Installing Our Reclaimed Antenna Tower: It almost didn't work out!!
Вставка
- Опубліковано 15 лип 2021
- Welcome back to The Little Orchard Farm! On today's episode my cousin, Mike, came out with a reclaimed tower he picked up for FREE! So we are going to install it! But it didn't come without some drama. Come along and see how we faired.
LEAVE US A COMMENT - WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SUPPORTING OUR CHANNEL VISIT OUR ONLINE STORE - teespring.com/stores/the-litt...
---------------
Connect With Us:
🌎 Facebook: / thelittleorchardfarm
👍 Instagram: / thelittleorchardfarm
---------------
THE LITTLE ORCHARD FARM STORY
Ever dreamed about escaping to that place you dreamt about time and time again? So did we. So we did!
My name is Brian and my wife, Karen, are dreamers of a simpler life. We went all “Green Acres" style purchasing 56 acres in North Alabama and have the goal of building our modern homestead from the ground up. Literally from the ground up - starting with our cabin! We dream of food forests, hoop houses, goats, and alpacas to create our self-reliant homestead.
We have adopted the motto of "Living the Modern Homestead American Dream" because we believe the cultural dream society sells is wrought with unhealthy dependency on others like chasing the corporate ladder, going into massive debt to buy a home, depending on commercial farming practices for food, and so many other misnomers. There is a simpler more freeing way to live! And the way to accomplish it is through Livin' and Learnin'!
No matter your age, no matter how much land you have; if you have a desire to simplify and become more self-reliant, we are right there with you. We are new to the homesteading movement with little experience but a massive thirst for learning. We hope you will join us on the journey as we share our experiences - both successes and failures in our chasing of the Renewed American Dream.
Make sure you Subscribe, pound the Like button, and ring the Bell to stay up to date with our journey. We sincerely look forward to you joining us!
---------------
Thanks for watching this episode of life on our family homestead!
Take Care,
Brian & Karen
-------------------
Short Guitar Clip by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Artist: audionautix.com/
I know these towers are somewhat galvanized but you should have poured cement to higher level than the ground. That dirt will hold moisture and speed up the rusting process. I would remove the dirt, clean the tower section that's been in the dirt real good and refill with cement above ground level. That allows water to run away from the tower and not setting up against it. Just my .02
Excellent advice. I did not think about that. I will have to add that to the ever growing list of to-dos. 😀👍Thank you, Bob.
Enjoyed watching you undertake this project! I have 30 foot section just like that, that I'm needing to get up in the air and I had no idea where to really start. I'll be needing to build a trench too it seems. Anyway, I really enjoyed the fact that you also included your trials and tribulations. So many people do not include the hard stuff they encounter because they feel it makes them look bad. Not at all! You've shared what NOT to do as well as the original information I came for. Thanks for your humility and the time you take to get this info out! Thanks to the Mrs. and Mike too!
Thank you for the kind comment. We always said if we are going to make the videos it has to be real. Not some facade. Great to hear you can take something from our adventure. Cheers!
I'm glad I'm not climbing that Tower.😂😂😂😂
Not the most fun thing I've done in a while. LOL!
Well that was interesting. I’m glad I saw your comment where you’re adding a ground wire. We had lightning hit an antenna once that took out two tv’s, the internet, and the landline (at the time). I can’t wait to see how this helps. Love y’all.
Yes we are. And wouldn't you know we had a massive thunderstorm roll through after we shot the video. Thank goodness it didn't hit anything before getting the rod in the ground. Love you! 💗
@@TheLittleOrchardFarm y’all did get lucky. I forgot to mention it also got my computer. Fun times. Lol
Good work guys!
Thank you!
Very interesting video very funny watching you two try to get that tower up. Haha! Two things: one I would not have known Mike if he had walked up and socked me in the face. It has been so long since I have seen him. And two: I hope lighting does not strike that sucker.all in all ya’ll did a good job! Have a good day. Love you!!!
I am putting in a grounding rod in case of lightening. And yes, it was funny to go back and watch us walk that tower up. We love you! 💗
Enjoyed the video. I was looking for the one where you added the antennas. Another tricky task, I'm sure. I'm thinking of doing something similar, so I was scouring the UA-cams...
Thanks!
Hey Scott. I may not have video of that activity. However, I can tell you I ran coax from the Yagis atop of the tower halfway down to an outside box where my Mofi4500 lives. I then run a coax into the house to a NightHawk router which acts as my WiFi broadcast device. It is really that simple. I do have a device in-line between the Mofi and Nighthawk that is for lightening. The only disadvantage of this set up is the SIM card located in the Mofi is atop my roof. SO, if I need to change cards I have to climb on the rooftop and make the change. Not ideal for an old guy like me but tolerable. Oh, and one more item about the antennas. They are aimed line of sight to the nearest cell tower. I used a website called CellMapper..Net to locate the nearest tower and then played with the signal strength tool I have on the Mofil to dial it in. Hope this helps a bit. Cheers!
FYI
Find an old sat. dish, remove the receiver head and replace it with a router antenna. You can point that thing into the direction for optimum reception for free WiFi.
Thanks for the info
When raising that tower, you needed first to have it partially raised up and suported by a ladder or strong beam of some sort, something home made to prop the tower up with along with either rope or heavy galvanized guy lines at the middle and above the middle of the section of that tower. Then you can use your farm tractor to start raising it up slowly till it gets up in the air, holding it right there in place then put your sakrete into the hole filling it up to the top of that hole, then let it sit till it firms up and dries for about a week. Once dried you can now climb that tower remove the galvanized guy line ropes, etc, and bring your RG 6 cable down and start using it to wire up your home for tv signals to be fed to the tv set. Your not done, YET! You'll need to sink in a 6 to 8 ft ground rod in the ground and attach that ground rod wire to that tower to. Then, start digging around that tower a square piece deep enough, about either a foot or two put 2 by 4's around it nailed in and start pouring additional sakrete cement mix all around giving this tower even more ground support for a yet good strong base.
Great advice. Thank you.
I got a TV antenna and I ended up going up on the roof and had my buddy at the bottom and we stood it up that way. It was not as high though. Enjoyed the video
Thank you, Robbie. I am sure we could have made it easier on ourselves but that just would not have been as much fun. 😂
Thanks for the tor install. Please put a CB antenna on nit also. I would like to do a videogate with you in DX . Good for Prepping anyway. I hit all your buttons . Drop in for a coffee if you are in S.C. 21 in S.C.
Thank you!
FYI: The proper way to ground a tower structure is a ground rod for each leg, mechanically bonded to each leg.
Good info, thank you. 👍
I thought you would of made a frame at the bottom so it could be taken down. Are you going to climb it to put the antenna on the top
Hey RT038. We gave that some thought but in the end we simply decided to keep it very rudimentary. We assembled the Yagi antennas to the topper while we were on the ground. We then hoisted the topper up and climbed up there and popped it on. I would not say it was easy, but we managed. In hindsight, probably should have built a lowering frame. Oh, well. Live and Learn. Thanks for the comment!
Hope you braced the tower to the roof trusses. Once you get your bulk to the top, and your weight is on the side of the tower, you will feel the movement..
Thank you for the advice. It is anchored to the end truss with lags. And I still feel it at the top. :) Cheers.
Did you bracket that tower to the eve of the building to help support it? If not, has the tower been blown down yet or did you end up putting some guy wires on it?
Yes, it is anchored to the eve of the house and has withstood many a storm. More than I can say for a few trees around the property. :) Cheers!
There a plate that bolts to the bottom of that tower with a hing that allows you to anchor it to concrete and lift and lower it ease
Thanks Timothy. I'll look into that. That sure has to beat climbing up and down the thing in the hot summer heat. Yikes! Thanks for watching. Have a good week. 👍
This is funnier than anything i have seen recently. two goobers doing everything wrong. LOL. Tower is gonna fall in a stiff breeze. Pours concrete mix in hole, adds water and mixes with his arm!
We rednecks have a way with things. :) Cheers!
Just found your channel. Great info Thank you We r moving to the woods in MO
I have questions. Do u know how far away u r from the antenna. And how did u find out ?.
Also do u know if the distance between your antenna on the pole and router makes a difference ?.. I know there will be Resistance w distance. But like I said. We r in the woods and I’m think we need to get above the trees
Those are great questions. From my antenna to the modem (mofi4500) is about 20 feet. And yes, the distance between them makes a huge difference because you lose a little signal strength for each foot of coaxial you have. You don’t lose bandwidth with cat6 cable. So from the modem to the router I have cat 6 and noticed considerable gain when I moved the modem closer to the antenna. Also, getting at treetop level was huge! Picked up about 14mb additional when getting up high. As I mentioned I use my mofi4500 as a modem only. I do not broadcast with it. That is the sole purpose of the Nighthawk router. Finally, small tweaks in the antenna direction to hit the sweet spot of the cell tower (which is about 7 miles away) was huge. Good luck and thanks for watching! 👍
Thank you for your reply. Great info. So your antennas are somewhere on top how did u tweeck then in. Also how did u find the tower location. I appreciate your time. Unfortunately at 65 we still need internet Crazy !
I hear you! Hard to go completely disconnected from the world. Yes, the antennas are on top of the tower. We had already dialed the tower location in before erecting it and placing the antennas at the top. I used a website called cellmapper.net to locate the tower best suited for me by carrier. I used my cell phone gps to point me directly in the direction of the tower.
Just pour the mix right out f the bag into hole and add water
I usually do dry pours and am a big fan of the easier route but wanted to make sure the mix was through on this one since the structure was attached to my house and didn't want any damage there. But, I hear you and agree.
Is this tower still standing? Not much of a gravity base.
Yep, still standing. Just got fiber earlier this month, so I will be removing the tower. However, it is still sturdy.
Is that a part 2 that shows the results and the actual cell repeater you used?
James, my current setup is the Yagi antennas, Mofi4500, and a Netgear Router. My setup is quite stable and dependable. However, my line of sight to the nearest cell tower is very untrustworthy. I get a wild range of up and down times depending on several variables. Season, wind, and time of day (cell traffic) has impact on my reception. But I am very happy with the hardware configuration though. Hope this helps. Have a good one!
Just curious... how are you going to install the antenna on the mast?
Metal brackets came with the antenna. Pre-drilled pilot holes and made sure they were aligned to the direction I wanted to "aim" and secured them with bolts.
Never try to lift or lower an antenna tower or mast by hand near its base. That’s where the leverage forces are enormous. Think nutcracker.
Good advice!
How many bags of concrete did you use
I believe we used 4 bags sinking the base 3' into the ground and securing it to the eave of the cabin for added structural integrity.
Sounds like a configuration issue some where with your up speed. Unless your ISP has your up speed locked, 12-20 down should have more than 1-1.5 up with 15 down. If it's locked it won't matter how high your antenna is, your configuration, or network hardware. Your antenna does support a higher up speed, right?
To much water in concrete, not 4,000psi.
Gravel base is required so condensation can drain out the bottom of your antenna and not rust from inside out or freeze and bust the pipe. 25G self supporting tower concrete base per rohn specs is 4ftx4ftx4ft with 6in compact gravel base. Should really attach a bracket to antenna from the apex of the house or a set of guy wires.
Thank you for the insight! May have some re-work to do. :)
@@TheLittleOrchardFarm how's the upspeed? I got a reclaimed tower for my TV antenna and was shocked at the cost and what's required to get the thing up. Any way you go the cost is ridiculous.
@@FalsePleasure My up speed literally changes with the wind and time of day. I can get anywhere to 4-7 up on a really good day. It makes video conferencing really tough. I am looking at a cell boosting kit to see how that might help. Of course, when you have a pig, there is just so much lipstick you can apply, right?
@@TheLittleOrchardFarm I know all about the pig. No isp services my street in the twilight zone. Cable broadband is half a mile away and ive been fighting for 10 years to get a service line on this street. Cable company only wanted $75,000 to run that half mile line 5 years ago.
Sounds like we live on the same street. Our isp said within a year we would have fiber run. That was 4 years ago.
Is it still standing?
As good as ever! :) Cheers!
I can see you did not consider tipping the tower down for maintenance. It will need yearly maintenance. You treated this as if it were a fence post. You don't know what you don't know. You will need to add a lightning arrestor and ground strap. Hopefully your insurance agent won't see this video.
All great points. Hindsight is 20/20. As up an update, our area just received the best little gift any rural Alabamian could ask for - fiber internet! So now I have to figure out how to remove the ole' fence post. Maybe there is a youtube video for that. :) Cheers.
OMG… you are soooo lucky you didn’t fah huck up your HVAC unit.
😜 It was not a well thought out plan. But hey, even a blind hog finds an acorn every once in a while. 😂
@@TheLittleOrchardFarm you should figure out a way to anchor it to the eave of the house. I don’t believe you have enough concrete for it to be self supporting
@@richarde735 it is secured to the eave. Thanks!
Please don't do this... go look at the manufacturers site and find the actual specs for putting these things up... that is a tower collapse/fall waiting to happen.
That foundation is totally unsafe. It should be fine if anchored to the structure. If not, it's coming down when the ground is wet and the wind is strong.
@Groupthink_Skeptic yeah...I am putting up a 50 ft aluminum tower that weighs 130 lbs and the manufacturer says hole should be 4ft x 4ft x 4ft with 2yards of concrete in it to hold tower up