yoderjac
5 year old buck +
I've been running my wireless Orion network 24/7/365 for many years now. Over time, I got things balanced pretty well so that solar panels delivered enough energy to keep batteries charged. The batteries are large enough to cover periods of cloudy weather, and the panels were able to recover them after a cloudy period. This meant very infrequent visits to cameras were necessary. This network uses the unlicensed 900 MHz band, and the output power is limited by law. At 900 MHz, signals are attenuated by water and pine trees are essentially standing water. Sine our farm is a pine farm, this can be a problem. Cameras use a lot more power to transmit pictures than they do to operate the camera. When signal levels are poor, some packets are dropped and need to be retransmitted resulting in more power consumption.
As pines have grown up signal levels have dropped. My solution has been to try to transmit over top of the pines where I can and to use some cameras as repeaters for others. After our recent thinning, our pine trees really took off. I finally lost contact with one of my repeater cameras that services 4 other cameras. So, I've lost about 1/2 the network.
I decided to try to elevate the antenna even higher for this repeater camera. The current setup had an 8 db Omni-directional antenna on a 15' radio shack mast that was attached to a 16' 4x4 post. I bought ten 4' section of aluminum mast from The Mast Company. With the overlap between sections the mast will be 38'. My plan was to put it on the same 4x4 post. Accounting for overlap, the antenna will be about 50' off the ground. With that much height, I'll need guy wires to handle wind.
I pulled down the old mast and started working on the new structure:
The first thing I did was to add an 8' 2x6 to the top of the post with a 4' overlap. This won't increase the height, but will just increase the amount of overlap between the map and the post. I used a couple small pieces of 2x4 to capture the mast at the top of the post. Next I added 16' 2x4 cross-beams to connect the guy wires to. You can see the mast lying on the ground with guy wires attached. Next, I attached a short section of 2x6 to the bottom of the posts loosely with a single lag bolt so that it swivels on in.
My plan was to attach the mast to the swivel board with pipe straps and then use my FEL to lift the other end of the mast as far as possible. This is about 13' of lift. Next, I would use a 16' 2x4 jig to have my wife hold the mast in place while I took the tractor around to the other side. I would add a section of rope to the one guy wire, through it over the top of the post, and then hook it to the bucket on the other side of the mast. As I backed up the tractor, I hoped the mast would rotate into place with my wife guiding it with the 16' 2x4 jig. Once the mast was vertical, I would complete the capture box at the top of the post and add one lower so the mast could move easily but only lean a very limited distance.
The last step would be lift the mast vertically into place and attach it to the top part of the 4x4 post. In order to do that, I would use a ladder to get in my bucked next to the post. I would then lift the mast 4' and my wife would add a new 4' section to the bottom. I would not bolt these sections together like the others for rigidity since they are temporary. We would repeat this process until the bottom of the permanent mast was close to the final height. On the last lift, she would just put a block under the bottom to get it to the exact height I wanted. I would then strap in the mast to the top section of the post and we would remove the lower sections. The guy wires would be connected to the cross beams for support.
Well, the approach was a complete FAILURE! First, it was very difficult for her to keep the mast aligned with the post. It kept wanting to go side to side. I had to stop every few feet and go help her get it realigned. Finally I realized when the mast was about rotated about 1/3 of the way into place, that the guy wire going over the top of the 4x4 post was bending the post toward the tractor so much that it broke the cement base.
We let it all down. This weekend I plan to reinforce the infrastructure with another 4x4 post. Then the following weekend, I'll try a new method to lift the antenna into place.
I think I'm doing it backwards. Rather than trying to rotate it into place from the bottom, my new plan is to reverse the mast so the antenna end is closest to the post and lift it as far as I can with the loader; about 13 feet. I'll then get into the loader and lean it against the post. As I pick it up, I'll have my wife walk the bottom into the post. I think this will work.
So, hopefully in a few weeks I'll have successful erection and get my network flowing again!
Thanks,
Jack
As pines have grown up signal levels have dropped. My solution has been to try to transmit over top of the pines where I can and to use some cameras as repeaters for others. After our recent thinning, our pine trees really took off. I finally lost contact with one of my repeater cameras that services 4 other cameras. So, I've lost about 1/2 the network.
I decided to try to elevate the antenna even higher for this repeater camera. The current setup had an 8 db Omni-directional antenna on a 15' radio shack mast that was attached to a 16' 4x4 post. I bought ten 4' section of aluminum mast from The Mast Company. With the overlap between sections the mast will be 38'. My plan was to put it on the same 4x4 post. Accounting for overlap, the antenna will be about 50' off the ground. With that much height, I'll need guy wires to handle wind.
I pulled down the old mast and started working on the new structure:
The first thing I did was to add an 8' 2x6 to the top of the post with a 4' overlap. This won't increase the height, but will just increase the amount of overlap between the map and the post. I used a couple small pieces of 2x4 to capture the mast at the top of the post. Next I added 16' 2x4 cross-beams to connect the guy wires to. You can see the mast lying on the ground with guy wires attached. Next, I attached a short section of 2x6 to the bottom of the posts loosely with a single lag bolt so that it swivels on in.
My plan was to attach the mast to the swivel board with pipe straps and then use my FEL to lift the other end of the mast as far as possible. This is about 13' of lift. Next, I would use a 16' 2x4 jig to have my wife hold the mast in place while I took the tractor around to the other side. I would add a section of rope to the one guy wire, through it over the top of the post, and then hook it to the bucket on the other side of the mast. As I backed up the tractor, I hoped the mast would rotate into place with my wife guiding it with the 16' 2x4 jig. Once the mast was vertical, I would complete the capture box at the top of the post and add one lower so the mast could move easily but only lean a very limited distance.
The last step would be lift the mast vertically into place and attach it to the top part of the 4x4 post. In order to do that, I would use a ladder to get in my bucked next to the post. I would then lift the mast 4' and my wife would add a new 4' section to the bottom. I would not bolt these sections together like the others for rigidity since they are temporary. We would repeat this process until the bottom of the permanent mast was close to the final height. On the last lift, she would just put a block under the bottom to get it to the exact height I wanted. I would then strap in the mast to the top section of the post and we would remove the lower sections. The guy wires would be connected to the cross beams for support.
Well, the approach was a complete FAILURE! First, it was very difficult for her to keep the mast aligned with the post. It kept wanting to go side to side. I had to stop every few feet and go help her get it realigned. Finally I realized when the mast was about rotated about 1/3 of the way into place, that the guy wire going over the top of the 4x4 post was bending the post toward the tractor so much that it broke the cement base.
We let it all down. This weekend I plan to reinforce the infrastructure with another 4x4 post. Then the following weekend, I'll try a new method to lift the antenna into place.
I think I'm doing it backwards. Rather than trying to rotate it into place from the bottom, my new plan is to reverse the mast so the antenna end is closest to the post and lift it as far as I can with the loader; about 13 feet. I'll then get into the loader and lean it against the post. As I pick it up, I'll have my wife walk the bottom into the post. I think this will work.
So, hopefully in a few weeks I'll have successful erection and get my network flowing again!
Thanks,
Jack