45 Foot Periodic Antenna Tower

[nelladorraj]

I want to put up a tower like that for my folks who live way the heck out in the middle of nowhere Ohio. The local ISP has line-of-sight wi-fi, but my folks are a bit far from the tower. It's certainly faster and cheaper than HughesNet. He needed a belt on up there! Goodness. Also, I presume there aren't nasty wind conditions where you are? I'd imagine at least one set of guy wires for that thing...?

[tomwiles]

There are no guy wires. The tower itself survived the January 2008 ice storm quite nicely, though I had to replace the TV antenna because the weight of the ice caused it to bend. The base of the tower is set in concrete buried in the ground and attached to the side of the house. Tripod antenna structures are very stable. If it had been much taller it would probably need some sort of guy wires to help stabilize it. I'm very happy that I put it up. The local phone company still does not offer DSL.

[krc5210]

Can you stream movies on your computer using the broadband you have?

[tomwiles]

Yes I can most of the time. The Internet service I'm connected to has improved the service in recent months.

[1DanielChristensen]

Oh, well you said "unde the right propogation conditions" so I thought you might know.

[1DanielChristensen]

And; what do you find to be the best reception conditions? Clear night; no wind and low humidity? Like a starry Fall night? I live in the country too; doesn't that help and mean there is less interference and need for highly shieded expensive cable?

[1DanielChristensen]

Do you like that it is digital tv now? I do actually; I thought I would not; I find I can pick up about as many stations not of course ones that were super snowy but they don't count anyway. I have a really good TV aerial that came with my house and I increased the height by six feet. It's actually pretty old; one of the (the second longest) conductors slid out and fell off and I can't find it; how badly will this throw off the antenna's properties?

[tomwiles]

Yes I really like digital TV. I especially like the way many stations are using the digital split channels. The antenna array in the video (not the tower) ended up being destroyed by the January 2009 Arkansas ice storm. I replaced it with a slightly smaller array I purchased at Home Depot and it pretty much seems to work just as well.

[tomwiles]

No, my broadband Internet costs me about $25 dollars per month. I can't get cable or DSL as of yet so I'm lucky to have any broadband Internet at home.

[1DanielChristensen]

Do you use there for broadcast TV reception? If so how far away of stations can you get; I know it depends largely on polar patterns of the transmitter but still; doesn't signal for the most part hit the horizon before it dissipates?

[tomwiles]

I use the tower for two purposes. One is for a small microwave dish that gives me point-to-point broadband Internet since I live in a rural area. The other is for over-the-air TV reception. Depending on propagation conditions I can receive digital TV stations that are about 100 miles away.

[1DanielChristensen]

@tomwiles What do you find to be the best propogation conditions? Clear night with low humidity?

[tomwiles]

Hummm -- I really haven't paid much attention to weather conditions. I have simply noticed that sometimes certain distant digital TV stations will come in better than they do other times.

[alexey199]

мощная у вас антенна.

[bambamfuck]

Hi Tom, why not do another video and show us more of how the antenna works... what can you receive with it. I'm interested in getting a tower too!

[RoosterBoys]

how did you get free broadband internet? nice tv antenna

[tomwiles]

The point-to-point wireless Internet connection is not free. It costs me $25 dollars per month.

[hafd107]

yea, get that belt on!!!!

[sluice666]

No Harnes "ya mad"

[jcice3]

How fast is your wireless broadband connection?

[tomwiles]

It's probably about half the speed of a good DSL or cable connection, but it's certainly faster than the HughesNet 2-way satellite access I used to have. The HughesNet advertisments clogging TV are full of lies.

[ballbreaker1900]

all u need is a cb antenna and your good!

[stormmoss]

Cool stuff! Learned a bit from this one!!

[bigcd02]

cool

[cheeptorque]

GO toms lil brother!!!good work.Dont it need stay cables to stop that thing wavin round in the wind?. MAN i love ur bloopers.Thnx 4 sharing.

Take care,stay safe & God bless.