Cheapest place to get a tower

senecarr · EVDO Newbie Joined: 29 Sep 2008 Posts: 6

Basically I'm in a spot that seems to have no coverage because of trees. Straight line distance I'm 3 miles to the tower, but I only get spotty coverage inside, and a little better coverage on the second floor in my house.
So I was hoping to get one of those TV antenna towers I've seen on houses. Unfortunately, they all look like they are usually several hundred to over a thousand dollars. Am I looking in the wrong spots to get one?

widgetman101 · EVDO Junkie Joined: 02 Apr 2008 Posts: 210

Why not get a mountable bracket to run off the second story of your roof? I recently got a 40 foot tower for free and I'm not quite sure if I'm going to use it or not since I got my new Grid antenna setup.

Mine needs restored before I would even consider selling it. But if I do decide not to use it I will probably sell it after restoration.

When I was looking around at them I came across a site Professional Equipment. They have a wide selection. And yes your right there not cheap!

http://www.solidsignal.com/cat_display.asp?main_cat=05&CAT=Antenna%20Towers&xfermeth=directg&gclid=CN3f0M-i2ZUCFREUiQod2Tg1YQ

What size are you looking to get? 3 miles from a tower you shouldn't need something huge unless your in a valley.

Also which service are you looking at Sprint or Verizon? If you have a bar of signal outside you shouldn't need to go to high.

senecarr · EVDO Newbie Joined: 29 Sep 2008 Posts: 6

I don't have one bar outside. I'm not in valley, but I am surrounded by trees.
Basically
maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.375191,-83.857055&spn=0.023619,0.038624&t=h&z=15

the green on there is between me and the signal.
My house is actually a 2.5 story and from the top of the roof I'd probably clear a lot of the trees, but my wife doesn't want me going out on the roof. As soon as I'm on the second floor I can get a signal near a window (usually less than one bar, 96db was the best rating I noticed).

widgetman101 · EVDO Junkie Joined: 02 Apr 2008 Posts: 210

I didn't realize you could do google maps through the browser. You should download google earth and draw a line from your house to the tower. You'll be able to mouse over the terrain and it will tell you the elevation. You should be able to see the antenna tower if you know where its at. If not use antennasearch.com to find it.

This is just to help you plot the best place on your property to place the tower setup.

I couldn't even get a -96dBm Broadband signal at my place. Only national access with -89 to -92dBM. My tower is 7 miles out and I'm surrounded by trees. But I'm basically at the highest point from the tower in the area. So I'm mounted about 23 feet in the air right now.

I really think if you can get -96dBm on your second floor by the window you should setup there before you spend the coin on a tower.

Are you going with Sprint or Verizon and do you know the frequency there using? It will be important when it comes time to select your antenna.

You can do a search for my posts and read my story's. Evdo can be a real hunt but its possible to get great signals if your patient. I used a Yagi for quite some time and just switched to a Parabolic Grid antenna and it blows the Yagi out of the water. They are large but you could set on up outside your window if you got some type of a poll you could rig up.

That would save you a lot of money and I really think that's all you need. At 23 feet off the ground at my location I turned an hieratic off the charts broadband dBm into a completely stable -60dBm Rev A signal with my grid and Inteligain 3 watt amp.

SignalSeeker · EVDO User Joined: 28 May 2008 Posts: 83

Ham swap meets are a good place to find used towers. Around here they happen more often in the Summer than Winter.

Good luck.

Justin

nickjacket · Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 6:46 pm Post subject:

Get a hold of 10 foot steel pole sections from Radio Shack and simply push them together to clear the eaves/rain gutter of your roof.
You shouldn't need to walk onto your roof to complete this kind of install.

A friend should help you as 30 feet and higher lengths can feel like metal turning into rubber (wiggles and bows). The base can be a sand block or large brick to rest mast base off of soil.
Several wall mount brackets can be used to, in some applications, suspend the entire arrangement from an outside wall without the bottom pole touching the ground.
On one install, I managed to suspend three sections of 10 foot mast, 20 feet above the ground, along the outer wall of a building to prevent cars from bumping the pole. It took 4 or 5 brackets but it was solid.
Use an electric drill for pilot holes and lag bolt securement.
Finish with weather sealant to prevent moisture and air from entering the bracket holes.

Use a heavy gauge braid wire to clamp onto pole, then onto a copper ground rod (2+ ft into earth) to discharge lightning. Still, disconnect your EVDO and ground it inside the house before electrical storms get too zappy.
Use a zip-tie nylon strap around the coax near the antenna, then zip-tie the coax onto the pole. This will act as a strain relief for the weight of the cable as the zip-tied cable rests onto the zip-tied pole.
Otherwise the antenna connector bears the weight and torsion of the cable.

You may be able to save money by visiting legacy TV shops in your area that have previous decades price labeling on their antenna mast parts.

RS Wall Bracket 15-885 ($20)
10 Foot Radio Shack Antenna mast 15-863 ($24 ea.)

http://www.radioshack.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2032207&cp=2032057.2032187.2032189&fbc=1&f=PAD%2FProduct+Type%2FMounting+hardware&fbn=Type%2FMounting+hardware

senecarr · EVDO Newbie Joined: 29 Sep 2008 Posts: 6

wavrider · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Posts: 19

It is hard to beat the performance of a bi-quad mounted to a primestar or hughesway dish. Or any kind of parabola Reflector. The bigger the better, within reason of course.

The bi-quad is very forgiving in construction and has a broad band width.

It also uses most of the reflective surface of the parabola dish unlike the dipole in a tin can waveguide.

I compared my bi-quad mounted on a hughesway dish with a wilson 9 element yagi. The bi-quad was 50% better than the yagi in recieved RSSI.

Google Trevor Marshall bi quad for instructions on how to build one.
Or go to E-bay and search for bi-quad, there are kits and complete bi-quads available there.

With just my Sierra 597 I get -104 RSSI. with the bi-quad get -77RSSI,
27dbi gain.

Do not need LOS as I have trees in the way and am 3.3 miles from the tower. My antenna is on a 10 foot pole using lmr400.

I have tried the Wilson yagi, the 9 db gain omni. Nothing compares to the bi-quad so far.

Good luck.