My haul today, what to do with cell phone towers

true temper · May 4, 2020

I made a deal to pickup 8, 160’ cell phone towers that are being decommissioned. I don’t quite know what to do with them. Most of them are 2’ triangle in 20’ sections. Some are bent up a bit from falling but most are in good shape.
I get all the chain link fence and gates from site.
There is quite a bit of aluminum that held the antennas that can be scraped out.
I am out of work partly due to the virus, trying to stay busy.
I have 3 home so far, going after another tomorrow.

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true temper · May 4, 2020

I guess the icing on the cake is i get all the coax cable going up the towers.
Most of them have 8 runs going up. Big coax 2” diameter, now if the price of copper was better I would be set.

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john.k · May 5, 2020

You should sell the tower sections and fencing OK....as to the copper content,IMHO ,hardly worth putting it through a shredder....A nice warming fire might be a lot easier than stripping by hand....And dont count on the ally being much ,price never lower.

cyanidekid · May 5, 2020

john.k said:
You should sell the tower sections and fencing OK....as to the copper content,IMHO ,hardly worth putting it through a shredder....A nice warming fire might be a lot easier than stripping by hand....And dont count on the ally being much ,price never lower.

Whatever you do don’t burn the plastic off! that’s just a terrible way to go. The fumes will be nasty, so no, it’s not a “nice warming fire”. :ack2:

(Looks like you have the right idea with the bandsaw)

true temper · May 5, 2020

Oh it comes apart very nice, be better with 2 people but I can handle it. Looks like about 8lbs of copper per 20 ft. I don’t know much about scrapping, it should go for #1 copper right?

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neilho · May 5, 2020

I'm with John- the towers and fencing will sell, the towers particularly. Save as much of the guy wire system as possible - even anchor stubs are useful to some folks. DIY wind turbine folks could be a good sales target.

I take it the "dismantlers" just disconnected a set of guy wires and let them fall. Ugh.

cyanidekid · May 5, 2020

Nice, yes I’d think it’s probably electrolytic refined but shop a couple of yards and see what they offer, don’t take the first offer. Someone with more direct knowledge can confirm the grade in this type of coax.

Just a note, your blade guide is way too high, you should ALWAYS have it down to the minimum hight to clear the work!

as9100d · May 5, 2020

cyanidekid said:
Nice, yes I’d think it’s probably electrolytic refined but shop a couple of yards and see what they offer, don’t take the first offer. Someone with more direct knowledge can confirm the grade in this type of coax.

Just a note, your blade guide is way too high, you should ALWAYS have it down to the minimum hight to clear the work!

It's a harbor freight and horizontal bandsaw. That's as fast as the guide will go.

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Frederick Harvie · May 5, 2020

the towers will definitely sell. Find a internet forum for ham Radio users. they would be interested in these towers . Also lots of companies such as towing etc still use radios for dispatch so advertising on craigslist may get a hit. As was said above there is a wide interest in home built windmills as well so find a forum for these folks as well.
As for the copper it looks from the picture that it would be definitely #1 . You might find a table saw faster if you have access to one . A normal wood blade would be fine. I would call every scrap metal dealer within a 100 miles as prices can vary greatly. Be sure to tell them you need a price on 4000 lbs as they are more likely to give a better price on a larger volume . Also if it is cut to less then 4' lengths be sure to tell them so that they know there is laee processing labor for them to palletise it for shipping to there buyer. Also you might see if any of the local scrap yards have a high capacity granulator. At my local scrap yard they can process wire so efficiently it is not worth my time to strip. I had some heavy tech cable and carefully striped a measured length and weighed the individual components and found that if I stripped it and sold them the clean #1 and the clean aluminum jacket. I was going to make 1 cent a pound extra over just selling them the cable to process themself, and I would still have the plastic waste to dispose of

Ox · May 5, 2020

500# of copper may pay you to deal with a yard more this direction.
Scrap fetches a LOT more over here.
You could even just ship it out LTL if no reason to come this direction.

I would hold on to it 'till later tho.
This is no time to sell metal scrap!

Chi=Town at least
Detroit or Cleveland worth checking.
Should git good price at either Simms Metal Management, or Omni Source in Defiance, Ohio or Jackson, Michigan.

BTW - some scrap yards (at least one that I just mentioned) was closed for business last I knew.
They would drop us an empty 12Y hopper, but wouldn't even pick up the full one as of a few weeks ago.
They may have opened this week tho?
But with Automotive being shut down .... The steel mills are running at partial capacity and dooing lots of maintenance right now.

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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

MichaelP · May 5, 2020

40 years ago when I was involved in ham radio operation, my peers and I would snatch the towers from you in a heartbeat.

The Internet age affected the hobby quite severely, I'm afraid...

akajun · May 5, 2020

MichaelP said:
40 years ago when I was involved in ham radio operation, my peers and I would snatch the towers from you in a heartbeat. The Internet age affected the hobby quite severely, I'm afraid...

Those towers would fetch a good price to deer hunters to make tower blinds.
10 foot sections

Guest · May 5, 2020

Scrap price for clean copper is $1.70 a pound here, seems like the price for that and brass hasn't changed much, while everything else is 50% of what it was a year or so ago.

Ox · May 5, 2020

As of Jan 30 - our price on #1 Copper was $2.14 in Defiance.

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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

rons · May 5, 2020

It's good that you a rescuing some of those towers. Others are setting them ablaze.

Tony Quiring · May 5, 2020

That blue stuff was for high power stuff.

Paging not cellular.

Very toxic as it is higher melting point than the black stuff.

Towers have some use, make a frame for shop or ???

Full size errector set.

Forget about resale to any "licensed" application as seismic requirements required many tower retrofits to increase structural integrity and if this was taken down then not cost effective to upgrade or other factor.

Any new construction will be new stuff.

Ham and other hobby uses maybe.

The material is handy for making other things...

Frame a building

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Garwood · May 5, 2020

I'd test the market before you get too carried away. Old cell towers are always available. I know a group of guys that take them down and put them up. They are happy to give that stuff away. All the bracing in my shop is 3/8" guy wires from cell towers.

paul39 · May 5, 2020

I have seen that type of structure used for hanging lights at outdoor theater.

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/78/b9/fe/78b9fe4190229e8c1c19866ec6b7f722.jpg

Paul

rbent · May 5, 2020

Might be able to get rid of a few sections of the towers to some amateur radio folks, but spending money most of the time is against their religion.

I don't know any radio folks in that part of the state, but I could make inquires with repeater coordinators in the state if they're interested in tower sections no clue if they'd be worth anything to them though with checking them out and moving them. You've got the best use for the hardline already I think.

Garwood · May 5, 2020

rbent said:
Might be able to get rid of a few sections of the towers to some amateur radio folks, but spending money most of the time is against their religion.

I don't know any radio folks in that part of the state, but I could make inquires with repeater coordinators in the state if they're interested in tower sections no clue if they'd be worth anything to them though with checking them out and moving them. You've got the best use for the hardline already I think.

Yeah, I know a guy that wants to "get into ham" given the current world situation. A house sold a mile down the road from his with a ham tower so he stopped and asked about the antenna. Owner said it was free for the taking and he could have the ham gear if he hauled everything off site. He immediately called me and asked if I could get it on the ground for cheap and re-erect it. No thank you. I sent him a link to a crank up self-erecting 60' tower on craigslist for $300 and he said that was too much.

My haul today, what to do with cell phone towers

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