Man Builds 60-foot Tower to Get Highspeed Access

Matt Russell writes "A church was blocking the only high speed signal in town, so he decided he needed to go higher. This is the story of one man's quest to build a 60-foot reception tower in his yard and retire his modem once and for all." From the article: "Well, if you want to have a tower, you need to find one. Buying a new tower is not a good idea, since there are plenty of used ones. In my case, I was in need of a tower that was at least 50', which would cost around $1,000 USD for a new one. The way I searched was pretty simple. I spread the word around town that I was looking for one, and I drove around to see if there was a house with an old TV tower or something like that. If a 30' tower would be enough for you, go to a small town and look for TV tower. If you find one that looks to be in good shape, just go knock on the door and ask if you can buy it. At least 90% of people don't use them anymore, so it's a good place to start! "

Comments

oh

[coaxeus]

er, what? Wouldn't GPRS or something be a little more bang for buck ? (no, I didn't RTFA)

Re:oh

[Jherek Carnelian]

Why not buy one or two $30 wireless routers and a directional antenna and share with a neighbor that isn't behind a church then.
Honestly

Spoken like a woman who doesn't understand that the measure of a man's true worth is the size of his tower.

Re:oh

[jzeejunk]

but then you don't make it to the coverpage of slashdot :p

Re:oh

[Profane MuthaFucka]

Haven't you heard? If you try to get around what God has built, you'll only fail. Human fallability cannot match God's perfection.

You can't get around the law of God. No, you'll have to go over instead. Hence, the tower (of Babel). His signals will be scrambled.

Why not build it yourself?

[Anonymous Coward]

In Scouts we used to lash wood together to build structures. A forty foot tower is not hard to build this way.

Re:Why not build it yourself?

[MMaestro]

At sixty feet you start worrying about wind knocking things down, wood rotting and the simple fact that its a fire hazard. Also, wood is fine for short term use, but considering this guy is thinking about keeping the tower up for years, wood isn't going to cut it.

Re:Why not build it yourself?

[superflyguy]

That would be the difference between cub scouts and boy scouts... cub scouts do nothing but are too stupid to know they aren't doing anything. Those of us who make it to boy scouts quickly learn that we're doing a lot of stuff we'd rather not bother with.

Re:Why not build it yourself?

[walt-sjc]

Ha. Just wait until you get into Man Scouts. In Man Scouts you get to travel to foreign countries, drive 10 ton vehicles, fly airplains, helecoptors, sail in ships the size of small towns, and play with massive amounts of firepower! Only downside is that you have to put up with sandstorms, and getting shot at.

News at 11

[Slash Veteran]

Man installs TV aerial

plans to install new mailbox and gutters next weekend

details at 11

Re:News at 11

[Guppy06]

No! The Honeydew List is supposed to be write-only memory! You're not supposed to actually do any of the things written on it!

Ahem

[anonicon]

I for one welcome our new pickup truck, towerbearing oooooooooooverlords. :-)
Chuck

Why didn't he use some kind of missile?

[AndroidCat]

Man: Well I've always said, There's nothing an agnostic can't do if he really doesn't know whether he believes in anything or not.

The atheist solution

[Tx]

Personally, I'd have knocked down the church instead. Less practical, but infinitely more satisfying.

Re:The atheist solution

[Anonymous Coward]

I willing to bet the church wanted nothing to do with a tower. Those pastors know how much porn would be flowing through that thing.

"Heres the church, heres the steeple, broadcasting sodomy to all the people."

Re:The atheist solution

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm agnostic. I'm not sure if I want to demolish the church or not.
Sometimes it seems like a good idea, other times ... not so much.

Re:The atheist solution

[Surt]

That's the solution they've been trying in Alabama, but people keep repairing the churches and putting out the fires.

Re:The atheist solution

[Anonymous Coward]

This story is another case of the church blocking the future.

Re:The atheist solution

[Anonymous Coward]

Only in context. If the problem was a tall Mosque or Shaq blocking the signal, then it would make sense in context. Comparing buildings to groups of people is completely missing the point, but even if we were going to the crux of your argument -- making fun of your precious flight of fancy -- then yes, it would be funny, if the building in question were not a church. Guess what? You have a faith. Guess what? People think your faith is pathetic. Guess what? I have a faith -- or a lack of faith. Guess what? People think my lack of faith is pathetic. I guess we're both just going to have to accept that, aren't we?

Re:The atheist solution

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

A man is trying to build a bar in a location that happens to be one block from a conservative church. The pastor of the church asks his congregation to pray that God intervene and prevent the bar from being built. Sure enough, the next day, the partially-constructed bar burns to the ground. The bar owner takes the church to court, where the pastor's lawyer argues that the church wasn't directly responsible for the fire. The judge replies, "Seems to me that the bartender believes more in the power of God than the pastor."

chrch blocks access

[Pugzilla]

I hate when the church does that

HOWTO:

[Philip K Dickhead]

O.K., so I read this. The howto can be summarized thusly-

1: Have a Father in the building trades

2: "Dad, help!"

And what do you know

[roman_mir]

so what happened in the next few weeks?
(multiple choice questions)
A. The church was blown up in a terrorist attack.
B. The churche's tower was raised by 60 more feet to get the honest christ followers closer to their god.
C. Rogers finally started providing cable Internet at that location.
D. FBI came to the guy's house with various questions on the suspicious activity and took the tower as material proof from the possible crime scene.

or

E. A bunch of angry construction workers burned the house down for stealing all that cement, cement rings and the freaking tower? :)

---

Really, the story should've been called "A man finds a way to get a whole bunch of stuff for free and installs a tower in the meanwhile."

Wuss!

[davidc]

50 foot tower?

Pah!

He should'a installed a space elevator in his yard. Advantages: antenna can be positioned at any altitude, communications with access points, police, aliens, etc. rendered easy. Pays for itself from orbital launch fees. Can be covered with tasteful beanstalk for camouflage.

Aliens? Where's that nanotube hat of mine?

Re:So what.. I built a solar powered repeater...

[krbvroc1]

I built a solar powered repeater for my Internet access. Where is my cookie?!

Name: user
Content: 10566:WEFiwgefWEFHwfweih
Domain: .slashdot.org
Path: /
Send For: Any type of connection
Expires: 05/01/2006 10:12:12 AM

Re:So what.. I built a solar powered repeater...

[Guppy06]

Here.

Re:how about bartering for access to the tower

[Meagermanx]

They were getting in the way of a man and his porn, weren't they?

MOD PARENT FUNNIEST POST ALL DAY

[mythosaz]

Dear sir, my lack of mod-points prohibits me from giving you what you deserve. Actually, mod him informative or insightful - karma's a good thing.

Re:Rohn 25 [bangbus?]

[Anonymous Coward]

Methinks you posted the wrong file:
File: Bangbus - Episode 53 - Ritta.mpg

Re:Rohn 25 [bangbus?]

[Suidae]

Methinks you posted the wrong file:
File: Bangbus - Episode 53 - Ritta.mpg

Whats really sad is that I recognize that one by name.

The lightning rod

[rsilvergun]

is in case his town is visited by an evil Circus.

Re:how about bartering for access to the tower

[Usquebaugh]

It's mine, do you hear? Mine, all mine. Lovely bandwidth, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna share it with the likes of you.

Re:Lightning protection

[Feanturi]

Overall, I'm not sure I'd want it next to my home.

But I'll bet he just claims he wants it for highspeed access. More likely, he's hoping he can luck out and get super-powers next time there's a lightning storm.

Re:Planning?

[Anonymous Coward]

Seeing that he lives in a tiny town with less than 2000 people in Canada I think the official process of obtaining a license to build a 60 feet tower in his back yard consists of the following steps:

Pick up phone and call the local Mayor
"Hey Bobbeee, I'm aboot to build a huge ass tower in my backyard. Can I get permission?"
"Only if you buy me some beer eh"
"Righto"

That guy needs a life

[danimrich]

Getting high speed internet was the most challenging experience in my life. That guy needs a life!

Re:Color me unimpressed

[AJWM]

We built a 70ft tower to get a lawyer here in town on,

Sounds like an excellent use of it, too. Noose or cage?

Re:personality

[lysergic.acid]

Yes, but who cares what you think? You live on a farm.

I kid, I kid. :-p

Mine's Bigger

[SaidinUnleashed]

I live in a rural part of the country, and had to put up an 80ft tower to get crappy WiMAX connection.

So, WHERE'S MY SLASHDOT ARTICLE, BITCH?!

History Lesson

[etzel]

Just another example of how religion gets in the way of technology...