering what size cable you have on your winch? Also wondering if a good tough rope would work.I can't imagine these tower are that teribly heavy and mine is only 42" but of course that weight increases as it tilts down.Any tips apreciated.Thanks

[@1958johndeere620]

So your tilt over wire just rubs on the roof of the house? How high off the ground is the peak of your roof? I am still working the details on how high my pull point has to be not to wreck the tower.

[@caseyhutson3572]

This really helped, thanks

[@JLPicard440]

You're Welcome!

[@JLPicard440]

1958johndeere620 ,.. Yes my pull point is rubbing off the roof of the house. I have a 6x6 block of wood up there that I made to cover the peak so I don't rub a hole in the shingles, one day I hope to build a roller so that it's not just friction,.. the peak is about 22' high

[@Sirskibumsalot]

I like the pipe /bolt /hinge set up ...looks like it works great and a simple design ... do you have the tower bolted to your home also ? or its all anchored down with a 3 wire system ? Im planning on building a tower for well water extraction , and to generate elec. , and if i can comms ......all on 1 tower ......thanks for the video !!

[@JLPicard440]

ski bum hi... yes it's bolted to the house but only Because it sits right up against the house and it was right there and convenient... I doubt if it would have been necessary since most of these towers sit on a pad that's away from the house... thanks for watching!

[@voltagefireworker7849]

cool

[@jenn011754]

I have a question about how you protect the roof if the cable goes across the shingles?

[@JLPicard440]

I used 2 6x6 blocks at the peak. One on each side...

[@duckthis17]

What size pipe did you use and how deep did you sink them?Are they in concrete? Did you fill the pipes with concrete after installing the bolt (they look filled) Thanks for any help.Gonna start on my tower next week.

[@JLPicard440]

Nunofyour beesiness Hi... I cheaped out... I get the third degree from local ham buddies... but it's been solid without even a hint of a problem... I used 1/1/2" electric conduit... I dug a hole about 30 inches deep and put rebar in the middle (of the conduits) that's hammered in the dirt a few inches below where the pipes are in the bottom of the hole... and filled with concrete (both the hole and the conduit)... of course u must drill and install tower axle first! Or u might have trouble later... the pipes only have to span about 6 inches between the concrete and where they hinge on the tower... so it's pretty hard to bend that with only a few inches sticking up... I also drilled through towards the bottom of the pipes about a foot above the bottom of the hole and put a bolt thru both pipes to give concrete more to bite to.... hopefully this answer isn't to long and makes sense! Thanks

[@duckthis17]

I can't believe you get the third degree,It works and it's cheap.You didn't spend a small fortune to build.... I love it.... Thanks again for the info,easy to understand.Too bad you didn't do a video when you built it,i am sure it would have been a big hit.Who wants to spend $300 on up for a fancy base when this is so simple......

[@JLPicard440]

Nunofyour beesiness yes I wasn't doing as many videos back then... I did this one as a "let's try it and see"!! Thanks again

[@1OFGODSOWN]

@@duckthis17 I just purchased a NEW ROHN 25 tilt base yesterday for $350 from a fellow who ordered it from DX ENGINEERING and he paid $455 plus tax and shipping but he never put up the tower. It’s very solid and I think for $350 I got a Steal.👍🎙

[@JLPicard440]

Awesome!

[@sonastainbrook]

Excellent idea! my 40 for rohn tv rotor went out the past few days and today I tried climbing it and chickened out just above the roof line. I hate heights! Question I have is can't I just too a rope out and have two people slowly guide it down for me or do these weigh that much with the leverage? Thanks!

[@JLPicard440]

I'm not sure how much Rohn 40 weighs, this Rohn 25 is about 40lbs per section. Rohn 40 is heavier, unless you meant that your tower was 40 feet tall, but it's the same Rohn 25 I have here. I think two people would have a pretty hard time lowering it down to ya. and is the bottom on a hinge? I use a electric wench and it's under a lot of pressure. To me that sounds pretty risky. I would at least use a boat wench secured to a tree or a vehicle that's perfectly inline with the tower so it doesn't sway sideways. Hope this helps.

[@sonastainbrook]

Thank you for the reply. I decided to hire a climber to fix it for me, and I found a few already. I ordered a new rotor and pre-amp online.It is not worth me trying to do all that work. Thank God I watched this because I was going to try to rope it off and lower it that way. Hoping to have it fixed by next weekend!

[@JLPicard440]

@@sonastainbrook Yes better safe than sorry 😎😎😎.. best of luck

[@JasonCooper-em4gt]

Saftey antenna fiberglass fence post antenna boots on the ground end fed long wire antenna 📶 go around your property lay it out with flags buffet antenna folks not a blue plate 😅 best dx ssh pass the word enjoy any hobby with out broken bones

[@roynorman3650]

When starting to lower it, what approach is use to get it started? I've known some that use a rope on opposite side of the tower, pull to knock it off plumb. I would like mine to lower with releasing the winch. Not sure it's possible.

[@JLPicard440]

Hi Roy, Yes I just give it a little tug if it needs it, the weight from the opposite side guy wires that are still connected is usually enough to pull it and get it started. But not all the time.

[@roynorman3650]

@@JLPicard440 I appreciate it, I actually heard someone suggest arranging the tilt plate to make the tower slightly lean in the direction of tilt. I figure that may cause problems.

[@JLPicard440]

@@roynorman3650 I think you're right.. I wouldn't do that either..

[@rickjames302]

@@roynorman3650 yeah, i'd never intentionally install a regular or tilt plate with a slight lean. the tower is meant to be installed true vertical. if you guy it so it is true vertical, it would put a lot of extra tension and ultimately wear and tear on antenna and baseplate (bending metal comes to mind).

[@JLPicard440]

@@rickjames302 Agree... this one was mounted vertical... or as close as I could get it.

[@theboogeyman826]

So at what height on the tower is the raising cable attatched?

[@JLPicard440]

I attached it at the 3/4 point or 45 feet in this case..

[@roynorman3650]

What locks the base in place once it's vertical?

[@JLPicard440]

There's a bolt in the 3rd leg. Also when it's vertical 2 of the 3 guy wires are holding it, plus the wench cable makes a 3rd temporary cable..

[@UserUser-99]

Looks like that winch moves it pretty fast. If you use a snatch block you can cut the speed in half, and have better control.

[@JLPicard440]

I probably sped up the footage. I'd have to go back and look at it. It doesn't move very fast...😊

[@ontheplant]

How far away was your winch setup from the tower? Thats a simple and effective way to accomplished this. I'm standing a 40 mast with a wind turbine here in the near future. I like adding the pull line permanent. I hadn't planned that and currently have guy lines planned but not in the pull direction i need. Thanks for sharing!✌️

[@JLPicard440]

I believe my winch is probably a good 60 or 70 feet away...

[@ontheplant]

@@JLPicard440 thank you for the reply. I figured it needed to be a good distance.

[@JLPicard440]

I probably could have been closer, but the farther away I was the less steep the angle was to the house...

[@timothyfishkin9855]

can you take some shots of the base? I am looking to put one of these up and want to see the base where the hinge is. Thanks

[@JLPicard440]

Yes, I can do that. There's not much to see there, It's all homemade, but it works.

[@JLPicard440]

I posted the pics to Facebook, let me know if you can't view this and I'll figure out something else... thanks. facebook.com/Take-A-Bath-Productions-1909368389128626/

[@roynorman3650]

Is it true you can only raise 30 ft of rohn tower, with a rohn base plate? If so, that must mean alot are using homemade hinge plates.

[@JLPicard440]

I haven't heard that.. I remember the Rohn instructions said to use guy wires every 30 feet. My home made plate certainly wasn't super strong and I never had a problem with it. I used the cheapest materials I could think of.

[@roynorman3650]

@@JLPicard440 yeah I've heard the rohn plate was made to raise first 30 feet, like a installation aid.

[@roynorman3650]

Also some claim there is alot of stress on a hinge base, but I'm thinking it's not all that great. Sure there is some.

[@HillbillyChrome]

I'm thinking about setting up my first tower here at the house, a good friend of mine has an old 60ft tv antenna tower on the side of his house he told me I could have. I ran across this video looking for ideas on how to lower it, it's bolted to the house and doesn't have and guy wires so it's going to be a task getting it down. I have a few questions if you don't mind sir. I'm trying to figure out roughly how thick of cable is needed for the guy lines, and roughly how long they need to be, I understand you might not know off the top of your head how much it took. Also wondering roughly how much length you needed on a winch cable to lower it down, I believe I only have about 50ft of cable on my electric winch but considering getting a hand crank winch specifically for this purpose. I'll definitely keep in mind your hinge setup, never thought about doing a hinge, it's a great idea! Chances are this old school tower will probably fold up on me but for free I'm gonna try to put it to use to get some range for my GMRS radios, and eventually setup a repeater! Also hoping to dabble in Amateur radio once I get licensed! Thanks man!

[@JLPicard440]

HI! Im quite surprised he had 60' up with no guy wires! I think Rohn suggests guys for anything over 30 or so. I live in FL and we get plenty of wind and I've seen quite a few 40's up with no guy wires and they've survived though the years (Bolted to a 1 story house at gutter level!). For my 60 footer here I had 2 sets of guys on it. Ones at around 35' and at about 55' (or so). I don't remember the length, but I had a 500' spool of 3/16" 7x19 aircraft cable. I made my own lengths with turn-buckles so I could tighten everything up. I highly recommend getting the crimping tool and the crimping sleeves so you can custom make your own cable lengths. Cable clamps will work too where you might have to undo the cable. Depending on your layout it's hard to say how long your pull cable needs to be. I put mine at 45' and I believe it was about 100' long. I can't remember if the 500' spool was enough to do 6 guys plus a pull cable, but it'll do most of it and then you might need a little more..

[@HillbillyChrome]

@@JLPicard440 Awesome man, I appreciate the info! & yea it was on the house when he bought it and it's one of the old style towers that are known for rusting from the inside out so I'm not even sure I can get it down without tearing it up, they have it bolted to the house above the 2nd story and it's a old house from the 1800's so it's pretty tall which is probably what has kept the tower standing so long. Thanks again man! I'm currently only running GMRS but studying to take the HAM tech test now!

[@JLPicard440]

Oh yes... a 2 story house would definitely help hold that up better!

[@1OFGODSOWN]

The sound just went to Static for most of the video?

[@JLPicard440]

Sorry about that! That was quite a while ago, I didn't know I should have put some music in there or something while it was raising and lowering... 😀

[@davep6977]

I used a similar method but I used a block and tackle method ties to the house an a 120vac winch and a hinge base. When it's vertical the winch bracket doubles as a house bracket. And no I'm not worried about lightning, Lightning will take the path of least resistance and that should be the ground rods at the base of the tower. Why is your TV antenna vertical instead of horizontal ?

[@JLPicard440]

Yes, I'm still using that tower... I wound up putting the 20 Meter beam back up again.... The Tv antenna is vertical, because I was using it for a FM broadcast antenna. It works great like that

[@Sindarielle]

I’m curious, what height is your pull point at? We just set our 60f one upright today, man I don’t ever want to bring it down, it’s a hassle.

[@JLPicard440]

@@Sindarielle I put it at 45', roughly 3/4 of the way up.. It's always worked good that way. I think the peak of the house helps it a bit

[@roywilliams9823]

Did you lower tower with winch or mobil

[@JLPicard440]

With the winch. The mobil stayed stationary..

[@roynorman3650]

How deep is your foundation to the base? There seems to be alot of different opinions about this.

[@JLPicard440]

Mine is about 30". Freeze level in this area is about 18... It really depends on your area too and the type of soil. Mine is hard as a brick and horrible to dig..😩

[@roynorman3650]

@@JLPicard440 some say you can have a base a foot deep for a guyed tilt tower as long as it's hard soil. Seems a bit shallow to me. Then some say 3×3×3, which could be overkill.

[@JLPicard440]

@@roynorman3650 I agree that'd be overkill. The base only needs to hold pressure straight down. Not much side to side pressure since the guys do most of the work... However if your hinging it down like I have it there, there will be side to side pressure while your letting it down, so it needs to be fairly strong, but not ridiculous!

[@roynorman3650]

@@JLPicard440 I hear alot of do and dont' s, and know of plenty who doesn't go by the manufactures specs, and it seems to work. A got a big no no for stating I was going to attatch my raising cable to only one leg of the tower. Seen that as well.

[@JLPicard440]

@@roynorman3650 Lol.. Mine was attached to one leg and never had any trouble!..

[@ryankc9oza118]

How did you make the hinge bracket?

[@JLPicard440]

That might be hard to explain in a comment, but I'll try and make it short. Basically I put two pieces of pipe a couple feet in the ground (0:57 on the clip) using one section of tower as a guide for placement. Let the concrete dry and drill a hole thru the pipes and the legs of the tower and use a 1/2" piece of steel dowel rod. That's the short version but that's the basic idea. Thanks for your comment..

[@theboogeyman826]

Why not use a rohn hinge base? Is it because they are not made to tilt a tall tower over?

[@JLPicard440]

@@theboogeyman826 Sorry for the late response, I didn't get your comment until just now. I didn't have one available and the way I did it was much cheaper, plus all the parts were available at the local store... 🙂

[@theboogeyman826]

@@JLPicard440 no problem. I have seen different things done, and I like your idea. If it works, it works right?

[@JLPicard440]

@@theboogeyman826 It worked well for me and I never had any issues.. I did use the roof of the house as a lift point. I put 2 6x6 boards at the peak to keep from damaging the shingles. I even did it on fairly windy days and was still ok, but of course the less wind the better.. The trick is to use a perfectly straight pull point when you lower it down..

[@theboogeyman826]

I've wrote here before, and still not sure exactly the size concrete base I need for a homemade tilt tower. Is my way of thinking correct? That being making sure the base weighs more than the tower. We have clay around here, which may possibly mean I could go even smaller? Most are telling me 3×3×3, , but I don't believe the previous owner of this tower, had anything near that size base.

[@JLPicard440]

Yes, it definitely matters what type of ground you have at your location. At the location of this tower It was horrible digging by hand! Very hard is what I mean. I think I was down about 3 feet, but probably the hole was only 2x2x3. I can't answer how big your hole needs to be since I can't see what you have to make that call, but it does sound to me, just my opinion, that 3x3x3 would be plenty good. One thing I like to do is I used to build decks and I would mushroom out the bottom of the hole somewhat at the sides to make it increasingly difficult to pull that concrete out of the ground. Also whatever metal you put in the ground, I would recommend to put bolts through it sideways that are in the concrete when you pour it. It'll keep the metal from pulling out of the concrete..The guy wires to most of the work to secure the tower, but when lowering the tower up and down, you don't want the base moving around!

[@theboogeyman826]

@@JLPicard440 I appreciate the reply. I was told I had junk, but worked well for the previous owner. It's a crank up/ tilt tower. Inside or top section is Rohn 25g. The bottom or outside section is homemade, as well as the hinge base. I've had alot of ham tell me I need to hire an engineer before I do anything.

[@JLPicard440]

@@theboogeyman826 I can't say on that one. By the time you have an engineer come to your house and do an evaluation you could have probably bought a whole different setup! I couldn't see myself doing that.. Of course I can't see what you've got, but it sounds like someone already had it installed and it worked, so I guess that means something..

[@theboogeyman826]

@@JLPicard440 yes it worked well before. I just don't really want alot of overkill if not needed. I may be wrong, but in a tilt tower install I would think the weight of the base would be the key factor rather than the depth.

[@JLPicard440]

@@theboogeyman826 Yes, you have to consider that when you lower the tower down you'll get a lot of side to side pressure so that's where the depth comes in..

[@roynorman3650]

Need some advice on a tower I have.

[@JLPicard440]

What's the question?

[@roynorman3650]

@@JLPicard440 well it's alot to go into, would it be possible to talk on the phone sometime?

[@roynorman3650]

It's a crankup tower, lowest at 32 feet. Will crank up between 50 and 60 feet. Hinge base. Using a utility pole to raise and lower it. Was wondering if it will need guy wire.

[@JLPicard440]

Most of the time crank up towers should NOT get guy wires. The down pressure that the guy wires create puts a lot of extra stress on the cable used in the crank up system. The base of the tower usually goes into a pretty hefty block of concrete able to support the whole tower. Your tower should have it's own specs for this.

[@JLPicard440]

If you have Facebook, you can PM me at take a bath productions.

[@IronManXXX]

How many guy wires needed?

[@JLPicard440]

2 Sets of 3

[@JLPicard440]

Depending on the height of course... Mines' 60'. I think they recommend a set of guy wires every 30 feet.

[@IronManXXX]

@@JLPicard440 I would be doing 50 ft and believe you only need to guy at or near the top. Yours is guyed to the tower or hazer?

[@JLPicard440]

@@IronManXXX I believe at 50' I would use two sets to be safe. Just me. I have the guy wires attached to the three vertical rungs that run on each side of the triangle.

[@sleeve8651]

I have seen a number of similar towers, that have the ability to be laid over. And now I wonder, from an engineering point of view, where are the stresses occurring on these towers ? As structurally, it would seem these towers are designed to accept vertical loads, as opposed to what you see in these videos ! Obviously, they are successful to a point, but I wonder just how many raisings and lowering's they will take, before something goes bust ? Just Say'n ! 🤔??

[@JLPicard440]

I know a couple of people that have the Rohn 25 and theirs hinge down too. None of them have folded up. I know a guy who has the hinge mechanism in the middle of the tower and his folded up the first time he went to use it! These towers are actually pretty strong. I've known them to start twisting while letting down and they'll bend up the base, but the rest of the tower is still fine! Luckily that hasn't happened to me.... yet... 😩

[@WaltWW]

America

[@randygrimes78]

Are you ever scared of it getting hit by lightning that close to your house? I’m putting up 60ft rohn tower soon and it is grounded but just kinda scared of the lightning

[@JLPicard440]

Well, I guess I've never thought of it... haven't had any trouble. The way my yard is, it's small and I don't have the option to put it further from the house or there's no room for the guy wires....

[@JasonCooper-em4gt]

Long wire 😅antenna no rotor registered at this point cheap easy my lows antenna project

[@JLPicard440]

Excellent!... 😀

[@JasonCooper-em4gt]

Un safe use fiberglass post 📯 loop antenna no winch

[@JLPicard440]

OIC... Thanks!.. 😀