PastorGary Posted May 7, 2014 Report Posted May 7, 2014 You're welcome, John... I figured you wanted them all together in one place. It's easier to follow this way... Best of luck on your project. Quote
JohnE Posted May 9, 2014 Author Report Posted May 9, 2014 came across this post on a ham board http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?102965-Tree-Mounted-Antennas&s=75741e21493d34694d43622b37520737&p=644583#post644583thoughts. Quote
JohnE Posted May 12, 2014 Author Report Posted May 12, 2014 one of the 3 batteries I set up is weak but holing ~12.5V after 2 days off the charger. the other 2 are 13.2V so I'll call them good. I took the one that dropped off like a rock on the float charger to see how that goes. next week I'll deal w/the last bad one then go from there.shot a couple of vids today but haven't had a chance to review them yet. took elevation reading also today,where the antenna currently sits is 1095' , where its going is 1210' roughly and the entrance to my driveway is 1066'. maps were made to accommodate a couple of different gain antennas and different heights. they all came out roughly the same height being the bigger factor. right now I have no plans to purchase any antennas and just use what I have around.2 older PD 201's1 Antennex 4607plan on using the 201's as it is a better performer than the other. Quote
PastorGary Posted May 12, 2014 Report Posted May 12, 2014 John, Thanks for the updates.... really interesting project and several members are intently following your progress. Quote
JohnE Posted May 19, 2014 Author Report Posted May 19, 2014 the one bad battery went into float and has settled out at 12.8 V, we'll see what that looks like in a week. in the mean time I put the second bad one on the float and it came up rather quickly but no float yet. checked the standing voltages of the 3 I had done 2 weeks ago and no change in voltages, this is a good thing. going to top off the low one and see if it stays were the others are.may do some more testing over the long weekend if I can manage to borrow an extension ladder and get it up to the site. "if" that works out I will put it up temporarily on my small gen set and go do some field testing. this should give me a rough clue as to what I can expect out of it. must remember to bring enough cable w/me.and on a side note I'm rethinking the size of the shack to 8'x8' as 4'x8' just seems a little tight when I laid it out in my garage today. Quote
JohnE Posted May 28, 2014 Author Report Posted May 28, 2014 did not have a chance to do anything this weekend on the site.on a related note came across a new to me antenna co. that we bought from last week. they seem to be well built and not too bad price wise. I may get one to put on my 575 just to see how well it performs against what I'm using now once an account is set up. have heard good thing from a couple of people about them.http://www.comtelcoantennas.com/thishttp://www.comtelcoantennas.com/PDF/BS450XL6.PDFor thishttp://www.comtelcoantennas.com/PDF/BSL450XL6.PDFleaning towards the second one. Quote
JohnE Posted June 13, 2014 Author Report Posted June 13, 2014 might be able to pull AC out to it w/o too much line loss.was at a job site talking w/some electricians and one posed an interesting idea............... step up to 480 then down to 120 therefore reducing how fat a wire I need to go as far as I do.must research this further, going to keep the batteries though. have to have a BU. Quote
JohnE Posted June 19, 2014 Author Report Posted June 19, 2014 some pics.better late than neverhttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0002_zps54a02268.jpghttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0005_zps7a11a0f2.jpghttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0001_zpsa9a3b95d.jpghttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0003_zps042c8c71.jpg Quote
PastorGary Posted June 19, 2014 Report Posted June 19, 2014 Hopefully, that's not a body laying in the brush just below the ladder..... Quote
JohnE Posted June 19, 2014 Author Report Posted June 19, 2014 nah,I have better places to put the bodies. Quote
Logan5 Posted June 24, 2014 Report Posted June 24, 2014 Love the pic's. I am just getting caught up, is that a 25-40 foot ladder? next to a 50' telescoping mast? I am guessing but those trees look to be over 100', like I said have not been on in a wile. are you planning a tower? or plan to mount the mast in the top of the tree? very exciting. and yes if you step the voltage up to 480V you can run a super long run on much smaller gage wire with little loss. They do it in modern solar installations, step up to 400V DC and they can go from AWG1 to AWG10 and save several thousands on copper. If you built a tree house you would have an awesome shack. Wish I could help. Quote
JohnE Posted June 25, 2014 Author Report Posted June 25, 2014 the mast is 30' w an 8' antenna on it, that was the "test" set up. I really don't remember how big the ladder was and it wasn't all the way up.my best guess is its about 70'. once I get in it I have a 100 foot tape measure I'm going to drop and see what it is. Logan5 1 Quote
JohnE Posted July 11, 2014 Author Report Posted July 11, 2014 made an order today.antennahttp://www.comtelcoantennas.com/PDF/BSL450XL6.PDFmountshttp://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=29248&eventPage=2hanger blockshttp://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=512331&eventPage=1couple of ground barshttp://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=442460&eventPage=1porthttp://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=362047&eventPage=17/8 cable boothttp://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=392984&eventPage=1 there were a few other things but thats the major stuff. will have to get some EMT or galvanized pipe for the cable to go into on the ground so it doesn't get beat upanyone else have any thoughts. Logan5 1 Quote
JohnE Posted July 21, 2014 Author Report Posted July 21, 2014 stuffhttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0010_zps0626b3bc.jpg http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0014_zps8e6f9f0a.jpg http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0015_zps650a19ce.jpg Logan5 1 Quote
JohnE Posted July 30, 2014 Author Report Posted July 30, 2014 antenna is in, shack was delivered today. the antenna is fatter and lighter that I thought it would be but I think I can put the 7/8 right in to it w/o any problems.on a sad note the gentleman who was going to help and teach me to climb the tree properly lost his wife today. we had just seen them on Thursday to discuss the game plan for doing this project. it was like getting hit in the head w/bat.I may have to make other arrangements. Quote
PastorGary Posted July 30, 2014 Report Posted July 30, 2014 John - very sad to hear of the loss... Praying for the family at this time of sadness and grieving. Quote
JohnE Posted August 2, 2014 Author Report Posted August 2, 2014 http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/shack_zpsb9e988a0.jpg Logan5 1 Quote
JohnE Posted August 19, 2014 Author Report Posted August 19, 2014 weather wasn't too cooperative this week but I managed to get a few things done.layed out where and how I want things to sit, bolted the rack to the floor, put the antenna, pipe and mounts together. checked the length of the cable I have (29M,95'). I also had the shed co move the unit from the bottom of my driveway to the top where it was suppose to be put in the first place. still waiting on some grounding equipment so I haven't punched the hole for the feed through yet.http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0041_zpseb25a8b0.jpghttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0042_zps2a87ecf6.jpghttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0044_zpsdac3af44.jpg Quote
JohnE Posted September 2, 2014 Author Report Posted September 2, 2014 antenna was mounted into the tree yesterday. man what a job, took 8hrs to trim top and mount , pull and secure the cable. will post what pics I have later. I was pretty on about the height measured from base to the bottom hole for the mount was 74' , +10 for the pipe and the antenna is 78" over that. Logan5 1 Quote
JohnE Posted September 3, 2014 Author Report Posted September 3, 2014 I didn't get too many pics of the process. the gentleman who did the climbing did all the work from trimming to the mounting of the antenna. I found it very difficult not being the one up in the air doing the work. it is also the first time I have ever hoisted an antenna whole w/cable attached to it.on a side note I was amazed at how little the tree moved compared to a tower.anyway picshttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0046_zpsb5f5e85c.jpgchinese finger to hoist the cablehttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0047_zps897aaae5.jpgground bar and poly-phaserhttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0050_zps2bdbfa05.jpgall put together before the hoisthttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0051_zpsd3ea7288.jpgcable stretched outhttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0048_zps5c4642aa.jpgtop choppedhttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0049_zpsfb5a1bf8.jpgdebris I used a test channel at 100W to check the SWR reflected power was 0.8W. I expect pretty good coverage out of this. will do further field testing w/genset and the repeater over the next couple of weeks. Logan5 1 Quote
Billy Posted September 3, 2014 Report Posted September 3, 2014 You are a mad scientist, in a good way. Great Job so far! That shed should give you a nice surface and angle to mount the solar panels. Logan5 1 Quote
zap Posted September 9, 2014 Report Posted September 9, 2014 I've been thinking about an off grid repeater. Probably going to use a HT1000 (COR isn't hard to pull off of one) as the receiver and a mobile turned down somewhere between 10-20Which for the transmitter. Probably use an MSP430 as a controller. If I can get the site I want...should be a nice little setup. Basically the same setup for a portable repeater I've been working on...just designed to be self sustaining. Quote
JohnE Posted September 30, 2014 Author Report Posted September 30, 2014 some additionshttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0062_zps90b743f2.jpghttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0061_zps21d770f5.jpghttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0057_zpsda67897f.jpgport entry, ground rod and ground busshttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0055_zps4b24358a.jpgbatteries wired and charginghttp://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/DSCN0063_zps5dff42a9.jpghard line protected from anything that may crush it. still need to be secured a little better though.still need some minor hardware and items to secure the shack better. rdunajewski, Logan5 and Billy 3 Quote
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