My ears are burning. You have been talking about me and I have been on the highway, painting fences and continuing to fix up my parents' house in Grand Forks, so it can be sold. My 94 Ford Taurus should cross the 300K mile threshold sometime in September.
The deer stand tower project has been discussed before, on Gary Bourgois' Friday Night Live show, as well on Dean Spratt's Thursday Night Pourporri
radio shows.
I am located on the north side of a hill....which rises about 100 feet above the highway below. Our homesite is near the north edge of our 21+ acres,
and about 50 feet above highway level. Kind of a bench on the side of the hill. We have very tall trees that continue to grow, and a limestone cliff
to the east and southeast, which would normally block all direct TV reception from Madison, Wisconsin, our local market some 40 miles away.
Now with a High Band VHF antenna (digital 11) and 5-foot Parabolic UHF
antenna at the 30-foot level, we clear the ridge and get uninterrupted
digital reception from at least 8 local digital TV transmitters.
I started with a number of medium (8 to 10 foot) sized C and C/Ku band
dishes, and then started adding 3 to 6 foot solid offset antennas. Things
got carried away, and it seemed like every three or four years I would need
to run another large PVC pipe with 15 or more RG-11 cables to be used for trunking between the dish farm area and the house. I came upon a solution in early 2002 by hiring some neighbors crazier than myself that were quite skilled at welding and rigging, and four 26-foot beams of 3-inch angle iron
were joined by more steel and 2x6 or larger beams of treated lumber. I then came upon the idea of building three "levels" roughly 10 feet apart in height,
and started moving some of my antennas from the ground onto the south face of the lower half of the tower. There are still a number of antennas
on the ground, with total dish count exceeding 20 at this time. A number
have been rigged up with my multifeed modifications, with the pride and joy being a 6 foot white solid offset dish set up for both Star Choice satellites
in the center, and experimenting with it showing that 2-degree spacing could be done with Ku-band on an antenna of this size. So I have at various times
put feeds at 105, 103, 101, 97 and 91 West, as well as 116.8 West in the
other direction from Star Choice's homes. IF this had been planned a little
more in advance, there would not be another five foot antenna directly in
front, but it is getting dynamite signals from 87 West, and could possibly
have some multifeed expansion possibilities later. Another six foot offset
is on the ground to the right of the tower, and could do the same.
There's an ancient 10-foot SAMI antenna on top, over 30 feet off the ground, which has a dual output CPOR-100 feed (ADL), allowing fulltime
access to NSS-806 at 40.5 West. I'll probably rig up something for Hispasat soon, but it's tough clearing trees around here. There's a seven foot mesh
antenna to the west of the tower topper, which will soon be getting my AMC-7 fix from Anchorage, which has been out of commission since early May,
due to the annual leaf growth southwest of us on the hill---blocking a
10-footer also aimed at that satellite from a slightly elevated ground
position across the driveway. We've got a Paraclipse 7.5 foot Hydro on
an AJAK H to H, which sees well from 55.5 to about 135 West. And another
10 footer (Orbitron) on a non-functioning H to H Mount that I plan on pointing
somewhere to the east for a fixed MPEG-2 feed...maybe 45 or 55.5 West.
Other smaller dishes (various offset and elliptical types) dot the bottom of
the tower, allowing access to most DISH Network and Bell ExpressVu satellites
(except 148, which is still blocked by trees), providing reference signals to
keep my MPEG-2 lists updated. There's even a DirecWay TX/RX system on
a mast about 11 feet off of the ground. All of this is constantly being upgraded and rearranged, as time and resources permit. If I keep it on the
tower, Laurel (my wife) doesn't get too upset, because her garden area is
well defined. No more dishes on the ground however, because demarcation
lines have been drawn. When in doubt, build a path to the sky. For taxes,
it's treated as an agricultural structure, and in these parts, similar deer stands are built for temporary vantage points during hunting season.
Since I am always changing something on it, there might be an argument
that it is a "temporary structure". We're getting taxed to death already,
so it's a non-issue. Some advice if you are considering such a project:
Find a secluded location where you cannot be seen from busy highways
or by nosy neighbors. They tend to ask too many questions and may
cast suspicions that you are working for a secret arm of the government
or spy agency! (I'm not interested, and haven't had any offers lately).
Plan all future antenna locations and leave plenty of extra room for
rearrangement of those antennas. Interconnect lots of cable to your
indoor equipment (20 trunking cables is not too many, and may not be
enough). Thank heaven for DiSEqC switches! Also run some permanent
AC power to an outdoor outlet nearby, so you never have to haul out
a long extension cord every time you need to adjust an antenna.
Mike
