Loader TV Tower Take Down

[JoelD]

If it is a Rohn 25, the most common type around, dis-assembly with two people and a jin pole is easily done. These towers are in demand by Ham operators, and frequently bought and sold. I have 2 of them (50' & 80') on my ranch. If you place a listing on QTH.com (free) you will likely get several responses, particularly if you offer it at no charge. Market value is about $50 per section. Be sure to state your location. If offered for free, getting someone to take it down is no problem. If you are not sure what you have, take a photo and post it as well.

OK, thanks for posting this picture, now I've got the hee beee geee beees.

I don't know how you guys do heights like that, I just lock up.

I watched a video of a guy free climbing on the top of a 1400 foot or something silly like that tower, was worse than seeing poltergeist as a little kid, I'm still not over either event.

Joel

 

[jake98]

We don't pay for our commercials either. Get about 30 channels, all the NYC stations in HDTV. We bought the Bigger antenna, and an amplifier, going to put a rotor on it soon.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

OK, thanks for posting this picture, now I've got the hee beee geee beees.

I don't know how you guys do heights like that, I just lock up.

I watched a video of a guy free climbing on the top of a 1400 foot or something silly like that tower, was worse than seeing poltergeist as a little kid, I'm still not over either event.

Joel

:laughing: I was thinking of posting that video here...

 

[BrianinMichigan]

I have a full forty ft. tower on a tilt base that I built. on top of that I have a 10ft of 1-1/4" well pipe with a 10ft Channel Master antenna on it. That being said I do raise and lower the tower with my tractor BUT, I have an oak tree about 60' away that I put a pully on and it is off of the ground about 20' (the pully). I tie onto the tower near the top ( using a 1/4" steel cable ) feed the other end through the pully and down to my tractor. It takes 2 people, me on the tractor and another to push the tower away from the house after I unclamp from the brackets. It goes very smooth but I have had some experience doing this. I did take down a 30' tower that was buried in the ground about 3' a couple of years ago. I tied a rope to the top and my buddy dug away at the base. We leaned it away from the house while he walked it down I was yanking on the rope.We had a 6' ladder at where the end of the tower was going to rest so the antenna would not get crushed. If you want to see some of the good the bad and the ugly, look up tower on You Tube and you will see some stuff about doing it and some really stupid stuff too. good luck Also one other thought, all you may need is a UHF antenna on top of the tower. Since the digital transition, most if not all of the TV stations are transmitting in the UHF range even though they kept their low frequency numbers.

 

[blueone]

Jake, we are on the same thought path, why pay someone to watch TV when you can get it for free,except I'm in WV so closest Metro area is DC.

And with SO Many Antennas and towers still standing why pay for one of those either if it can be had for taking it down.

 

[k0ua]

Ok, I don't mean to pee on your tower dreams, God know I have had them, and I have had many towers in my lifetime, and have one now. BUT, you could use a simple Rohn push up mast to get to 40 foot. and if bracketed on a house you could probably get away with just 2 sets of 3 guys, No big concrete base to dig in and pour in the middle of winter, even for a 35 foot tower you would need a mininum of 1 yard of concrete. And that would be way under Rohn specs. and a house bracket. have you thought about all the cost after you get it down safely.. and oh, if you are thinking of dropping it, and let her fall. It usually springs the sections, and or cracks the welds.. also how good of a shape is the tower to begin with? Is it really Rohn 25? or something cheaper. check the base, for splitting from water freezing in the tower legs, because of improper installation/drain . any rust? Galvanizing still good? All the welds look good? Some of these things you cannot know without a thourough inspection. The mast is probably about 80- 90 dollars, and some guy wire is gonna set you back about that much more, then some good RG6, and a mast mounted preamp, maybe, rotator is up to you, if all the stations are in one place, or you want to look in all directions. What I am saying is there might be another way to go to acheive your goal, PM me if you want, Good luck
James K0UA

 

[funwithahoe]

If it is a Rohn 25, the most common type around, dis-assembly with two people and a jin pole is easily done. These towers are in demand by Ham operators, and frequently bought and sold. I have 2 of them (50' & 80') on my ranch. If you place a listing on QTH.com (free) you will likely get several responses, particularly if you offer it at no charge. Market value is about $50 per section. Be sure to state your location. If offered for free, getting someone to take it down is no problem. If you are not sure what you have, take a photo and post it as well.

You would never catch me that high up in a tower but I love the flags on the made in the USA boots!!!

 

[Mace Canute]

Reminds me of when I was a young buck and I had bid onto the Transmission Line crew. First job I got involved climbing to the top of a lattice work steel tower to work on the shield wire.I believe I got picked to do the job because I was the new guy and they wanted to check me out on something high right off the bat..."baptism by fire". It was so small at the top, I had trouble finding a place to stick my boots! Just 125 feet up.

 

[TGF]

I'd blow it up, but that's just me. If you can figure out a way to 60 feet away from it when you push/pull it over, that would probably be safe, but I have seen these things come down, you push it north it bends north then falls south.

As far as TV towers go, you are better off buying a Multi directional antenna. They are cheap and not nearly the amount of work as this.

 

[jenkinsph]

I don't wan't to fool with towers anymore, too old for that but if I were going to put one up for a tv antenna today I would buy one of the Rohn tilting units with a winch to lay it over. Reason being tv antennas need servicing and or replacement from time to time and these tilting models take alot of the grief out of this.

Something cheaper would be a telescopic mast with guy wires. These will work for 40 to 50 ft as long as you guy them properly.
Here is a link to Rohn's telescopic masts, http://www.rohnnet.com/rohn-telescoping-masts