Another Non-Penetrating Ridge Mount
In rural areas, cell towers are few and far between. 5G is finally becoming available, but the few towers are over saturated with users (at least that is the case where I am), and speeds are dismal.
Anyway, no one wants to deal with the best speeds being <2Mbps outside on a good day, and measured in kbps indoors. A signal booster would solve some of my problems, and signal boosters need a mount, ideally on the roof.
After the success of my previous ridge mount in terms of ease of construction, cost, and effectiveness, I decided to make another ridge mount. Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures of the process. Oh well.
Here we go!
Constructed base
The base of the mount consists of 2 flat panels attached with hinges to a central beam that has a socket to hold the foot of a pole. Each panel is sized to hold 3 12"x12" concrete pavers. I was just about to paint the base when I realized I hadn't taken a single pic of the build.
The base was slathered in paint, and after drying, it was taken to the rooftop for final assembly.
Pole and supports
3 lengths of ½" conduit where pounded flat on the ends, and the ends were then bent slightly and drilled. The pole was placed in the socket, held as vertical as I could get it, and then the 3 supports were screwed in place.
The roof slopes on either side of the ridge are different, and I really like how this build method can easily accomodate for that difference. Next time, a magnetic level should be used to make the pole as perfectly vertical as possible.
Up and running
A signal booster with a yagi antenna was installed, and then it was a matter of using Crowflies to point the antenna in the direction of the cell tower, 10.7 kilometers away.
Currently I'm using a Surecall booster, and it does an Ok job of bringing signal indoors. The "boost" isn't exactly there, but signal exists indoors… which is where I like to be when making phone calls in downpours. A taller pole would probably help, and would necessitate adding 2 more pavers. The 4 pavers on the base weigh a total of 68lb, and I'm hopeful that a 12' pole won't need more than 102lb of ballast.
Happily I can say that all of the materials for this build came from the scrap/trash pile or The Hoard. Less stuff, more fun!
Cheers,
jezra