[yesterday: 3.5 miles]
One of my next tasks for the transmitter shed is getting a pole set up.
I have the pole, a retired telephone pole. Its end position is vertical, within 30 feet of the shack, but away from the tower and guy lines as much as possible. What little googling I’ve done, it sounds like it would take $200+ to get a guy with a truck and auger to come and set the pole. And supposedly there are ways for a guy to do it with patience and tenacity.
I think I’m going to start by working on the hole. If that wears me out then I’ll go for the truck-and-cash solution.
6 replies on “Putting up a telephone pole – part 1, the contemplation”
Are you going to get one of those hand-augers? Sounds like a sweaty job that might be fun, but I’m not sure about the clay you have down there. If it’s sticky it will definitely be a hard job as you’ll have to constantly be pausing to scrape off the auger flights. What’s your depth?
I’m just using a post-hole digger.
I need to go about 5′ deep (kind of deep for a post-hole digger).
I am less concerned about the hole than I am about how to stand the thing up!
Good point. Might be worth $200 just to get it done.
I have the hole dug and I talked to my neighbor who has a tractor with a
front loader on it. He says he has done it before when building pole
barns. But his tractor is away being used for something else until
this next weekend.
I’ve looked at youtubes of totem pole and circus tent pole raising – not using a crane. It takes lots of people or rope or poles or combination of the three.
It’s nice to have a neighbor with that kind of experience. You must have built muscle strength digging that hole manually, so you’re ready for this weekend’s raising.