Failed Erection

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:

468752b7-c417-4e5b-a083-330879cccdef.jpg


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
 
Not my design but looks like a good option with steel
 

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Hilarious.
 
Not my design but looks like a good option with steel

That is certainly heavy duty. Probably more than I need and more than I can afford to spend on this. I think the aluminum mast will work if I can just get it vertical. It certainly does not have the stiffness of steel.

Thanks,

Jack
 
I'm at work most of the time when I'm on here so I was quite reluctant to open this post about your failed erection.
 
That is certainly heavy duty. Probably more than I need and more than I can afford to spend on this. I think the aluminum mast will work if I can just get it vertical. It certainly does not have the stiffness of steel.

Thanks,

Jack
Around me used wooden power line poles go for $50.00
 
Around me used wooden power line poles go for $50.00

Yes, if I was starting from scratch I might have gone that route. I'd still have a transport an erection issue. I was trying to keep the cost down and just reinforce the existing post. Looks like I did not reinforce it enough. It rebounded and is stand straight now. I think the least expensive route is add a second 4x4 at this point. If I can't make this work, I may look into the link on Bill's post.

Thanks,

jack
 
I'm at work most of the time when I'm on here so I was quite reluctant to open this post about your failed erection.

Not sure why? Well....given how fast the "How many real forum members?" thread degenerated, folks are showing great restraint! :emoji_blush:
 
You do what ever you have to do to get your pole up!
 
My son is a Urologist and has fixed many a failed erection.
 
here we go
 
My current wife has fixed all of my failed erection issues. I will consult with her. Understand of course, she is strictly a consultant for out of office situations. She is only hands on at home :-)
 
I think the aluminum mast will work if I can just get it vertical. It certainly does not have the stiffness of steel.

Thanks,

Jack

Jack ... you are not a young man anymore, be happy you got it vertical ... as they say when you get older ... never trust a fart, miss an opportunity to pee, or waste a ... :emoji_wink:
 
Jack ... you are not a young man anymore, be happy you got it vertical ... as they say when you get older ... never trust a fart, miss an opportunity to pee, or waste a ... :emoji_wink:

I would be happy if I got it vertical. Right now it is horizontal. It bends so much when going from horizontal to vertical that I'm afraid that without support it might break!
 
Oh....this reminds me of the old "Big Johnson" T-shirts from back in the day!
 
I would be happy if I got it vertical. Right now it is horizontal. It bends so much when going from horizontal to vertical that I'm afraid that without support it might break!

Hmmm ... if you are trying to raise your own pole on your own, maybe maybe a spotter to help with placing it in the brush patch would be helpful. There are videos to help keep it straight ...
 
You can take a 8ft piece of 4 inch pipe ,set in concrete,weld a bracket so that a piece of 2 inch can be swiveled down while balanced.It's hard to explain but 20ft is pretty doable.If I was going forty feet I would find tower sections or a used 40ft rohn tower.
 
SUCCESSFUL ERECTION! - Finally.

My method was a bit dicey, but it worked. My wife helped me and we finally got it installed. Signal levels are better and another repeater camera I have the is about 300 yards closer. The cable is 50' with about 2' of slack at the camera. The antenna is about 2' tall, so the top of the antenna is about 50' off the ground. I cemented in another 4x4 and tied the two together to increase the rigidity. This time instead of trying to rotate the mast into place, we put the antenna end near the post and lifted it as high as possible with the FEL. I then stood in the bucket and lifted and guided the top while my wife took care of the bottom. Eventually we got it vertical and then I temporarily boxed it in with small sections of 2x4 to keep it mostly vertical. I then lifted it 4' at a time as my wife added new sections to the bottom. When I got it to the height, I strapped it in and then removed the temporary sections my wife had added.

I still have a few finishing touches to put on it, but here it is functioning as planned:

73fb60eb-852a-42df-8777-e96b99cf332b.jpg


Thanks,

Jack
 
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