I've been GIVEN a tower! (Now what?)

[WB2WIK]

25G predates 1970 by several years, if not more. It was being installed for smaller two-way radio systems when I worked for the Motorola Service Station in Atlanta, Georgia, my junior year at Georgia Tech in 1965.

In 1998, TXU replaced a 260-foot Rohn 45G tower that had been put up in 1948.

Glen, K9STH

25G predates it that much?

Hmmm...I don't have any data, but I was using Rohn #6 in the 60s and they discontinued that in either the late 60s or maybe about 1970 with the 25G as the "improved replacement." When forced into it, I had to switch. I thought that was in '69 or 70.

I worked for a Rohn distributor (and distributor of lots of things!) in the 60s, part time as an after-school and Saturday job and we stocked #6 like crazy, but I can't recall us stocking 25G until I was in college (which would have been 1969-1970 or so). Possibly my memory is hazy, but this is as I recall it.

Do you have a Rohn catalog from pre-1969 or so that shows 25G?

[K9STH]

I don't believe that I have a Rohn catalog from that period. I do know that Motorola was using 25G back as far as 1965. Whether or not it was available to the "masses" I do not know.

The 45G tower that was in Sherman, Texas, that was replaced in 1998, may, or may not, have been called 45G when it was installed. However, the tower was exactly the same as Rohn 45G tower in use in 1998.

The 45G tower had been placed on TXU land by another company with the provision that TXU could use the tower for free. Over the years, the tower was severely overload with runs of Heliax completely covering 2 of the 3-sides! The commercial two-way users had abandoned the tower and TXU was planning on installing an 896 MHz system over basically the entire State of Texas. So, the tower was replaced with Rohn 80G. The new tower was less than 1-foot from the old tower and, as such, did not require any FCC or FAA approval. However, the tower was guyed such that it could eventually be taken to 500 feet.

There was a 250 watt "blooper" AM broadcast station about a mile away that had a field measurement point in a cemetery across the street from the tower location. That station had been experiencing all sorts of financial problems and it was for sale. As part of the sale the pattern had to be re-verified and the company selling the tower said that the field measurements taken at the point across the street from the tower did not meet those originally taken. They tried to blame the difference on the tower and insisted that the tower either be taken down or else modified so that the field measurements would return to what they supposedly had been in the 1950s. The company said that they would sue TXU for the tower causing their problems and would also appeal to the FCC. However, they "changed their tune" when I found the documentation showing that the tower had been in place for over 10-years before the AM station was established. Basically, someone had "fudged" the readings in the 1950s. When presented with that, the company selling the AM station decided to redo their entire field strength measurements and present those findings to the FCC.

Glen, K9STH

[W9GB]

25G predates it that much?

Steve -

YES.
My dad's Motorola 46 MHz system was put up in 1957/58. 50 foot Rohn 25G house bracketed (~ 30 feet) and Andrew RG-8/U coax to a Motorola T 30 watt model.
The Motorola dealer's tower was also Rohn 25G and that was built in early 1950s.

The local radio club took my Dad's Rohn 25G tower down in late 1990s, after my dad retired. The 1/4-wave folded vertical was HEAVY (steel).
The bottom 30 feet of that tower was on the north side of house (below house bracket) .. so it was barely weathered (tooked almost new).
The top 20 feet was well weathered after 45 years.

It helped that QTH was in this area. Towers (~ 50 feet) were everywhere .. for TV reception in this fringe, deep-fringe area and land-mobile services.
Rohn family were from Beardstown, IL (~ 40 miles south) and built the plant "up river" in Peoria, IL (90 miles NE) after WW2.
SO, lots of very early Rohn 25 (some Rohn 6) towers in central IL. Oddly, never saw that much Rohn 20 in the area.

I think the reason Rohn 6 (guyed) was not that popular (in the area) is that many of them did not survive the spring thunderstorms/tornado weather in 1950s.

-- I remember when Rohn 25G was ~ $40 a 10 foot section (1970s).

[WB2WIK]

Steve -

YES.
My dad's Motorola 46 MHz system was put up in 1957/58. 50 foot Rohn 25G house bracketed (~ 30 feet) and Andrew RG-8/U coax to a Motorola T 30 watt model.
The Motorola dealer's tower was also Rohn 25G and that was built in early 1950s.

I wonder if 25G was available to the "general public" (not just Motorola et al.) back then? I really never saw any 25G until probably 1969 or so. When they phased out #6, Rohn recommended 25G as the replacement so I went to that but prior to that point I don't remember hams in my area having any 25G.

There were AM broadcast towers made of 45G and 55G around, though. Don't recall when they went up.

[K9STH]

I remember, before the "CB craze", when a 10-foot section of 25G was $17.50 wholesale. Then, in the mid-1970s, with the gasoline fiasco and the "CB craze", the prices started going up and up.

In the late 1970s, Motorola was selling a lot of new two-way system packages which included a 100-foot Rohn 25G tower installed. In this area, the son of a Motorola sales executive founded a company to erect these towers. However, in a single week, he put up 3-towers and then collapsed them by severely over-tightening the guy wires! Needless to say, his contract was withdrawn!

There was another contractor, a man in his late 70s, who put up 100-foot towers by himself! He had put up so many that he pre-cut the guy wires, installed the anchors, put the sections in a certain pattern, and started installing the tower. After getting the first 30-feet installed and guyed, he would climb the tower, moving his gin pole as the sections were installed. He had a hook on the end of a rope and would drop the rope so that a section was caught and then hauled it up the tower. After completing the tower, he would then "hook" the antenna, pull it up the tower, and install it. Next came the feedline. On his way down he would attach the feedline to the tower. When on the ground he would then tension the guy wires. The result was that he usually had to climb the tower only once!

On taller towers, he had his grandson work the ground. The last time I saw him he was in his 80s and still installing towers. He said that if he found someone that he trusted to purchase the company he would sell it. However, he never found someone that he was willing to sell the company.

Glen, K9STH

[WB2WIK]

I remember, before the "CB craze", when a 10-foot section of 25G was $17.50 wholesale. Then, in the mid-1970s, with the gasoline fiasco and the "CB craze", the prices started going up and up.

I'm not sure about $17.50 but I do remember the first 25G I ever bought in about 1970 was about $30/section. Might have been less, it's a hazy memory.

Even in the early 1980s it was $40/section, for years. It's "gone up" since then!

I had a Rohn distributor who lived near me in NJ back then (it was K2BPP). If you wanted 25G, you'd just drive to Dave's house and he'd load it on your roof racks or whatever you had. The last tower sections I bought from Dave were six sections, in 1979 or so. It was winter, and at night, and about 10 degrees F outside. Dave came out in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt to help me load the sections on my roof rack.

I couldn't believe it. I was freezing. "Aren't you cold?"

He replied, "Nope. If I was cold here, I never would have survived the North Pole." (Dave K2BPP, a member of the Explorers Club International, was the first person ever to visit both the North Pole and the South Pole. He made the cover of National Geographic for that.)

[K9STH]

Retail on the sections was about $22.50 to $25.00. However, distributor price was $17.50 for a long time.

Glen, K9STH

[W9GB]

I don't believe that I have a Rohn catalog from that period. I do know that Motorola was using 25G back as far as 1965. Whether or not it was available to the "masses" I do not know.

If you wanted Rohn 25G in central IL, you called Klaus Radio in Peoria (or your local RCA store, who would call them). Klaus was a LARGE distributor for RCA/GE ... so almost every small Radio/TV store used them for appliances, electronics, and electronics parts ... They also sold amateur radio equipment (and Rohn tower). They would place Rohn tower on their delivery trucks in region with appliances, antennas, and TVs for various stores in area. An era that I miss ... Big Box stores are not same.

During CB craze ... Rohn was running full shifts and overtime to produce 25G ...
==
Today, Hill Radio in Bloomington, IL is major Rohn tower handler in central IL.

w9gb

[KM1H]

I bought my first 25G tower in 1963 and it was around long before that.

My 45G has been up since 1990 and the top sections are already showing surface rust due to my hilltop location, winds carrying abrasives and acid rain. Coastal towers around here need attention even sooner.

Id at least Scotch Brite pad wipe it down, hose off and give it a coat of Rustoleum color of choice. Also carefully inspect the interior of the tubes with a good litght and checking for flaking rust as the serious weakening happens from the inside out.

Most places an acid dip and a fresh hot dip galvanizing runs about half a new section price.

Carl