Okay, I said I would never do it again.  What's that they say about saying never?  Well, the top two pictures here are the hole we dug for the next tower at Bonita Creek.  This one is at a new home we built up there that will be our retirement home.  Since we are up there 50% of the time I needed a tower...of course. 

So, before I found out that the Mogollon rim area is like the 2nd or 3rd most active lightning locations on the planet I got the hole and planted a second 55 foot tower.  Everything was the same except the ground was really rocky so the hole is a bit bigger.  I also had deeper J bolts made just because I felt better about it. 

Then I found there was also 30-50 mph winds that would last for 2 or 3 days.  Whew!  So, no beams on this baby.  I have a 40 meter loop hanging from the top and makes it to a 1:1 ballun that is almost on the ground.  So, I have the ballun grounded where if feeds the antenna, and lightning arrestors all around the house and leading out to the tower.  I also crank it down during our monsoon season being the type who doesn't like sending invitations to mother nature.

Tower base ready for concrete...

The boards are under the top and bottom of the T in such a way that they can be removed easily once the concrete sets enough that the base won't sink.  This allows the surface to be smoothed.

The following are more pictures of the tower in Chandler, but here you can see some of the climbing shield I have installed on it.  I have a grandson now and in another year he'd be climbing this thing except for this shield.

This is a finished product.  The tower base is held up about 1 1/2 to 2 inches from the surface by the bolts.

There should be some room for the nuts under the base to be adjusted so that the base can be made 100% level later.  This is why the boards are currently under the base on the form to hold it above the actual surface of the concrete.

Dave, AI7R