The Tower is up!
About two years ago, I was looking through estate sale photos because I had seen an antique radio that had been either meticulously maintained or possibly restored. It was a Howard Neutrodyne 5-tube model shown in the next pic.
This obviously has nothing to do with radio towers, but while browsing the sale photos, I noticed a few pics of items having Rohn-25 tower sections in the background….So I called the estate sale company and asked if those were also for sale. The lady managing the sale told me that they were, but that she really wasn’t sure of how many there were, fair pricing on them, or condition. I let her know that I would call her back with some comp pricing if that would help, but that I was primarily interested in the antique Howard radio. A day later after doing some research, I did as promised. The sale was in the DFW area and since I am in Louisiana, I wasn’t able to make it there until after the sale had closed several days later. No one else had been interested in either the radio or the tower sections so we worked a package deal on both.
When I arrived with my buddy Derick to pick it all up, we found that the base section was cemented into the ground and attached to the house. Without proper cutting tools, we left the bottom 10ft section and loaded out the other 4 tower sections along with the guy-wires, anchors, attachment plates, etc. The antenna had been disassembled and was laying next to the side fence. When I asked her about it, she replied that while we didn’t have to remove the lower tower selection, she expected us to take the tower and antenna sections as well, since she needed it to be gone before the cleanup crew and realtor arrived. I thought, “ok well I’m sure I can use all of that aluminum tubing for experimental antennas or something“. So we loaded it all up and hauled it back to Louisiana. At home I simply stacked it on a smaller trailer I own, until “when I get to it” came up on my project list.
Two years later, I finally decided on the design for the tower base and had my “team” approve the design both structurally and within budget. In my head, digging the hole for the concrete began as only a 2′ x 2′ x 2′ cube of high strength concrete with my custom designed tower baseplate firmly encased. After architectural review however, a “cage” structure of rebar was added and the depth increased by another foot or two. After doing some testing, lateral modifications to the tower mounting stubs up top, which included filling the 3/4″ welded iron pipe stubs with solid steel tempered bar stock both above and below ground level. Additionally the bracket near the roof peak was lowered a bit and bracing added in the attic instead of using the roof overhang. (I’ve since climbed this thing to the top and even with my 200+ lbs, safety harness and tool belt, it doesn’t budge, sway, or show any instability at ALL.)
The antenna pieces and parts I mentioned from the sale? Well after a ton of research and working off of my measuring and remeasuring many times over, Lane finally found a likely model number and identified the manufacturer. It turned out to be a Cushcraft ATB-34 from the late 70’s/early 80’s. It’s technically a 3 element horizontal beam for 10m-15m-20m that uses “traps” to make the antenna elements appear electrically a specific length depending on the wavelength of the signal being transmitted. It had rave reviews back in the day. And I was able to find several amateur operators who had done restorations on them with published projects online.
This completely changed the timeline on the project as every trap and electrical joint had to be completely disassembled, polished by hand, and reassembled at factory spec lengths. Every clamp and u-bolt was replaced with grade 5 or 8 hardware and every joint and/or connection was coated with anti-oxidation paste. All rubber components had to be replaced as most were dry-rotted or cracked. The entire thing was completely brought back to factory spec and reassembled in my driveway, with every aspect tested and retested along the way.
The rotor was mounted, checked and connected to 100ft of brand new 8-wire cabling, running to an also brand new Heathkit HD1780 Intellirotor control system that was purchased from the guy who actually designed the system for Heathkit. It was still in it’s original packing, with software, having never been installed before.
The first connect attempted after setup was successful into Asiatic Russia RZ1OA Vlad in (Arkhangelsk) on 20 meters @12:34UTC 05/12/2026, 5299mi/8529km distance, SSB-Voice, using only the 100watt output from my iCom 756PRO III. Since that day there have been many other long distance connections on 10m, 15m, 17m, and 20m. The SWR has consistently been in the 1:1.1- 1:1.4 range on all bands without needing ATU tuning (except 17m…slight tuning).
Those all were put in place just after these photos were taken. Will post some completed project photos once the other antennas have been added.
Will be adding more antennas to the tower as I go forward. Keep ya posted!
And thanks to my great team of guys for all the help!
Brian McNew – Owner and President of McNew Architecture, Shreveport, LA. His experience with building Fire Stations all over Northwest Louisiana, including tower base pads and helipads was crucial.
Derick Wilson – Owner VersaTile Renovations. Derick helped with hauling the tower back from Dallas, hauling the 55 ft bucket lift from Sunbelt Rentals, and teaching me how to use a stick welder. He has suffered through way too many of my projects to count.
Michael Jonas – Long time friend who is afraid of absolutely nothing when it comes to projects like this. He is always ready to drive 2 hours, jump right in, and rock-n-roll on my crazy projects!
Jim Walker – Long time friend who has guided me through becoming a regular eBay seller and who has found research data on my projects in minutes that had eluded me for days. I think he is actually an AI but I don’t really wanna find out.
Lane Hoskins – Friend and tower-pro in Virginia…and his #1 helper Michael. Lane is constantly climbing very tall commercial towers while procuring, installing and maintaining repeater sites in and around Roanoke. He’s one amazing tech and an amazing father. Michael is a bit short for tower work but he keeps Lane grounded (no pun intended).
If the first four of you will ever get your ham licenses, I’ll be there for you when you put your towers up. And Lane, I owe you and Michael dinner again. So let me know when you’re free to fly. 😉
-David