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Has anyone built their own mast?

LeeWillRockYou

Pro Member
I'm unsure if I've used the correct word in "mast" here. But I'm wondering what I would need to build an 4g antenna that lives on top of a pole, overlooking the roofs between my house and the broadcasting mast?

I live on the edge of a small town, in a bungalow behind several bigger houses, below road level. My 4g speeds average around 10mbps. I've tried every location in my house and even invested in an external aerial. Nothing has worked.

Yesterday, I went for a walk across the field next to my house, on a raised river bank and had direct sight of the mast in town. I did a speed test and consistently got 50mbps download speeds in that location, which I'll repeat was not a stone's throw away from my house.
After a year or two of wrestling with 4g speeds I simply submitted to the fact that I was possibly out of range to ever receive decent speeds.
But now my world has been turned upside down, to put it overdramatically!
I did several speed tests within the same area and got pretty much the same results, so it wasn't a fluke!

Now I'm wondering what the cost will be, to buy a large pole (ooh err), erect it in my garden, attach on top of it an antenna that also acts as a modem/router to run an ethernet cable to my house, as to avoid any signal loss.

It sounds like something beyond my skills but I'm intrigued to know exactly what it entails and if anyone here has done it themselves and what they have learned.
 
You can do it! :)
It's a good idea.
How high do you need it?

Putting an outdoor router on it is another good idea, I would do it.
Would have probably done it, but I put the router (cpe win) on the roof and works great, so no need.

I plan to erect a mast for my ham radio antenna. I already bought the parts:
- aerial masts from screwfix (can also use scaffolding poles)
- brackets to fix it on the house

Looks like a bit of work, but reasonably simple.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-straight-pole-aerial-mast-3000mm/32094

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24-TK-T-...t-2-x-1-75-VBolt-5-x-Coach-Bolts/322336677818
 
How high do you plan on going? I feel like I would need to be 20m+ which might be an over exaggeration but how well do these poles hold together after so many metres? I suppose I could start from my roof but I don't have many places I could attach it. My idea was at the bottom of my garden, out of the way and with ample lightening protection (whatever that involves).
 
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Best to also get the mast to house the router or the loss from the coaxial will outweigh any gains. Network cable has virtually no losses and you can use POE to power a router on top of the tower in a weather proof box.
 
@kommando828 An indoor router in a weather proof box might not cut it.. The outdoor types are more robust, can deal with contrasting temperatures, electrical discharges (storms) etc etc.

@LeeWillRockYou hm, 20m is a bit high. I bought 3 of those poles, so I plan to go up 9m from ground level or maybe higher a bit, but quite a few of those metres will be within the holding range of the brackets, so won't just dangle in the air.
Maybe 9-10m will be enough for you, too?..

You could rent or buy/return a telescopic fibre glass mast and test with it. It won't be a good permanent solution as it's bendy, but may enable you to find a good enough height.
 
What router do you have, and what phone did you then speed test with??
I currently have a TP-Link Archer MR200 but I have tested other routers, such as the Huawei B535 and B181 and they made little difference, not enough to justify keeping them anyway. My phone is a Google Pixel 4.

I can't stress enough that I am in a low bungalow, below road level and with a whole street of regular houses in front of me and all in the direction of the one and only mast. I've spent a year or two pulling my hair out over this. I've driven around town with Cellmapper/equivalent apps on. I've tried every suggestion and I gave up.

But now I've seen the potential that is possible at my distance from the tower, it's got me thinking again.

The thing to note is that my phone has a Vodafone SIM and my 4g router has a Three SIM. I have only a few months left on my Three contract, so if it's the case that Vodafone offers a better service, I'll consider going to them, although not too interested in their practices.
 
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@kommando828 An indoor router in a weather proof box might not cut it.. The outdoor types are more robust, can deal with contrasting temperatures, electrical discharges (storms) etc etc.

@LeeWillRockYou hm, 20m is a bit high. I bought 3 of those poles, so I plan to go up 9m from ground level or maybe higher a bit, but quite a few of those metres will be within the holding range of the brackets, so won't just dangle in the air.
Maybe 9-10m will be enough for you, too?..

You could rent or buy/return a telescopic fibre glass mast and test with it. It won't be a good permanent solution as it's bendy, but may enable you to find a good enough height.

Yeah, I'm just guessing the height. I'll have a look tomorrow and weigh up a few things. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Yep, get a Vodafone sim first, test it in the router.. Much less work than erecting a mast.
 
Yep, get a Vodafone sim first, test it in the router.. Much less work than erecting a mast.
Haha, I've already put my phone's Vodafone SIM in the router, it gets the same speeds as the Three and my phone in my house.
I've tried it all. I've tried all the SIMS from all the providers.

The mast really does appear to be my only solution. I just have to make sure it doesn't get too complicated.
 
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Your MR200 is a basic CAT4 router, it is not able to aggregate any bands and is only capable of 2 streams. You Pixel 4 phone can aggregate up to 5 bands with up to 14 streams, so is much more capable, providing the provider has deployed such things. Did you try your Vodafone SIM in either of the other routers you had at the time?
 
Yes, I tried every combination of SIM and phone and router. The only thing I can't really do is test the router in the sweet spot across the field to complete the experiment.
 
Perhaps a top floor window, a long selfie stick, a bunch of PAYG SIMs and the Speedtest app would be the perfect cocktail for this
 
Do you know which mast/cell you're connected to with Vodafone and seeing high speeds? Usually (with Vodafone at least) if you're getting more than a couple dozen mbps you're more than likely aggregating with one of their faster bands (faster than their base B20 layer).

You can install such Android apps as CellMapper or LTE Discovery to see that information.

You need to double check that the mast you're connecting to at home is the same as the one when you did your testing on the riverbank - it could be a different one.
 
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I've "mapped" all the cells in my area, afaik.
I live in Lincolnshire, it's so flat, I can see the horizon in all directions, apart from the way of town, and in the centre of the town is a building with a collection of cell/masts.

When I saw the mast from the river bank, and did the speed test, as I got closer and the mast got more secluded by the buildings in town, the signal got weaker.
 
OK, so what bands, for which providers, are available to you from those masts?

I get the feeling that your router is likely just on B3 for Three and B20 for Vodafone (if you had your VF sim in it) - but obviously thats my guess, I don't have your knowledge!
 
B3 for Three and sometimes jumps on a B20.

Band 20 for Vodafone (iirc).

I will have to do some fresh tests because for all I know they have actually do some work on the masts and cells updating them for better coverage, although I won't hold my breath.
 
It might be wise to check on planning permissions, particularly if there are other houses around you. I'm not sure what the rules are for self-built tall pole structures, particularly in terms of safety/legal implications.
 
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