# cell tower antenna



## radical351 (Dec 4, 2019)

are these worth anything?
is there anything in them?

thanks 
ray


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## niks neims (Dec 5, 2019)

radical351 said:


> are these worth anything?
> is there anything in them?
> 
> thanks
> ray



I also would love to see a breakdown of values or tips on what to look for in cell tower, base station, microwave antenna and other enterprise level equipment!


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## nickvc (Dec 5, 2019)

There is one way to find out, break one of them down and test the internal parts that look promising 8)


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## niks neims (Dec 7, 2019)

Recently in my possession came some very interesting equipment, probably not too similar to cell tower equipment, but looks quite like it, specifically like round-drum-like-aluminium-microwave antennas... I was told this equipment was professionally used on ships (saltwater, probably) as microwave/RF antennas or radars (that's a guess)... That's currently all I "know", and I would appreciate any and all comments, information or ideas regarding this stuff, be it identification, advice on how to disassemble or potential value, since I am so much out of my depth, I doubt even my terminology is correct, I apologize, but I will refer to much of the equipment as "stuff", "parts", etc. please excuse me and feel free to correct with right terminology or common-terms!

Also, please excuse the quality of my camera, I took the best pictures I could... past time to upgrade my phone 

anyways, in pictures 1. & 2. you can basically see what the smallest ones looks like, I have quite a few (couple dozen or so) in total, "antenna dish" part of some are larger (1-2 m diameter) or much larger (3-4 m in diameter), but the "electronics part" (looks like small rectangular metal briefcase, even have a little cute handle) Pictures Nr. 3 & 4 are pretty much same on the outside, no matter the dish size, some briefcases are "double" feature, like two of them joined together, but I haven't yet opened any "double" ones, so no idea on the difference on the inside parts... 

so almost nothing in this equipment is magnetic, It seems to be made out of very corrosion resistant materials (though, I thought that saw some signs of some white oxide residue even on aluminium, could be also sea-salt, didn't taste it ... ) there are rubber gaskets everywhere, and it's all bolted up pretty tight. Almost none of the nuts and bolts are attracted even to very strong neodymium (from HDD) magnets - some screws and fittings are attracted to it very faintly, so that would be some type of stainless steel?

The "leg" Part of antenna is totally non magnetic, but very heavy for aluminium, could it be some kind of ZA (zinc-aluminium) alloy?

The dish "part" seems pretty straight-forward, it is a painted-white-on-outside aluminium dish, seems like nothing special to it, I plan to bring it to a scrapyard as extruded aluminum... There is a plastic cover on the dish (radome?), again seems nothing special to it, removed it and put it in my scrap computer plastic (ABS) pile... Interestingly, there was some kind of sponge/synthetic-fur/fiber-like material lined on the inside of few of the dishes, that I didn't take pictures off, my guess - it's there to prevent any water droplets forming due to moisture?
More interestingly there is some kind of "head" or "horn" in the middle - see it piled on some other stuff I threw in one of the dishes in the picture Nr. 5.... The metallic part (again - non magnetic) looks like it could even be silver plated? Is it common in antenna like this? Also the "head" part is just some type of hard plastic/glass like material - no idea what to do with it - just toss it?
Also I found very interesting that there are almost no wires there, only thing logically connecting the "dish"&"head" parts to the "electronic briefcase" is a tiny rectangular hole - as seen in the middle of picture number 3.. Seems that all of the information travels through that little channel (I actually saw it in some more places further down the rabbit hole), I have no idea how these type of electronics works, would love some insight 

I unscrewed neatly much of what I could, but got bored of endless tiny little screws with varying torx and philips heads and took


nickvc said:


> There is one way to find out, break one of them down and test the internal parts that look promising 8)


advice quite literally - did the breaking part with hammer and an axe (as a chisel), and it went pretty smoothly, up to the point that I needed a bigger hammmer to continue 

On the insides of the "briefcase" - there are couple of nice HF boards - top left of the picture Nr. 6, cute enough, but I have learned not to get too excited with ENIG plating, so nothing much to ask about those, only that they have very little "useless" weight like transformer coils or aluminium capacitors - all are tantalum SMD capacitors, some IC's, some gold-plated connector pins. so they would be classed something like "HF boards 2" on this little site: http://www.comet-trade.de/preise_e.htm , with price around 9-10 eur/kg? couldn't really find an analogue for them on e-bay, boardsort site or my local sites, what would an adequate price be?...
On the same picture - there can bee seen the aluminium(?) "case" or "shielding" for the board - the pattern of "walls" in the aluminium actually matches and touches the gold plated segments on the board - they fit together... Sadly from the color this aluminium doesn't looks to be Ag plated... could it still be? Is there any value to be had there or should I just toss it in the extruded scrap aluminium pile?
Also, same picture Nr. 6, about middle, little to the left there can be seen some type of unit or module... two of them were embedded in the part labeled "Arrizon Diplexer" (Pics Nr. 7 & Nr. 8 ), I broke them off and tore them open - that's what they look like in the middle - Pic. Nr. 9 - there are some kind of little gold plated plates, that actually looks quite promising, the plating seems dull and hopefully thicker than ENIG?
Finally, the "Arrizon Diplexer" baffled me the most - look at the patterned screws on this guy - Pic Nr. 10 - what is that? Some of the little screws in the reddish sections even looks to be silver plated (very white), could there be such a thing? Also note familiar rectangular hole in the middle of the part (under yellow plastic sticker) - the area was also covered in some translucent wet/greasy substance, in some way reminiscent of USG gel - very peculiar... I did immediately switch to gloves though  - still, there was no way I'd unscrew all that madness so I turned to my trusty brute force method, that is where I ran in to my "bigger hammer" problem I referenced earlier - Pics Nr 11 & 12.... By color the inside of it does seem to be silver plated - will have to break it completely open to confirm....

So anyways - my main question would be: what the hell is that what I have there?
also, It only occurred to me after I stumbled on gel-like translucent grease mentioned earlier that I could harm myself chemically by dismantling this stuff the way I do - at first I figured I'm somewhat safe from dangers like BeO, since this stuff seems fairly recent-made, but still - question for the pros - what hazards to look out for? I mean besides apparent risks of catching some shrapnel in an eye  ?

Also pictures with some more labels from this antenna that could help identify what exactly I have: Nr. 13, 14 & 15

Also also - where to look for values, I can find boards simple enough, but what about potential silver plating? And what to do with said boards and gold plated items?

I hope it is not against the rules or frowned upon, but I really, really would like Jon to comment on this, so I'ma do a little trick and fabricate a little quote here for my friend so he gets notified and notices this little thread:


anachronism said:


> Here's Johnny!



But, honestly, any help, any information from any member will be deeply appreciated... Can anyone help me?

Also Also Also, it seems there is a limit to how much pictures can be added so I'll add a few more posts with pictures referenced here, sorry they are not in order


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## niks neims (Dec 7, 2019)

some more pictures, for some reason I was not able to put them in the before post, moderator can merge them for easier viewing!


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## niks neims (Dec 7, 2019)

niks neims said:


> some more pictures, for some reason I was not able to put them in the before post, moderator can merge them for easier viewing!


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## FrugalRefiner (Dec 7, 2019)

niks neims said:


> I hope it is not against the rules or frowned upon, but I really, really would like Jon to comment on this, so I'ma do a little trick and fabricate a little quote here for my friend so he gets notified and notices this little thread:
> 
> 
> anachronism said:
> ...


Unfortunately, notifications haven't worked in many years. Perhaps send him a PM.

Yes, there is a limit of five attachments per post.

Dave


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## niks neims (Dec 7, 2019)

FrugalRefiner said:


> niks neims said:
> 
> 
> > I hope it is not against the rules or frowned upon, but I really, really would like Jon to comment on this, so I'ma do a little trick and fabricate a little quote here for my friend so he gets notified and notices this little thread:
> ...


Thanks for the heads-up, will do 
Have you any ideas on this stuff, Dave?


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## FrugalRefiner (Dec 7, 2019)

niks neims said:


> Have you any ideas on this stuff, Dave?


No, sorry.

Dave


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## Smack (Dec 7, 2019)

Lot's of work for not much circuitry but there sure is plenty of cast aluminum, steal and St.St. Been tearing that stuff apart for years.


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## butcher (Dec 7, 2019)

Ohh but it is so fun to tear things apart, sometimes there is a surprise inside, the hard part is putting them back together again.


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## FrugalRefiner (Dec 7, 2019)

butcher said:


> ... the hard part is putting them back together again.



It's not so hard if you ignore the spare parts you have left over after you put it back together. :lol: 

Dave


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## butcher (Dec 7, 2019)

what spare parts?
I never can find half the parts.
I never did have any spares.
Seems like I was always looking for parts.
I wish I did have spare parts.
I am always having to run to town to buy more parts, and still never got enough, or extra spare parts, I always have to run back to town again for more.


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## anachronism (Dec 10, 2019)

Nik

The gear you have ranges massively by manufacturer. Some combiner chassis and dish chassis have silver plating - you can test for that really easily. Some have copper plating.

The boards from all manufacturers of this Microwave stuff tend to look similar but the yields differ hugely. You need to learn which yield well and which don't in order to stay ahead. That given, the major headache you will have with everything in terms of true net profit is the time it takes to strip. It's horrendous which is why is sells for such a low figure as complete units. 

You've got a nice taster there and that's the "low rent" stuff as I'm sure you're aware. It's good for learning the basics for sure.

Pic below shows a few copper plated, silver plated and Nickel plated carcasses post dismantling. Enjoy the ride.


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## RhAuForm1 (Jan 1, 2020)

I have alot of experience messing with this type of stuff, although I have done mostly high voltage substation and old school telecommunications equipment. I am certain that you have a decent amount of something precious, HOWEVER, I GUARANTEE that at least some of the material is HOT! I have dealt with allot of Actinium, Es, Cf and a wretched lineup of Lanthanides that will most definitely have your ears ringing and belly full of gas. That's a good indication you've got a good dose of something not so awesome. I recommend having some iron pills and fish oil around. WEAR GLOVES! EYE PROTECTION! And disassemble in the coldest temps possible. Oh and don't mess with that gel. All bad on that stuff. With that being said, it is not hard to refine said types of material per se, it just must be done methodically. As a rule, anything really, really dense and heavy would be my first choice for testing followed by any bronzy or gold looking material. Have fun!


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## niks neims (Jan 3, 2020)

anachronism said:


> Nik
> 
> The gear you have ranges massively by manufacturer. Some combiner chassis and dish chassis have silver plating - you can test for that really easily. Some have copper plating.
> 
> ...



Thank you for your answer! Much appreciated.
Tried testing for silver plating with 33% sulfur ointment, to no conclusive results, but the color seems off, so probably no silver plating there 
Disassembling them is a huge hassle, though, so I will probably let them go whole if I manage to get a decent price


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## kdaddy (Jan 6, 2020)

Cellular Antennas are trash. Maybe some aluminum with silver plating or a gold plated pin or two. Not worth the trouble to dismantle. We throw them in the dumpster for the scrap guys to dig out after hours. The good stuff is at the other end of the system but it takes a lot of work to separate.


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## g_axelsson (Jan 13, 2020)

RhAuForm1 said:


> I have alot of experience messing with this type of stuff, although I have done mostly high voltage substation and old school telecommunications equipment. I am certain that you have a decent amount of something precious, HOWEVER, I GUARANTEE that at least some of the material is HOT! I have dealt with allot of Actinium, Es, Cf and a wretched lineup of Lanthanides that will most definitely have your ears ringing and belly full of gas. That's a good indication you've got a good dose of something not so awesome. I recommend having some iron pills and fish oil around. WEAR GLOVES! EYE PROTECTION! And disassemble in the coldest temps possible. Oh and don't mess with that gel. All bad on that stuff. With that being said, it is not hard to refine said types of material per se, it just must be done methodically. As a rule, anything really, really dense and heavy would be my first choice for testing followed by any bronzy or gold looking material. Have fun!



This post is just utter garbage. it has nothing to do with reality.

Reality check, Total wold wide production of Cf (californium) is less than 0.3g per year. Es (einsteinium) is only produced in a few mg per year. Both elements are extreme radioactive and will decay away in a short time.

I've actually seen a container for Cf once. It was a 2m sphere of iron and it contained 13 mg of Cf. It was used to scan fuel rods with uranium to measure the enrichment grade inside the rod before it was assembled into fuel elements for a nuclear reactor.

Göran


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