[TowerTalk] Coax and control lines in same PVC (SteveJones)-Option

[Jim Lux]

On 6/17/13 1:01 PM, Patrick Greenlee wrote:
> I don't have a dog in this fight, yet, but almost.  What about towers
> 200 ft away from the shack or 300 or more. I am in the  S L O W
> process of putting up three towers and they will be daisy chained for
> some semblance of efficiency in cabling rather than a star or other
> control line and coax gobbling pattern.  This puts the last tower in
> line the farthest away from the shack and at least 200 ft straight line
> (I'm still trenching for the coax run to the first tower and working on
> the excavation and rebar cage for one of the towers.  Just how practical
> would it be to replace control lines with RF links?
>
> I will have to trench to all the towers installing conduit for the coax
> and running another conduit with AC power for electric winches, lights,
> and convenience outlets so the trade off study will be hard wire to
> everything for control vs remote control.  I will have remote coax
> relays at each tower that need to be switched as well as rotor cables.
>
> So, I'm open to information regarding feasibility of radio remote
> control vs hardwire control. Casual conjecture or vague refs to Google
> are not productive. Anyone out there have actual experience they'd care
> to share?
>


What kind of switching complexity are you looking at?

You can get a serial interface 8 channel relay board from Velleman for 
$50, and it would lend itself to something like a current loop interface 
needing only two wires.

Running 110V out to the towers as a separate branch circuit, and local 
power supplies is a pretty effective way to do stuff. 12 and 24V power 
supplies are very cheap.

If you want a bit more sophisticated, something like an Arduino with a 
relay board would be in the <$100 range, and could give you a lot of 
sophistication.

WiFi can easily go hundreds of feet with directional antennas, and you 
can arrange the system so it is "lightning proof" for all intents and 
purposes.


>