Digging a Hole for a Tower Foundation

You've selected a site for your tower, dealt with the legalities and the time has come to stick a shovel in the ground. What's the first thing you need to think about? It probably isn't what you might guess.

Debris removal

The base of the Trylon tower I am putting up requires 6 yd³ of reinforced concrete. Of course that means digging a hole that will displace the same amount of soil. That's a lot of dirt and rock! Where will you put it? How will it get there? You cannot easily hide that much on a typical suburban lot.

If you don't already have one, borrow or buy a wheelbarrow. Mine has a rated capacity of 6 ft³, which is not quite ¼ of a yd³ (27 ft³). In reality you will not and should not approach the rated capacity; 3 to 4 ft³ is the limit for safety and what the average, healthy person can handle. In other words, about 50 wheelbarrow loads.

The topsoil you will start with has some value. Put it in your garden or offer it to your neighbours. Unfortunately that will rarely amount to more than 2 yd³. Below that you will encounter rock, sand or clay, or some mixture of them. Putting up a sign on your lawn offering "Free Clean Fill" is unlikely to make the problem disappear.

On my rural property I have many available solutions to this problem. The stonier soil has gone to repair the ruts on my 100 meter long driveway. The soil will be used to fill low spots on the lawn. The large stones will go to the stone wall or will be used as paving stones when I get around to doing landscaping around the house.

I am fortunate. Chances are you are not. So think very carefully before you start digging.

Excavation alternatives to consider

Picking up a shovel and having at it is one way to dig a hole. Although it is hard physical labour it comes with a certain sense of accomplishment. One benefit is that you do it on your own time, when and how you want. Buy some refreshments and invite over your strongest ham buddies and you've got a social event!

Digging may seem simple but it comes with risks. If you are in poor physical condition or if you don't know your limitations or you use poor technique you can injury yourself. Mistakes multiply when you're tired. Take frequent breaks and know when to call for assistance if you're in over your head. Don't be stubborn where your health and safety are concerned. There are ample references to consult on tools and tool use so I will not give a tutorial on safe, efficient digging technique.

The second alternative is the same but with hired help. I'll bet that you, like me, know a few teenagers in the neighbourhood who would welcome the opportunity to earn pocket money. This helps them and you, and neighbours may look more kindly on your tower knowing that you've given their or their neighbours' kids an opportunity. However if you're fearful of liability in case of injury you may want to reconsider.

The final alternative is machinery. A small backhoe and a skilled operator can almost surgically dig a hole with straight walls and square corners. Some touching up afterwards with a shovel and you're done. Don't hire a fool or you'll pay the price of an unusable hole and a mess to clean up.

If you are sitting on rock or (worse) bedrock, you have a predicament. Rock can be removed with hand tools, though it's brutally hard work even when you use appropriate tools. You won't find those tools at the typical big box hardware store. I've dug several holes this way when I was much younger. You can rent a pneumatic breaker (sometimes called a jackhammer). Using this tool is harder on the body than you might guess. Take frequent breaks. And remember that the tool breaks the rock but doesn't remove it. You'll still have to shovel.

Backhoes with hydraulic breakers can be expensive and large. A small one is preferable for a typical city lot though they take more time. I've hired both for excavation outside the realm of amateur radio. The big ones are impressive (and loud) machines to watch. They're also very expensive and will assault your family's and you neighbours' eardrums. They won't like it. Be prepared.

One last note about safety: an open pit is an accident waiting to happen. Even if someone's pet, or worse a child, falls into the hole you could be in big trouble. Around here the hole is what the lawyers call an "attractive nuisance." Put a barrier around the hole when you are not working on it, or at least wrap some bright warning tape around the stakes.

Staking the hole and breaking ground

You've found the perfect spot for your tower, as far as possible from noise sources but not too far for your transmission line attenuation, clear of utilities and approval from family and city, and at least tolerance from your neighbours. It's almost time to break ground.

Purchase or make 4 wood stakes, or even scrap metal rods if you happen have them (re-bar works well). Mark the corners of the square excavation, setting back a bit from the corners so that they stay put when you start digging. Getting the stakes in the correct positions is not entirely trivial. Your ground may slope and making a square requires more than simply measuring each side.

Using a carpenter's square to make right angles doesn't work so well on the ground. Error will easily creep in over several feet. Start by pounding in a stake for one corner. Next measure the side of the hole and place the second stake the same way. For appearance sake you may want to choose a side that you can make parallel to a fence, house wall or other property feature. It will give a more professional and pleasing look to non-hams.

Now mark the positions of the final two stakes, but do not pound them in yet. We need to square the hole first. There is a simple technique from the building trade to help us out. In a square or any rectangle the diagonals will only be equal if the corners are all square. Measure them. The exact values don't matter, only that they agree. I've even used a yagi element and my thumb position to quickly and easily check diagonal equality since it's easier to use than a tape measure for this task.

I can almost guarantee that no matter how careful you've been you'll have some error. Move those final two stakes so that the diagonals are equal and all four sides are the required length. Only then should you pound in the stakes.

Get our your long-handled spade and push it into the ground right around the excavation perimeter. When you have the spade lines agree with the staked lines it is time to break up the sod and remove it. This can be harder than it looks since vegetation binds the soil into a solid mat. This is how vegetation prevents erosion and is used to reclaim deserts.

Proper digging technique and tools

Go to any hamfest and you'll notice that too many hams are unfamiliar with physical labour, or have left it behind in their distant youth. Digging is hard work. Big DXCC and contest scores are great motivators but they do not confer physical strength and endurance. Be prepared: use the right tools and techniques to do it safely and at minimal risk to your comfort and health. Otherwise hire the job out.

I will not give a tutorial on digging. There is so much to say and many have said it better than I ever could. Besides, would it really help you if I listed out a couple dozen pointers? That's a lot to keep in mind and learn to apply as you go about the job. Lists are no substitute for experience. Watch, learn and do, in whatever way works best for you, whether it be internet video or other online resources or simply watching someone else go about it.

Dealing with hard clay and rock

Organic-rich topsoil doesn't go down forever. Even out in the rich agricultural land of the Canadian prairie where I first dug tower holes it may only go down perhaps 3' (1 meter). Beyond that we had to deal with dense clay that was more difficult to remove. At my current QTH the topsoil quality is poor, thin (1') and only suitable for hay and pasture. After that is clay, rock and bedrock.

After removing the top 6" I again probed for stone and rock since I could get down that extra depth. What I discovered was worrying. To understand whether this was bedrock I dug a narrow pit that reached down 3' below grade. This went quite fast since the volume of soil being removed was small. Getting a shovel into the narrow hole was not easy and I eventually resorted to a hand spade. When I hit solid rock I stopped and tested what I'd found.

Most of the tools you're looking at were laid out for the purpose of the picture and do not necessarily should how I did the work. What did matter at this point was the large cold chisel and hand sledge. I got down on my belly, leaned into the hole and tested the rock hardness. It was a mix of shale, rock shards and hard stones. It didn't seem to be bedrock so while I was disappointed I was not entirely discouraged.

The next day I excavated down to that rock layer. Notice that the pile of dirt beside the hole is growing.

Luckily what I found was not bedrock. The soil at this depth transitioned to the hard stone-infested clay mix I talked about before. The stones became numerous and irritating. Even the small ones rarely succumbed to the shovel, instead requiring chiselling them loose. The bigger ones had to be dug around until the chisel could get underneath and pry them loose.

You cannot leave this rock behind when it's poking out the sides of the hole. Concrete does not bind to rock without chemical assistance, so water will creep over months and years and erode the concrete and re-bar.

In a way the large rocks were a blessing. As the depth increased I had to resort to using the chisel throughout the excavation to first break the soil so that the shovel could get purchase. Rocks simplified the work. That is until you encounter a very large rock.

Monster rocks

There are rocks, and then there are rocks. The one that the probe and pit uncovered was one of those. The size is what made me think that I'd hit bedrock. But it was difficult at first to ascertain its size. Trying to dig around it seemed fruitless for a while. Finally I discovered that it was somewhat flat, with a height less than its width. I breathed a sigh of relief until I realized how heavy it was.

When it did shift from its ancient position I found it too heavy to lift. With effort I could move it but I could not by muscle alone lift it out of the hole. I estimate its weight at 70 to 80 kg. One strong person or two of me could have done it. Since I was on my own and I did not want to wait a day or two for a friend to drive out to help I improvised.

A 6 foot length of 2x10 lumber I had lying around served as a ramp. My decades old hand-operated winch (which I once used to tension guy wires), a small tree and a rope were my helpers. The only problem was that the cable wound on the winch wasn't long enough to pull the rock far enough.

The middle panel showed my first attempt which ended in failure. I tried it this way so that I'd be close to the rock to check it in case it slid sideways and the ramp tilted. But the winch caught on the top edge of the lumber. For my second attempt the winch went above ground and I stopped frequently to check the rock's position.

The rock still could only be lifted a foot shy of the top of the ramp due to that short winch cable. I couldn't push it well enough from below so I pulled on the rope from above using the full strength of my leg muscles strengthened from years of cycling and running. It was enough, barely. I ended up sacrificing the corner shake which happened to be on the path of least resistance.

Although I did have a better winch it was one that was not set up for this style of operation. It's the one that I'll be using to lift heavy tower sections. The point is there is always a way if you have good mechanical sense, a large junk box of mechanical aids and a scrupulous attention to safety.

No shortcuts

Digging is hard work. Even if you hire teenagers with shovels or a backhoe you need to supervise, measure, direct and finally clean up any errors. As the bill climbs higher or you become impatient you may be tempted to tell yourself that it's good enough and rush to the next step. When you do it yourself your inclination to be hasty is increased. Your body and mind conspire to convince you that you've done enough.

Except you have not done enough. Don't be hasty and take shortcuts. Do it right. Here are a few items to watch out for:

• The hole isn't square, either horizontally or vertically. Fix that, even if it means you'll need to order more concrete.
• The hole is undersized at some depths. See the previous point.
• Most foundations specs call for a flare at the bottom. Too many hams try to convince themselves it isn't needed. Hint: it is.
• A large rock is sticking out from the side of the excavation. Remove it. Stone binds poorly to concrete and the boundary is a place where water will slip in to degrade the concrete and erode the re-bar.
• As you go deeper the shovel will seem to bounce off the compacted soil, and what you do dig up has to be lifter higher to get it out of the hole. It only gets harder. You may try to convince yourself you've gone deep enough, or that you can go wider and shallower provided the concrete volume is equal. Don't! That it gets harder is a good sign since it indicates that you've reached soil with greater bearing capacity, and that's makes for a stronger foundation. Follow the spec. 

I'm sure you can think of more items to add to the list. Take no shortcuts. We can move on to the next and more interesting tasks when the hole is properly completed.

Casing the top of the base

When you're done with the digging you must also build a casing above ground so that the concrete surface is above grade. Do not skip this step. If you leave the base at grade water will easily pool and eat away at the tower galvanizing. Sooner than you realize it will begin to rust. Yes, It happens quite frequently, especially in colder climates where spring thaw can leave the base submerged in an ice/snow/water mix long enough to do real damage after several winter seasons.

The casing should be square, level and secure from movement while the tower is moved in position over the hole and while the concrete is being poured. If the ground is uneven you'll have to use wood or other material to fit the grade and ensure that on all sides the base is raised sufficiently above grade.

You can see my cased hole in the picture. The 2x4 skids on two sides are nailed in a fashion to hold the casing square and will serve as supports when the bottom section and stubs are suspended for pouring of the concrete. This will be described in more detail in a later article. The weights on the near corners are part of that plan.

Since the ground slopes a few inches I used a 2x10 on the near side and 2x6 on the other sides. The gaps are filled with other lengths of lumber. The casing and fillers are held in place with stone and dirt from the excavation. Alternatively stakes can be used to hold the casing in position and square, and larger lumber on the sides could be used at the cost of stripping sod on the high sides to keep it level. I used what was available and helpful for the next stops.

Once you're done...

Try not to leave the hole unfilled for too long. The longer the hole remains the more likely an accident will occur. In my experience I always feel some reluctance to see yards of concrete sliding into the hole into which I put so much effort and time. But there's only so much admiring you can do for what, in the end, is just a hole in the ground.

The only significant casualty of my open hole was an unfortunate field mouse. Perhaps the fall killed it or perhaps it was a combination of injury, exposure and hunger. Tak care that nothing larger becomes a victim of your hole.

We are getting close to the end. The next steps are to build and position the re-bar cage, suspect the base section over the hole and, finally, pour the concrete. That's coming up.

Survey and Layout of a Guyed Tower

I sat out this past weekend's CQ WW SSB contest. In a way that was sad since I took #1 in the world the previous two years. But with the horrid ionospheric conditions and my temporary inverted vee operating QRP, or even 100 watts, it would have been unpleasant. Instead I kept working on getting my towers up and hardly gave the contest a thought.

Most hams that do have towers have self-supporting towers. These are usually the only kind that fit in a suburban or urban lot where most live. House bracketed towers are also fairly common for those with wire antenna or small yagis; these towers typically don't handle much wind load, and there is increased risk to the house.

For hams in rural areas a guyed tower is a relatively inexpensive way to attain height, at the cost of more labour, more excavating and construction and the consumption of land area. They also require more maintenance and require yagis to be trammed up the tower. However one you approach 100' (30 meters) height a self-supporting tower can become prohibitively expensive.

If you have never worked with a guyed tower this article may be of interest. My 150' LR20 tower is slated to be raised this fall and I have been doing the required preparatory work. The initial steps were to choose a location per my site plan, probe the ground and finally survey and stake the base and anchors. It's a bit daunting to stand back and look over the staked ground; the tower consumes an acre of land.

Probing the ground

Handmade probe next to a 6' drill bit I also tried

All the professionals that work in this region of Eastern Ontario are familiar with the type of ground we are on. In much of this area the ancient rock of the Canadian Shield predominates. While geologically true that does not matter for most construction since it is often below excavation depth. Instead we have is a thin layer of soil over glacial debris (deposits from the last ice age) and then bedrock that is a mix of shale and other rock.

Glacial debris can be easy or difficult to remove. Much of it consists of boulders of hard rock such as granite in a matrix of eroded softer rock and clays. The rocks and boulders have to be removed whole since they are too hard to break with hand tools. The mix of soft rock and clay sounds deceptively easy to deal with but in reality is almost imprevious to shovels and so must first be broken up by hammering a large cold chisel or mechanical breaker into it.

The purpose of probing the ground is to (hopefully) find spots for the base and anchor where there is more soil and less of the harder stuff. Ground composition can vary a surprising amount over a short distance.

I made my own probes out of sharpened thin steel rods I had lying around. The steel is soft so some care is needed when pushing them into the ground to avoid ruining them too quickly. But they're cheap and easy to make.

The conundrum is that probing the ground here is like dealing with Olber's Paradox. Sooner or later (often sooner) the probe will always strike a stone or stone-hard clays. When the probe hits a stone you withdraw the probe and try again a few inches away. You'll hit another stone, either shallow or deep. Sometimes I was lucky and went down the full length of the probe. But that only means the probe isn't long enough to hit rock!

When I chatted about this with the local tower pros one of them jokingly suggested moving the tower a few feet to avoid shallow obstacles. That doesn't really work since when you move the base or an anchor the other three points must also be moved. You are almost guaranteed to hit shallow rock at one of those locations. The effort isn't worth it.

So I tossed the probes aside and put the tower where I wanted it. Yes, the probes do show rock but I expected it. However I don't expect it to be bedrock based on my probing the ground and the hand excavation for the Trylon tower (which is complete as I write this, and is a topic for a later article). Thus a backhoe should
suffice.

Tower specification

Before we do the surveying of the tower area we need a set of specifications. All tower manufacturers provide this, and if not the geometry and engineering requirements can be calculated. But for this exercise we'll rely on the L & R documentation from long ago. I have been told that, in general, engineering requirements have been strengthened over the years so some recommend exceeding these older specifications.

L & R follow the common 80% heuristic: the guy anchors should be placed 80% of the tower height away from the base. In my case the nominal 150' tower has the anchors 120' distant. If you plug the numbers into a calculator -- α = atan(D / H) -- the angle between the tower and top guys is a little less than 39°. Due to the 14 section splices (overlap) the true height is closer to 143' and the angle is almost exactly 40°. The distance D is from the centre of the base to where the anchor rod pierces the ground. The anchor itself several feet further out.

I did not include in this article the large table in the spec sheet that includes the values for the diagram on the left. For my tower they are: A=120'; B=208'; C=180'. My tower's anchor code is 6228. For my tower V=9' and H=12'. The back of the anchor is 7'-4" behind where the anchor rod pierces the ground. We are now ready to take to the field.

Survey and staking

My tools were the above set of numbers, 200' and 16' tape measures, an armload of wood stakes, a steel mallet and good footwear. I spent about 1 hour on this job, including checking and even rechecking measurements. Despite the many things that must be done it really isn't difficult.

It's straightforward when you go about it methodically. The adjacent diagram describes the process steps by number. You may want to refer to my site plan article for the placement of this tower in the field east of the house.

For purposes of the survey I am calling the line between the two lower (north) anchors the baseline. The centreline is the vertical line from baseline centre to the top (south) anchor. In step 1 I staked where I wanted the first anchor rod to pierce (or exit) the ground. I left plenty of room behind it to avoid obstructions and tree roots that would interfere with the large, buried reinforced concrete anchor.

In step 2 I unreeled the long tape measure (and short one) to mark out the anchor at the other end of the 208' baseline (B), again ensuring ample room behind the anchor. Walking back for step 3 I staked the midpoint between the anchors (104'). I returned to the first anchor to ensure the three stakes were in a line. Of course they were not quite aligned so I moved the first stake to correct the error. I chose the closest stake but moving any one of them would have worked as well to do this.

Returning to the baseline centre I estimated a right angle and measured 60' southward (C - A) in step 4 to mark the tower base. Don't worry about how accurate you are in making a right angle since no matter what you do there is sure to be an error. Just do your best and we'll correct it later. Measure a further 120' (A) in step 5 to complete the centreline and stake the final anchor. Sight it so that the stakes for the baseline centre, base and third anchor are in a line.

Baseline after step 8, amid maple leaves; the far anchor stake is aligned/hidden behind the centre stake

Now it's time to correct the error so that we get an equilateral triangle to ensure that the guys are equal length and separated by 120°. Step 6 takes the longest mostly due the back and forth walking you must do. Go back to the first anchor (bottom right), plant the tape measure and return to the third anchor (top). It is almost certainly not 208'. We need to correct that.

Move the stake for the top anchor right or left, keeping it parallel to the baseline, until the 208' mark on the tape measure coincides with the stake. Move the stake approximately parallel to the baseline and take care to keep the tape measure straight. The latter will require some walking back to lift it over the ground cover.

Now do the same for line from the bottom left anchor to the top anchor. A few iterations will get these distance equal and 208'. Try to get it to within a few inches if you can, although realistically an error of 0.5% (1') is adequate.

The base stake will also need to move left or right (again, parallel to the baseline) so that the top anchor, base and baseline centre stakes are aligned. This is step 7. Remeasure the distance from the base stake to the baseline centre stake and top anchor stake to confirm the result. Adjust as needed.

Centreline, looking north from top (south) anchor stakes, perfectly aligned after step 7

Alternatively for steps 6 and 7, after staking the base measure the distance from either baseline anchor stake to the base stake. It should be 120'. Proceed to the adjustments as already described. Then measure 120' from the base stake to the top anchor, ensuring that the top anchor is aligned with the base and baseline centre stakes, and pound in the stake. I didn't do it this way but it may be quicker to measure the shorter distance.

Geometry

You may have noticed that the distance from the baseline centre to the base is exactly half of the anchor-to-base distance. This is because sin 30° = 0.5. This and other measurements can be similarly calculated from first principles if you don't trust the manufacturer's spec sheet. All you need is a diagram and a little trigonometry.

On the other hand those round numbers in the tower spec are just that: round numbers. If you like (and I did, out of interest) you can generate your own A, B, C, H and V values from first principles and get greater accuracy. That isn't necessary, but the point is you can, provided you do not compromise the tower's basic engineering requirements.

For example, if you want a larger angle between the tower and top guy you will have to calculate your own specifications. You might want to do this to allow room for long-boom side-mounted yagis. The tower footprint will grow since the anchors will be further from the base. However, do not decrease the guy angle since that will reduce the tower's capacity and can introduce a serious safety issue. You need the land to put up a tower this size. There are no shortcuts.

Excavation

Steps 9 and 10 are the markers for the excavation. In step 9 the back of the anchor is staked, and in step 10 the corners of the base are staked. For the anchors, which in my case are 8' long, the ends of the anchors should be staked for the use of the backhoe operator. Set them back about 6" or 1' or as the operator prefers.

The stakes are 4' either side of the one marking the back of the anchor and must be orthogonal to the anchor rod and guy wires. This can be done (similar to step 6) by adjusting the stakes at the anchor ends until the distances from the stakes to the stake marking where the anchor rod pierces the ground are equal.

You may choose to hand dig the hole for the base, especially if the soil is to be the concrete form for the base, since you can be more accurate with a shovel than a backhoe. Not all backhoe operators are into surgical precision. The base excavation is easier than for a self-supporting tower since the volume of soil to be removed is much less.

For the anchors you should pick up the phone and hire a backhoe. The volume of soil to be removed is unreasonable without mechanical assistance. The anchors go deep so you are more likely to strike rock and so need a backhoe with a breaker attachment. Despite the expense this is the right way to go about it. When the concrete is set almost all the soil goes back into the excavation. It will need to be compacted, for which you may want a tractor to drive over it as the hole is filled or, better, bring back that backhoe. Again, it is unreasonable to compact the soil without mechanical assistance.

You'll notice in the picture above of the baseline there is a small pile of dirt. That is a test hole to probe the top foot of ground and check for buried rock. Yes, there is rock or at least plenty of stones down there.

Next steps

I received a load of re-bar this week and I am now in the process of building the re-bar cages for the Trylon and LR20 towers. Once I have those done and the anchor rods in hand it will be time to do excavation for the guyed tower. Open pits are a safety hazard so I am delaying excavation until I am ready to proceed.

Siting the Towers and Antennas

With 50 acres of land you might think that I have no constraints on where I place towers. Of the 50 acres, a few are allocated to the house and immediate yard area, 20 are being tilled for hay, and the rest are a mix of forest, bush and swamp.Yet there are always constraints beyond the common one of lot boundaries.

Let's look at the constraints I am most concerned with.

• Houses: As much as possible you want to maximize the distance from RFI emitters and receivers and to protect against damage or injury should a tower or antenna fall down. In an urban environment this can be difficult. A rural setting opens more options, though limited by the next criterion.
• Length of transmission lines and control cables: Long conductor lengths are expensive and can incur unacceptable loss. The shorter the better, unless you are working with a large budget.
• Trees, fences, utilities and other barriers: Much grief can be avoided by siting towers and guy anchors out in the open. The closer they come to roads, utilities and trees the greater the risk of accidents. Trees can be deceptive. Their roots can grow out sideways, especially over rocky ground, and a small tree will grow into a threatening giant. Obstacles will also impede the raising and lowering of all but the smallest antennas, and may require a tram from a more distant patch of open ground. And as they say, call before you dig. Do you know where all your utilities, drainage pipes et cetera are buried?
• Tillage: In a rural setting the conversion of perfectly good land from crops to antennas can be scandalous in the neighbourhood. In some jurisdictions it can even be illegal. If you are in this situation be very careful. For example, the tillable land on my property (~20 acres) is hayed by a local farmer. I want to site and orient the towers in a manner to maximize his access to the land. They will appreciate the gesture.
• Rock: In this part of the world rock is a frequent excavation impediment. At my previous house my 1985 tower requires breaking through 3' of shale to achieve the required depth. The same had to be done when I built a new house in 1992. Excavation equipment to break rock is expensive. At my new QTH the rock is managable by hand digging for the self-supporting tower, but that was due to careful site planning: I chose a location with perhaps 2' of well-settled soil above the natural grade. Avoid rock if you can because it can be difficult and expensive to remove.
• Interaction: Even if you never operate on more than one band at a time interaction between antennas is important. The primary ones are damage to inactive receivers and pattern distortion due to mutual coupling. For the SO2R or multi-op contester, or even a fervent DXer simultaneously working two pile-ups, far less interaction can be detrimental.

As you can see there is much to consider. While it is a lot to think through the benefits justify the effort. Why go to all the effort of purchasing a property and then be cavalier planning the placement of towers and antennas? The effort is worth it, even if you cannot achieve an ideal result.

Alternative site plans

Site planning

Even for small stations some advance planning is helpful. It is something I undertook at my previous station when i decided to expand my capabilities. The exercise can pay dividends by avoiding future conflicts and expense. Think carefully about your interests, ambitions and what you might want to tackle in the future.

Draw the layout of your proposed antenna farm, including utilities and adjacent buildings, and even significant distant topographic features.

Alternatively use a satellite view of the area from a service such as Google Maps, as seen above for my property. Import it into one of the many suitable applications that allow you to draw on top of it. I've used Microsoft Powerpoint and Open Office Impress. Precision isn't necessary so these applications are suitable and easy to use.

Initial configuration

Once you stick a shovel in the ground you have made a choice that will constrain your future choices. Choose carefully. I have considered the alternatives and I have put a shovel into the ground. Several shovel, in fact.

The following site plan is the one I am working with. Notice that it is a satellite view of the area around the house with annotations added. I find this approach easier than the alternative of a drawing. Notice that the house is 100 meters the road. Plowing that long driveway in winter will not be fun. Yet this is a great arrangement for antennas because I can maximize the land area within a given radius of the shack.

I'll describe my thoughts on why this configuration is acceptable in the context of my constraints and objectives. The meaning and design of the annotations will also be explained.

The tower annotations are with respect to the physical layout. For self-supporting towers I use a simple yellow circle, for guyed towers the vertices of the triangle are the guy anchors, and for vertical arrays it is the maximum extent or either radials or guys. On both guyed towers I placed a scaled image of a full-size 3 element 40 meter yagi to help with mental imagery.

The scale requires an explanation. Google supplies a scale in the lower right corner. But that is too small to use and it is also inconveniently located. Instead I transformed the scale to the image on my computer screen. I then created several measuring rods in the drawing application that I can paste onto the image, then move and rotate them. You might prefer a more rigourous approach that is not dependent on my screen and application window!

The location of the Trylon self-supporting tower is constrained by the location of the house, septic system, trees and future garage (purple square). This will be first tower to go up, and its construction is underway as of this writing. As previously mentioned, I'm under the gun to get the concrete poured before work on the garage begins. This tower will initially support a large tri-band yagi and 6 meter yagi. It may also be shunt loaded for 80 meters and perhaps 160 until 2017.

The LR20 has been surveyed on the land east of the house as shown on the plan. Excavation is planned for November. I chose the location to minimize visibility from the road, land removed from hay production and distance from the house. Its orientation is not ideal for climbing and, especially, side mounting of yagis. I can work around these minor issues. Over the winter it is unlikely to hold more than inverted vees and a one or two fixed yagi. Next year I plan to raise 40 meter and 20 meter yagis of modest size, or larger if I have the time.

There is provision in the plan for a similar size guyed tower to the south of the house. If I build it one tower will be for 40 and 10 and the other for 20 and 15. This is a common arrangement for contesters since it minimizes interaction among yagis on the same tower by avoiding harmonically related bands and maximizes diversity. If contests are not your passion the need for two tall towers is of less value.

Unfortunately when pointed to Europe the south tower may exacerbate interference with antennas on the east tower. This will have to be addressed with aggressive filtering, and in truth would likely be required in any case.

In the north field I have reserved space for an 80 meter vertical yagi per the design in an earlier article. Alternatively I would put up a 4-square. Spacing from the other towers is sufficient to avoid serious pattern degradation when pointing southeast should any of the towers exhibit a resonance on 80. However there will be no array or even a vertical for 80 and 160 this year.

With respect to noise I have initially avoided placing antennas west of the house. The electrical distribution line is parallel to the road using an easement on my property. If you look closely you'll see the shadows cast by the poles. It is about 70 meters from the house. Antennas would be closer than that.

Notice the placement of measuring sticks to help visualize distances. Then there are the ones further to the east that have a different purpose. These are prospective 100+ meter long Beverages for 80 and 160 reception. Alternatively a 4-square or 8-square circular array could be placed in the wild field to the northeast. Since Beverages are simple and cheap they are more likely to be installed in the near term, and possibly remain my receive antennas of choice.

Receiving antennas are a good choice for the otherwise useless forest and swamp at the eastern extreme of my property. It is not by chance that this area is furthest from power lines and neighbours's houses, and looks towards Europe; it is one of the attractions of the property that caught my eye. I have already been pricing 150 to 200 meter runs of RG6 and control cable. I've also learned to construct small transformers and common mode chokes suitable for 160 and 80 meters.

2017 and beyond

My immediate need is to get towers planted before winter and put up antennas that will get me through the winter and next spring. Starting in 2017 I will begin my long term antenna plan. At this point I don't know how far I'll go, and indeed I prefer to give myself latitude to experiment rather than stick with any fixed ideas.

The site plan must accommodate my particular interests. I believe I've done that. Although now that towers are being planted and their placement constrains my future choices it is beneficial in that I don't have to waste valuable time considering too many possibilities. Or, what we used to called in my business life: analysis paralysis.

My objectives for 2017 include the following, in no particular order:

• 3-element 40 meter yagi. Which design I will select remains an open question. The antenna will go at the top of the LR20 tower and turned with a prop pitch motor/rotator.
• Side mount the XM240 2-element 40 meter yagi on the LR20, rotatable with or without a swing arm to cover the US.
• 80 meter vertical yagi array, including 160 meter vertical.
• Mono-band yagis for 20 and 15 meters, side mounted on the LR20.
• Beverage antennas to cover critical directions, primarily for 160 meters but also to supplement the receive directivity of the 80 meter vertical yagi.
• Tri-band yagis for the Trylon (TH7) and LR20 (TH6, fixed). These are in stock, along with most of the rotators I'll need. One rotatable tri-bander or mono-bander will be mounted above the 40 meter yagi at extreme height.
• 6 meter yagi on the Trylon.
• Heliax for all the long runs

Over this winter, once tower and antenna work must cease, I will begin preparatory work on some of these antennas. There is also work to be done building the shack and automation for rig control and antenna switching.

I also have a stretch objective to raise that second guyed tower late in the season. That event depends on many things, and I may not even want it then or ever. But I expect I will do it no later than 2018. Once built the antennas will be rearranged as I described earlier, with one tower for 40 and 10 and the second for 15 and 20. Large yagis for the high bands will be built or purchased for these towers. Progress of the solar cycle will determine priorities.

Antenna experimentation would benefit from an additional small free-standing tower so that the main towers and antennas don't need to be disturbed. However that may be too much for next year. 

Missing the contests

It feels odd to be writing blog posts while the CQ WW SSB contest is underway. In a way all this typing and thinking makes that lack sting a little less. It is also a welcome break from the hard physical labour of digging. I'll have more to say about digging tower holes later.

Welcome to FN24br

Getting back online after the move was no easy feat. Since I decided to go entirely wireless at the new QTH I was solely reliant on my cell phone. Unfortunately it is old and does not support the newer service bands, and I was roaming on another network. You don't realize how dependent we are on modern communication services until they are missing or unreliable. Amateur radio is not a substitute for ordinary personal and commercial use.

The upshot is that getting internet service arranged and installed took a week longer than expected. Being disconnected had the advantage of keeping me focussed on completing the move and starting on the new station.

One odd problem that occurred with the move had to do with my license and station location. Industry Canada (who regulate amateur radio) found it difficult to update my record in their database. It turns out that when I moved from VE4 to VE3 in 1979 a new record was created rather than updating the one that existed. This persisted when their IT systems evolved and upgrade, and made the problem more interesting. After verifying that I was who I said I was the database was corrected and they issued me a new certificate.

I started simply at the new QTH. With no barriers in the way of getting back on the air, other than the lack of a tower, I unpacked my multi-band inverted vee and hoisted it up a temporary mast. The mast is the same one I used at the top of my bracketed tower. It already has the pulley attached.

A couple of long u-bolts secure the mast to the decayed cedar railing of the loft balcony. The balcony will be replaced next year so I have no concerns about damaging it further. The inverted vee apex is only 9 meters high and the ends, tied to two of the numerous trees around the yard, are about half that height. It isn't much but it works, surely better than how I returned to the hobby in 2013.

A 15 meter length of RG213 connected the FT950 temporarily located in the loft bedroom. No holes were drilled. The rotting weatherstripping and sill of the balcony door allowed just enough room for this thick cable to squeeze through (the door is also slated for replacement).

DX contacts soon followed. The only ones of note were S9YY on 30 and 40 meters and TL0A on 17. That getting through wasn't easy is good since it allows me to hone my pile-up skills.

Towers are being sited and construction has begun. I'll get into the details in a future article. For now I'll present a Google satellite view of the area of my 50 acre property that is most germane to radio use. That circle you see is an attractive stone wall lined with birch trees inside half its circumference. The fields beyond are tilled for hay by a local farmer, who I have yet to meet. Towers will reduce the tillable acreage a small amount.

A self-supporting Trylon is going up a short distance to the northeast of the house, behind the location of the future garage. I need to plant the tower before the garage excavation is begun so the concrete truck can roll up to the tower base. Trust me, you do not want to move 6 yd³ of concrete in wheelbarrows (~50 heavily-laden trips). Concrete pumps are an expensive alternative.

The LR20 150' (43 meter) tower will be placed directly east of the house and yard. I still do not know if I'll have time to get that tower planted before ground and air conditions are too cold to proceed. There are 4 excavations and reinforced concrete work for the tower, and potentially long wheelbarrow trips to place ~5 yd³ of concrete.

I did get a commercial quote to put up the tower (all labour, equipment and materials) and even with an "amateur" discount it is a quite expensive $20,000+. For some amateurs this is acceptable. Others do some of the work themselves and bring in professionals for the rest. That can be far more economical if you have the time, skills and body strength. I plan to do as much as possible myself, not excluding 100% of the project. For me the planning and execution of tower project of this size is a very interesting opportunity to learn and put all of my experience to the test. However I have been getting advice from professionals, both local and distant.

I close for now with a picture of some of the denizens of this large 50 acre property. There are apple trees, towering maples (and evidence of a century old sugar bush camp), animals and plenty of open space. It is very peaceful if a little isolated. There is lots of space to store antennas, towers and related material.

For amateur radio it has many attractions. The house though it needs extensive renovation is getting high marks from the many visitors that have passed through. Mixing house construction with tower work is difficult enough without the financial and legal glitches that have plagued both ends of the real estate transaction. All is clear now bar the hard work.

My next blog posts will get into siting the antenna farm and planting towers. There is a lot of excavation work ahead before the ground freezes. Regrettably I will not have a station for this weekend's CQ WW SSB contest, so I will not be competing for SOAB QRP #1 for a third year running.

Two Tons of Steel, and Administrivia

I've accumulated lots of stuff over the decades. Not just amateur radio stuff, of course. I am amazed how much stuff there is in my house to be moved. With my now very imminent move this has become a small nightmare. I've given or discarded 40+ years of QST and other ham magazines, sold a few household appliances I'll no longer need, and I have a list of more things to sell after I am settled in my new QTH.

Every one to two days over the past 2 weeks I transported a carload of fragile and odd-shaped stuff in my car. Yes, this included every bit of amateur radio gear I own, of which there is a lot. I even moved the 2 kilowatt power supply I built over 25 years ago for a set of amplifiers I never did get around to building. The power supply works great though, including its regulated 300 VDC screen supply for tetrodes.

The big stuff is another matter. I now have 4 towers, 2,000' of Heliax, 3 tri-band yagis, several rotators (including two prop pitch motors), a 2-element 40 meter yagi, assorted VHF yagi, over 100' of steel mast, and much much more. Almost none of it fits in a car. So I turned elsewhere for help.

One of my neighbours own a landscaping business. One evening a couple of weeks ago he showed up with a 5-ton truck and trailer, a few of his sons, his wife and several employees. Even with so many hands it was a hard job to load the towers, masts and related paraphernalia.

Two of the guys and I took care of the unloading at the new QTH. It sufficed, just barely; it was a tough job. I paid for everything of course, though at a price point better than I could otherwise accomplish.

I remember that while standing on top of the load on top of the truck (feeding sections to the guys below) close to midnight my phone rang. It was a fellow ham wondering how the move was going. So I told him!

300' and 2 tons of towers and masts at the new QTH in FN24

This has been unbelievably difficult work. Yet I'm not done. The antennas and Heliax would have to wait for another truck, which is pending as I write these words. Of the big antennas all but two of the tri-banders were knocked down to small lengths and transported in my car.

As if all this weren't enough I have more tower on order. There are only 6 weeks left to plant towers in the ground, before the risk of frost in the ground puts an end to concrete work for the winter. Towers and antennas work can continue in the cold, if I am so inclined.

Going dark, for a while

The next part of the move is more serious and will occupy me for the next week. This means no new blog post, no moderation of comments, no email and no phone calls. Aside from being busy there is as yet no internet or phone service at the new QTH.

If the blog and I seem unresponsive you'll know why.

Changes to contact info

A number of correspondents have email and phone contact information that as of now are invalid. There will no forwarding or other notification beyond this note.

Email should be sent to my call sign at rac.ca or arrl.net and no other. When I eventually reply you'll have the new direct email address. My phone number will be disclosed as necessary following email contact.

See you soon.

Two Approaches to Penalizing Contest Log Errors

The title of this article of long since it can take some description to explain a simple dilemma. Which is who to penalize when one operator in a contest QSO makes a mistake? Sounds simple, yet therein lies an interesting dilemma.

I was forcefully reminded of this when I recently received my log report (UBN) for the RDXC CW 2015, and by internet discussions of some frustrated contesters. For those who do not enter contests -- or at least do not contest very seriously -- this may be no more than a curiosity. Dedicated contesters have good reason to care.

First, a brief explanation of the two penalty schemes.

A) Penalize the operator who makes a mistake

Let's say I call and work XX9YY. I log the call and the sent exchange. The exchange is contest specific. It can as simple as a report and a zone such as in CQ WW. More complex are exchanges with serial numbers. Far more complex is the exchange in ARRL Sweepstakes, or the QTC system in WAE.

The chance for errors is greater with more complex exchanges yet even simple exchanges can create many errors by operators who become careless. For example, not really listening and just letting the logging software fill the log fields.

So if you are a K5 operating in California and I log zone 4 instead of the zone 3 you sent I see my score reduced by the erasure of the QSO and a further penalty. If I copy your call sign wrong you may never know because in S&P operating (typically for QRP contesters like myself) it is common practice not to send the other station's call. If I don't send it he can't correct my error.

That's really all there is to it. I get the penalty while the other operator in the QSO is not, assuming that he copied my call and exchange correctly.

B) Penalize both operators when one (or both) makes a mistake

In contests like RDXC it is the responsibility of both operators to correctly copy the sent call and exchange and to ensure that the other operator correctly copied their sent call sign and exchange. If either operator makes an error the QSO points are erased for both operators. A further penalty may be assessed.

It is therefore incumbent on all contest participants to transmit a clean signal and send the call sign and exchange in a manner to ensure they are correctly logged by the other operator. Ideally this results in better operating practice by everyone. Although it can also slow rates it does so for everyone.

Regrettably the ideal is not consistently achieved in practice.

Rules modify operator behaviour

Rules can improve operator behaviour but cannot entirely eliminate common problems. They can even cause new problems, perhaps ones that are unanticipated by the contest sponsors. Competitive operators want to win and will exploit the rules to maximize their results, and do so while staying within the rules. There are always ways to find advantages despite the intent of any rules.

The common theme is twofold for the competitive operator:

1. Maximize points
2. Minimize penalties

Let's look deeper at these imperatives in the context of both penalty regimes, focussing on the operator behaviours they induce. Both have pros and cons.

The majority of contests use scheme A. This engenders poor operating behaviour by a relatively small number of big guns and those offering a rare multiplier. They see every incentive to send quickly and loudly to maximize rate when running with little regard to the other operator's attempt to log the QSO accurately. After all, if the caller makes an error they are the one penalized, not the running station. Thus we see the following from some:

• Very fast CW speed (35+ wpm), or fast talking on SSB
• Infrequent identifying
• Not correcting obvious errors in the other station's copying of their call or exchange
• Distorted transmission: over-modulation or compression, chopped code elements, etc.

Some contest sponsors are taking steps against these poor behaviours, though for the most part the perpetrators get away with it. My opinion is that this is unethical operating since it often negatively impacts the score of other contest participants. Pursuit of a high score is not an acceptable excuse.

With scheme B the dynamic changes, and therefore the behaviour of contest participants. Speeds slow and identification becomes more frequent. There is an added incentive to elicit confirmation of correct copying. Distortion only slows the QSO so gain controls get dialled down.

So far so good. However it is not all roses. When doubt creeps into an operator's thoughts about whether the other station did indeed copy everything correctly there is a chance, sometimes a good chance, that they'll silently wipe the QSO. When that happens the other unsuspecting operator receives an NIL penalty (not in log). The one wiping the QSO loses the points but avoid the risk of a penalty.

All it takes is sufficient doubt (a subjective choice) to result in penalties for other participants. Unlike in scheme A this is not a matter of unethical operating, merely a fear of penalties. Whether that fear is rational is difficult to say.

Which is better?

I have no firm view on this matter. Any rule has its loopholes and downsides. The clever operator will find them and then modify their behaviour for maximum advantage. The unethical operator will only focus on their advantage and not the impact their choices have on other contest participants.

I was at first favourably disposed toward scheme B when I first learned about it. I am less sure now that I've experienced its problems. Nevertheless it is an interesting experiment that is worth wider adoption to see how it plays out in larger contests. Since tradition has great momentum I don't expect this to happen any time soon.

I suspect that one's opinion correlates well with primary operating style: run vs. S & P. Self interest is a powerful motivator. Even my own view may change as I transition from QRP to QRO contesting, and therefore more running.

Unbending Bent Tubes

When disaster strikes we often find ourselves with a pile of scrap aluminum and steel. After shedding a tear or two it is time to dive into the scrap heap and decide what can be salvaged and what must be trucked away for disposal or recycling.

A word about risk

Of course we want to reuse as much as possible, it just isn't always wise. In these matters I find it helpful to reflect on the old cliche: "if you have to ask the question...replace it." Unfortunately the less you know the more doubts you will have. Or if you thrive on risk you simply skip the question phase and jump into salvaging almost everything while prudence looks on in horror.

A little knowledge combined with a little ingenuity is perhaps best: you strive for economy yet know that there are important limits to what can be salvaged. Aluminum tubing can be expensive and is a prime candidate when an antenna turns into scrap.

The danger is that aluminum and its alloys fatigue easily when bent. Every bend weakens the metal, including the bend to return it to its original shape. Tempered alloys, including those used in aluminum tubing, weaken even more when bent. You must think very carefully whether the risk is worth it.

The general rule I use with aluminum tubing is to try and save a tube with a gradual curve and discard one with a visible kink, especially a kink that changes the cross-section from a circle to any other shape, be it an ellipse or something more extreme. The application also matters: a tube that is at the end of a yagi element or light duty boom mostly only supports itself and is more amenable to rescue.

Consider the following tube:

This is a 1.5" O.D. tempered aluminum alloy tube (most likely 6061-T6) with a 0.058" wall that telescopes with similar tubing in ⅛" steps. It comes from the boom of my old A50-6 yagi that I plan to resurrect in modern form. The bend dates to when the temporary wire antenna mast of which it was a part collapsed.

In my judgment this tube is a good candidate for saving. Even if only for the practice it is worth making an experiment of it. The replacement cost is small if the straightening attempt fails.

Tough tube

Aluminum alloy tubing of this diameter is surprisingly tough. Try to bend it over your knee and it's your knee that is more likely to bend. Some casual attempts to straighten it soon after the disaster went nowhere so I cast it aside for the time being.

When I recently took down my towers I recognized an opportunity. The 1.5" schedule 40 steel pipe coupled to the frame of the house (used as a tower guy anchor) looked perfect for what I had in mind. There are two important reasons. First, the pipe was effectively an immovable object for the force I would need to apply. Second, the I.D. of the pipe is 1.61" (the 1.5" designation is a nominal figure) into which the tube would slide in nicely and largely conform to the shape of the tube.

The second point is worth some elaboration. To straighten the tube it is necessary to apply a force greater than the tube's yield strength. Unless the tube is secured against a similarly curved surface there will be stress risers that will result in kinking or even collapse. The 1.61" I.D. is in a way even better than 1.5" I.D. since it allows a portion of the curved section of tube to be firmly couple to the pipe. That is, slide it into the pipe until you encounter resistance.

Snipe

We are not quite ready to proceed to bending. We need a way to apply the right force at the right place. Let's look at a tool for helping with that task: the snipe.

The bending force must be applied close to where the tube is secured to the pipe so that we can ensure that the only point that yields is in the vicinity of that coupling point. If we grab the tube by its end, for maximum leverage, the result will be unpredictable, and likely destructive. Yet if we hold the tube closer to the coupling point we almost certainly don't have the required body strength.

Pipe snipe

What we need is a snipe. Most often it takes the form of a long steel pipe that is placed over the handle of a tool to multiply leverage. Too often a snipe is used inappropriately (easy to do) resulting in a broken tool, broken machinery or, worse, a broken body. The approach we are going to take is more moderate and will permit good control of the force.

My snipe is another 1.5" schedule 40 steel pipe. It is long enough for the required leverage yet no so long that damage is easy to inflict on the tube. As with the fixed pipe it has a shape that reduced the risk of stress risers.

Gauging the force being applied is not obvious. If you push too hard you will feel the tube bend. You don't want that since it invariably means you've applied too much force and probably damaged the tube. If you are too careful the tube will not bend at all.

Experimentation with increasing amounts of force is required. It is necessary to inspect the tube after each push, which though tedious is mandatory.

Inspect the tube carefully: the bending will occur in the exposed area between the two pipes. Keep the pipes separated by about 6" so that the stress is distributed in a way to straighten several inches of tube at a time. Several bending actions will be required. Be sure to push exactly against the curvature. Align the tube so that the curve is exactly vertical or horizontal so that you can more easily judge the direction of applied force.

Almost straight

Start from one end of the bend and work gradually toward the other. Slide the tube further into the fixed pipe as each bend is accomplished. Check carefully after each bend to make sure the tube is straightened over that portion of the tube. When you believe you're done put a straight edge on all sides of the tube to confirm that you were successful. You'll have to decide how exact is sufficient to your use of the tube.

Almost straight

When I was done I inserted the tube back into the boom. The tube was straight but the boom was not!

I hadn't noticed before that the next telescoping tube (1.625" O.D.) also had a bend, although it is much less than that in the end tube. That will require a different setup since it will not fit the steel pipe I have on hand.

For the moment that is inconvenient so it must await a future opportunity. This is not something to rush into since use of the wrong size pipes can wreck the tube.

Final words

Bending aluminum tubes in the manner I described is risky but can be worth the attempt if the damage is within reason, as I described earlier in the article. In this case the tube is inexpensive so I was prepared to take a risk knowing I could buy a new one if I damaged it further.

For tubes in more structurally critical applications I would advise you to be safe, skip the experiment and buy a new tube. The same advice applies if you simply cannot be certain that it is safe to straighten the tube.

Then there's steel. That is a topic worth its own article. I have one planned on that subject focussing on damaged towers.

Land Hunting

Canada is the world's second largest country by land area with a middling population. This makes for a low population density. Visitors from Europe and east Asia in particular are often attracted to and amazed by the wide open spaces we have. It can be fun to experience their observations firsthand. If your interest is in the great outdoors the vast spaces and wilderness are an undeniable attraction.

When you live here the experience is different. Because we're so spread out the cost of travel and transportation is a consideration, and the taxes to pay for and maintain infrastructure such as electrical transmission lines and roads. Not to mention the rapid wear on that infrastructure from our extreme weather.

For hams with dreams of antenna farms the opportunities for acquiring land are good. That must be tempered by availability of utilities and roads and proximity to services and communities. If you are not retired be prepared for long commutes, or use the internet to work remotely if you can. The simple act of shopping for groceries can be a challenge.

As I reiterated at the beginning of this year I have aspirations for an antenna farm now that my enthusiasm for the hobby and contests has been rekindled. I am on the edge of retirement and what little work I do is short term consulting. I am free to move. As intimated in my previous article I am exercising that freedom.

Before I talk about the new property let's back up a few months to when I hired a realtor and they began to search out properties that met my criteria. Realtors can only help so much since this kind of hunt is typically far outside their experience and outside the search features of the listing services. Be prepared to take an active role in winnowing the choices they present you. Expect to spend time finding candidates yourself, which you then submit to the realtor so they can research them further.

The hunt was fraught with many challenges. In this article I'll describe some important ones that I encountered, both to entertain you and to provide food for thought should you contemplate doing something similar. Leave yourself lots of time to shop around. Expect frustration along the way. After endless searching out and visiting promising properties I began to worry that I'd never succeed, or that I'd have to settle for second best, or even worse.

Regulations

Canada is a first-world country with all the government, laws and regulations that go along with that. There really is no escape; you cannot simply buy some land in an isolated area and start erecting towers. Well, you can but sooner or later you will be caught and come to grief. Those in authority take their responsibilities seriously and will come after you, because if they don't they will come to grief for failing in their duties.

The first problem is that of cities. Many provincial governments in Canada have over the past decades aggressively pushed amalgamation of municipalities, both urban and rural, to reduce the cost of government and simplify oversight. It hasn't gone well in many cases, but I'll skip over that subject because...politics.

What it has done is created cities of enormous land area, incorporating large rural municipalities. Since the populations of these forced marriages are majority urban the city councils tend to apply city rules to the rural areas. That this causes many absurdities has slowed the trend very little.

For me that meant escaping Ottawa. That is difficult since the city has grown so large in area: ~80 km east-west and ~50 km north-south. There is lots of suitable rural property within the Ottawa boundaries but with difficult rules regarding towers I must look further out.

All municipalities, urban and rural, have permitting requirements, though they are often far less strict in rural areas with low population density. I know many hams in rural areas that are simply told to go ahead without a permit. But not always. Make appropriate inquiries before breaking ground.

On the federal level one must get approval for especially tall towers, in particular over 30 meters, with Transport Canada and NavCan. These are for aircraft safety. In most cases they simply add your tower to navigation charts and thank you for taking the time to let them know. However if you are near an airfield, even a small one, or if you exceed 60 meters height expect some challenges.

Suitable house and suitable land

One of the great challenges in the land hunt is to find a property that is both suitable to both ham radio and for living. This is no less true if you are alone than if you have a family. This difficulty is not too surprising since getting either one right is a challenge, so passing both sets of criteria with one property is less probable.

Here are some of the solutions of hams I have known:

• Purchase the land and build the house to your spec, including radio needs.
• If the land is good but not the house, renovate the house, perhaps extensively.
• Use the property only for ham radio while living elsewhere. The station is only used for contests or operated remotely.
• Accept less than ideal house or land and live with the consequences.

Since suitable property is almost always rural it is necessary to consider proximity to shopping, services, friends and work. In bad weather (winter storms) accessibility may be slow due to long driveways and road clearing. If power lines come down rural residents are the last to be restored.

In short, be prepared to compromise. You will also have to sell your family on the positive aspects of rural life.

Hidden hazards

Large rural lots can hide a lot of things you'd rather avoid. I always walk the property to look for things the sellers would rather you didn't know about. Here are a few things I've personally encountered:

• Garbage: Too often I've discovered garbage dumped somewhere. Their contents ranged from everyday household refuse to material from building demolition to business waste. Sometimes the garbage has been burned and left an ugly and toxic scar. People can be lazy and view their large properties as a way to dispose of material cheaply and easily and without paying for legal disposal.
• Skull and crossbones: One one property I found a large but low concrete structure with a heavily secured cover. On it could be found the words "poison gas". What the poison gas was I never did learn although my agent did ask. Many months later the property is still on the market, at a much lower price and a new listing agent.
• Easements: It is not uncommon for electrical lines to cross rural properties. Since population density is low this is a way to reduce infrastructure costs for the utility, and therefore (in theory at least) lower rates. In Canada and the US these rural lines are typically 14.4 kV (7.2 kV is more typical in cities). Be certain those lines do not impede your plans for towers and antennas. Also consider that easements allow utility workers to cross your property to get to those facilities, which might pose a hazard. Other easements are less common but can be significant problems. For example, pipelines.
• Outbuildings: Barns, stables, sheds and shelters are not uncommon on rural properties. Many of these used to be working farms, horse ranches or sites for the owner's business. Sometimes they add to the tax levy. These buildings have potential uses for hams. The problem in many cases is that they are little more than safety hazards that ought to be avoided or (better) removed. One such building I found garnered this answer to our query: "take a match to it and have a jolly bonfire!" Well, no. Try that and you'll have the authorities on top of you in no time at all. This is for good reason since these burns are dangerous and release toxic gasses and particulates into the air. Further, these buildings may contain septic systems and fuel tanks. Abandoned fuel tanks may contain fuel (really!). Outbuildings can be expensive liabilities, so look them over carefully.

The lesson is that things you really want to know about are often not mentioned in the real estate listing. Indeed the seller's real estate agent may not know about it because the seller chose not to disclose. Caveat emptor! Do your due diligence. It's well worth the time it takes. No one else will do it for you.

Putting down roots

Extracted from Google Maps

Study the satellite view of a section of a large property that caught my interest. There are several large open fields separated by some trees and bounded to the north by rough bush. When I visited the fields were overgrown and the bush areas were difficult to navigate. The reality on the ground is not so tidy as seen by the satellite.

Less visible is what lurks below ground. We care about that for two reasons:

• Ground quality for vertical, low-band antennas
• Excavation for tower bases and guy anchors

The geology in this part of Canada is shield rock (billions of years old) overlain with newer rock, such as shale, and then soil over that. The native vegetation is forest and thin bush where rock is prevalent. Soil depth to the underlying bedrock can vary a lot over a short distance. Think of it as ancient eroded mountains buried by newer sediments and organic detritus.

When you dig a hole you may hit bedrock that is close to the surface (ancient hilltop) or it may be soil or other loose material to a great depth (ancient valley or watercourse). Bedrock is a problem. It can be removed with heavy equipment that will add thousands of dollars to your tower budget. I've been through this several times over the years, including for towers and my present house. I want to avoid bedrock removal if at all possible.

The thin rough bush to the north is a sign that there is little soil over the bedrock. In this case as in others I've investigated the soil cover may only be centimeters deep and rock may in fact be at the surface. Trees have difficulty putting down roots which is why the vegetation cover is sparse.

The ground can be tested with simple tools and some ingenuity. One is a metal probe. It is a thin, hardened steel tube with a pointed end and large handles to facilitate pushing it down up to 1 meter depth. That's about the best you can do with a hand tool. Going deeper requires a drill or a backhoe. A backhoe cannot be used on property you don't own. Even a hand probe may be looked upon with suspicion.

A less intrusive test is to take a rough level off the septic system drainage field. Modern leaching beds in Ontario must have 4' of granular sand and 1' of soil above that. Thus the surface will be at least 5' above bedrock or other native soil. If the house and leaching bed are raised well above the surrounding land that is strong evidence of rock below. Knowing your own height and standing on the undisturbed surface face the house and bed and estimate the grade difference.

For the property above I measured a grade difference of 4' implying only 1' of soil above the native bedrock. Not only that, the house dates to 1860 and has a crawl space rather than a proper basement. The crawl space is another clue. Go down there and check for bedrock. It's worth getting a little dirty.

For this and other reasons I rejected the above property. However if you would instead choose to proceed you must add excavation costs to your budget.

Draw a circle

We want to maximize the land area within a given radius of the shack so that we can reduce the length of cables to reduce loss and reduce the cost. Let's say we want to keep the towers within 75 meters of the shack (or another radius of your choice). Use the adjacent diagram as our reference.

If the lots boundaries are outside this circle you're doing well! The only problems might be plowing your driveway in the winter and ever seeing passers by. But you'll always have your radio.

Should the house be near a boundary, whether a road or neighbouring lot, half or more of the circle is inaccessible. You will also be closer to noise sources, such as neighbourhood electronics and faulty power lines.

Working farms often have houses that are close to a boundary so as to maximize productivity. On some large farms the house and outbuildings are centrally located, which is good for radio and bad for accessibility.

If there's an easement for electric distribution or other utility wiring across your property use that as the boundary rather than the conventional boundary line since it limits the available land in the same manner.

The worst case is where the house is nestled in a corner of the lot. The available area is no more than a quarter of what's possible, or < 90° of the circle.

It is certainly possible to compensate when the lot is large enough by extending the radius. The cost of transmission lines and control cables can be a barrier if your objective is to have no greater transmission loss than within the smaller radius. Consider this when you encounter an otherwise attractive property.

Neighbours

I am plagued with noise here in the city. This is a common complaint and one without good solutions except to move. A rural property is not just for big towers and antennas but also for hearing well. Local noise is one reason I stuck with QRP contesting the past few years since it was the only way I could be sure I could hear the stations that called me.

I studied the number, distance and direction of neighbours for every property that I considered. I set 100 meters as the absolute minimum to be reasonably assured of quiet reception. The greater the distance the better. Although one needs less than 10 acres to build a world class antenna farm more land serves as buffer for receiving. More than that, it makes the towers less noticable and that is never a bad idea; all it takes is one antagonistic neighbour to make your life unpleasant. Apart from visibility the other advantage of a buffer is less risk of EMI when running two 1 kilowatt stations non-stop for 48 hours.

Of course that isolation can impede community interaction which matters to quality of life for you and your family. This is one more area where you may need to compromise to keep peace in the family.

Seriously noisy neighbours

Neighbours can include more than people. There are numerous noise sources that ought to be avoided. Not just today, but for the future as well. You do not want to move into your ideal noise-free property and only months later have a commercial wind farm or solar farm appear next door. This is not merely an academic concern (PDF); hams I know have to deal with this threat. I am all for green energy but...NIMBY. They can be very strong noise sources due to numerous and high-power DC-to-AC inverters and generators.

Search out these facilities and try to stay at least a few kilometers away. If you're not sure drive by the area with a receiver. Even a car AM radio can be sufficient. Tune to the edges of the band (~530 and 1,700 kHz) at least 20 kHz from a broadcast station, and not while underneath a power line or near a utility pole. What you hear at MF is a harbinger of what you'll hear on 160 meters and perhaps throughout HF and 6 meters.

Extracted from Google Maps

Be especially inquisitive when you spot one isolated wind generator. They tend to multiply, and often throughout the area since it is proven to be attractive to a commercial operator and local authorities have given approval. Scour local news sites for stories about planned facilities in the area: they are often the target of vocal opposition and the resulting news stories are easier to find than official government documents.

Use a satellite map service to look for suspicious infrastructure. Solar farms are easy to spot, as seen in the adjacent satellite image. You'll have to peer more closely to spot residential solar panels but they are visible. The larger residential solar installations can be noise sources though not always. Go there and listen.

One thing I've learned to be less concerned with is high voltage electrical transmission. There are many hams near these transmission corridors, including contesters, and problems are uncommon and moderate when they do occur. Even so I want a separation of at least 2 to 3 km.

Ground truth

Earlier in this article I highlighted the value of walking the land to discover undisclosed hazards. This is necessary even when there are no hazards. Make the effort. Just 10 minutes of your time is enough to evaluate the ground truth over as much as 10 acres. Wear hardy footwear and watch for holes hiding in the vegetation!

I always study the satellite view of the property and immediate area on one of the popular internet map services. Take note of any questionable features and inspect them on the ground. Do not accept the satellite view as indicative of what you'll find: the overhead perspective can be misleading, just as it can be from an aircraft. A good example is a few acres on my new property that I am considering for a future 160 meter array. I put the satellite view alongside the picture I took on the ground, facing south from approximately the spot indicated on the satellite view.

Left: Extracted from Google Maps; Right: photo taken by me

I have yet to discover the reason this area has reverted to bush. It isn't dense bush and should be easy to clear. I would think the local farmer taking a hay crop off this land would have liked to use it.

Notice what appears to be a small hill in the southwest corner, both in the satellite view and the photograph. I waded through the bush to investigate. To my surprise it's an untended berry patch gone wild. At its highest it is ~4 to 5 meters tall, with a big tree in the centre. I was relieved to discover it wasn't an outcrop of the bedrock.

There is evidence of old paths throughout this field. Otherwise it is no different than the surrounding fields. Perhaps disinterest or a change of ownership resulted in the field reverting to its natural state. It can be used for an antenna as it is, if one is willing to wade through the vegetation. That would be difficult and unpleasant.

More criteria?

I am sure there is more that can be added to my list of criteria. You could use mine as a foundation for your own list, based on your individual needs. There is nothing definitive about what I've written. You're the one that has to live there, not me, so do what works for you.

My new property

Up to now I've said little about my new property other than the photo above. The details will come in a future article on how I propose to use the land. For the moment I will say that is just under 50 acres (20 hectares), is located in FN24 and is pretty well set up to allow numerous towers and low band antennas without excessively long cable runs. The house is a bit of a fixer-upper, and that is monopolizing my immediate attention.