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Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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#1
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OT cell phone antenna struck by lightning
not necessarily metalworking related. here in my small town they put up
some cell antennas about 2 or 3 years ago. we had a big thunderstorm a couple weeks ago. one of the antennas got zapped. sorry to say i think it looks pretty funny. bzzzapp! http://www.frontiernet.net/~wwixon/cellantenna2.jpg |
#2
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OT cell phone antenna struck by lightning
On Jun 27, 7:04*am, "William Wixon" wrote:
not necessarily metalworking related. *here in my small town they put up some cell antennas about 2 or 3 years ago. we had a big thunderstorm a couple weeks ago. *one of the antennas got zapped. *sorry to say i think it looks pretty funny. *bzzzapp! http://www.frontiernet.net/~wwixon/cellantenna2.jpg Ha! Peeled the radome like a bananna! Dave |
#3
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OT cell phone antenna struck by lightning
On Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:15:07 -0700 (PDT), XR650L_Dave
wrote: On Jun 27, 7:04*am, "William Wixon" wrote: not necessarily metalworking related. *here in my small town they put up some cell antennas about 2 or 3 years ago. we had a big thunderstorm a couple weeks ago. *one of the antennas got zapped. *sorry to say i think it looks pretty funny. *bzzzapp! http://www.frontiernet.net/~wwixon/cellantenna2.jpg Ha! Peeled the radome like a bananna! Probably didn't do the waveguide and diplexer and transmitters and receivers any favors either... That's the time you just drop a dumpster at the door of the repeater shack and shovel it all out to start fresh. Certain bits may have survived unscathed, but it'll take way too long to find them and certify that each and every function still works... Let the factory service depot do that. -- Bruce -- |
#4
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OT cell phone antenna struck by lightning
"Bruce L. Bergman" wrote in message ... On Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:15:07 -0700 (PDT), XR650L_Dave wrote: On Jun 27, 7:04 am, "William Wixon" wrote: not necessarily metalworking related. here in my small town they put up some cell antennas about 2 or 3 years ago. we had a big thunderstorm a couple weeks ago. one of the antennas got zapped. sorry to say i think it looks pretty funny. bzzzapp! http://www.frontiernet.net/~wwixon/cellantenna2.jpg Ha! Peeled the radome like a bananna! Probably didn't do the waveguide and diplexer and transmitters and receivers any favors either... That's the time you just drop a dumpster at the door of the repeater shack and shovel it all out to start fresh. Certain bits may have survived unscathed, but it'll take way too long to find them and certify that each and every function still works... Let the factory service depot do that. -- Bruce -- that day i was visiting the microhydro plant that's here in my little town, it was the operator who pointed out to me the antenna got hit (he said "it peeled it like a banana" lol), he said that lightning strike affected his equipment too, and he's like 500 feet away from that water tower. b.w. |
#5
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OT cell phone antenna struck by lightning
In article ,
"William Wixon" wrote: that day i was visiting the microhydro plant that's here in my little town, it was the operator who pointed out to me the antenna got hit (he said "it peeled it like a banana" lol), he said that lightning strike affected his equipment too, and he's like 500 feet away from that water tower. b.w. Made it look like a small CB ground plane. |
#6
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OT cell phone antenna struck by lightning
On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 08:40:20 -0700, Bruce L. Bergman
wrote: snip Probably didn't do the waveguide and diplexer and transmitters and receivers any favors either... That's the time you just drop a dumpster at the door of the repeater shack and shovel it all out to start fresh. Certain bits may have survived unscathed, but it'll take way too long to find them and certify that each and every function still works... Let the factory service depot do that. That was my old line of work, lightning damage was hard to guess. Looking at the structure though, a water tower, I wouldn't be surprised if the antenna was the worst of it. They (antenna) are normally a DC connection to ground. That absorbs a bunch of energy in itself. Fiberglass antennas perform well RF wise but don't take lightning hits well. Different tower sites had different tendencies. Some rarely received lightning damage even though you knew they were hit regularly. Others seemed to get beat-up every time a dark cloud floated by. If the site was hardened, built to R56 standards damage was always pretty limited. I doubt if there are too many cell sites anymore that aren't built to that spec in lightning prone areas (shrug). -- Leon Fisk Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b Remove no.spam for email |
#7
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OT cell phone antenna struck by lightning
"Leon Fisk" wrote in message ... On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 08:40:20 -0700, Bruce L. Bergman wrote: snip Probably didn't do the waveguide and diplexer and transmitters and receivers any favors either... That's the time you just drop a dumpster at the door of the repeater shack and shovel it all out to start fresh. Certain bits may have survived unscathed, but it'll take way too long to find them and certify that each and every function still works... Let the factory service depot do that. That was my old line of work, lightning damage was hard to guess. Looking at the structure though, a water tower, I wouldn't be surprised if the antenna was the worst of it. They (antenna) are normally a DC connection to ground. That absorbs a bunch of energy in itself. Fiberglass antennas perform well RF wise but don't take lightning hits well. Different tower sites had different tendencies. Some rarely received lightning damage even though you knew they were hit regularly. Others seemed to get beat-up every time a dark cloud floated by. If the site was hardened, built to R56 standards damage was always pretty limited. I doubt if there are too many cell sites anymore that aren't built to that spec in lightning prone areas (shrug). -- Leon Fisk Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b Remove no.spam for email dang. i was hoping to go rooting through their dumpster, see if i could get some copper scrap. a couple weeks ago we had a major local telephone outage here, surprisingly lasted several hours, that's unusual. when copper was (WAY) up there was a band of bandits who were cutting down couple-hundred-feet sections of telephone cables in towns around here. happened at least 3 times, maybe 4, can't remember. this incident that happened to my town was when the price of scrap copper was down. they cut a couple hundred feet of, what the telephone guy called (i went there and was being nosy, talking to the telephone repair lineman guy) "400 and 300 pair" cables, the ones i saw lying next to the road were cut into like 20, 30 foot lengths, maybe about an inch and a half/two inches in diameter. this time they ALMOST got caught, they left the cable and one of their ladders. the cut sections of cable laid there next to the road for a few DAYS, i was sorely tempted to load it into my truck but i figured they must've had some infrared spotting cameras pointed at it or something. b.w. |
#8
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OT cell phone antenna struck by lightning
"William Wixon" wrote:
not necessarily metalworking related. here in my small town they put up some cell antennas about 2 or 3 years ago. we had a big thunderstorm a couple weeks ago. one of the antennas got zapped. sorry to say i think it looks pretty funny. bzzzapp! http://www.frontiernet.net/~wwixon/cellantenna2.jpg The two remaining antennas just don't look right. Usually the antennas are set to be directional so the cells are pie shaped. From the ground it looks like a open box around the radiator. Wes |
#9
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OT cell phone antenna struck by lightning
On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:21:34 -0500, "William Wixon"
wrote: "Leon Fisk" wrote in message .. . snip Different tower sites had different tendencies. Some rarely received lightning damage even though you knew they were hit regularly. Others seemed to get beat-up every time a dark cloud floated by. If the site was hardened, built to R56 standards damage was always pretty limited. I doubt if there are too many cell sites anymore that aren't built to that spec in lightning prone areas (shrug). snip dang. i was hoping to go rooting through their dumpster, see if i could get some copper scrap. Depending on the technician, company policy... they might scrap all the heliax (coax) cable and connectors too. A lot of times we knew the antenna was bad but couldn't tell if the line was okay or not. It wasn't worth the risk of having to call the tower crew back again if we guessed wrong. So both the antenna and line would get replaced. Sometimes I would climb up to the antenna, disconnect it and stick a dummy load on. Another tech would then check it out from the bottom. But that tied up two techs and you still couldn't be 100 percent certain. Sometimes test equipment tells fibs A lot of techs won't fool around changing those expensive connectors either. Either they don't want to spend the time or can't figure out how to do it. Can't hurt to ask though if you see them working on it. Someone has to dispose of the stuff. Recycle prices took a big dive. Might take a week or two for the crew to show up. May have to order an antenna, heliax, misc and schedule the tower crew. We used to keep a few of the more common antennas on hand, doubt if they do anymore... snip when copper was (WAY) up there was a band of bandits who were cutting down couple-hundred-feet sections of telephone cables in towns around here. happened at least 3 times, maybe 4, can't remember. snip That would **** me off royally if I had to go out and fix it. Drives me nutty to see someone take expensive stuff and trash it just to get the scrap value, UGH! -- Leon Fisk Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b Remove no.spam for email |
#10
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OT cell phone antenna struck by lightning
On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:36:00 -0400, Wes
wrote: snip The two remaining antennas just don't look right. Usually the antennas are set to be directional so the cells are pie shaped. From the ground it looks like a open box around the radiator. Those look like standard omni directional fiberglass antennas. What they use depends on the location and what they are trying to cover. I would have to see a model number to know what freq band they are in. Might not have anything to do with cellular stuff. Could easy be public safety, ham, business... -- Leon Fisk Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b Remove no.spam for email |
#11
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OT cell phone antenna struck by lightning
"Leon Fisk" wrote in message ... On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:21:34 -0500, "William Wixon" wrote: Depending on the technician, company policy... they might scrap all the heliax (coax) cable and connectors too. A lot of times we knew the antenna was bad but couldn't tell if the line was okay or not. It wasn't worth the risk of having to call the tower crew back again if we guessed wrong. So both the antenna and line would get replaced. Sometimes I would climb up to the antenna, disconnect it and stick a dummy load on. Another tech would then check it out from the bottom. But that tied up two techs and you still couldn't be 100 percent certain. Sometimes test equipment tells fibs A lot of techs won't fool around changing those expensive connectors either. Either they don't want to spend the time or can't figure out how to do it. Can't hurt to ask though if you see them working on it. Someone has to dispose of the stuff. Recycle prices took a big dive. Might take a week or two for the crew to show up. May have to order an antenna, heliax, misc and schedule the tower crew. We used to keep a few of the more common antennas on hand, doubt if they do anymore... thanks, i'm going to patrol for the eventual dumpster, see if i can catch the techs while they're there. snip when copper was (WAY) up there was a band of bandits who were cutting down couple-hundred-feet sections of telephone cables in towns around here. happened at least 3 times, maybe 4, can't remember. snip That would **** me off royally if I had to go out and fix it. Drives me nutty to see someone take expensive stuff and trash it just to get the scrap value, UGH! -- Leon Fisk yeah, really. 20 or so years ago when i lived in nyc someone got up into the old (at that time abandoned for many years) new york city police headquarters http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/p...um/4632658.jpg and stripped parts of the ornate copper dome, it was sickening. the dome probably cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to build and tens of thousands of dollars to repair (or maybe vice versa) and the guy probably got a couple hundred bucks for the copper. that was the most outrageous example i've ever encountered. good thing the statue of liberty is on an island. there were guys taking the aluminum guard rails off bridges and overpasses around here (new york state) which is outrageous, sickening, expensive to replace but the copper dome was utterly sickening. i'm not a really good scrap picker upper guy, more often than not i try to fix the thing, or find someone who can use it. if i can't find someone who wants it or fix it very often it breaks my heart to throw a potentially useful item into the scrap man's dumpster. b.w. |
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