Anyone familiar with tower space colo industry? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / rf-microwave

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2017, 03:33:34 am
content: Long story short, I ran into this property about an hour from where I live that has a 300 foot guyed tower. They're selling everything as is, for like 60k. I keep thinking it would be so cool to own something like that, but it's obviously a lot of money just to be able to say I have a 300 foot tower I can climb any time I want.But it's also like 8 acres of land so there are various options one could use it for like a small solar farm.But I got thinking, if I could rent space on that tower I could make money on the side or at very least cover the mortgage payment of that land and it would just be a cool thing to own/operate. Anyone familiar with how this industry works? I'm not really that serious about buying it at this point, but still kinda want to research the viability. This is in more or less the middle of nowhere so I don't imagine any cellular services would be interested. MAYBE a small WISP, but even then I doubt it. I'm thinking more government stuff, like for CB radio repeaters, maybe weather service stuff? That kind of thing. I presume a lot of that stuff is already established though.I'm also in Canada, I find a lot of stuff that talks about this industry but it's all based in the states so hoping someone here might be familiar with this industry to point me in right direction to research further.I'm even thinking if I could lease the whole tower to a company that basically other companies go to when they want equipment put somewhere, and then they do all the logistics of getting customers etc and then I just get a cut and handle the technical side such as making sure the power and hvac is working etc. How popular is this type of thing, especially for a tower more or less in middle of nowhere?I don't have a ham license but been thinking about it, so I'd have quite a bit of fun with that.Think the first thing I'd do is setup an APRS iGate. The range would be pretty crazy.

author: Silveruser
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2017, 04:07:25 am
content: It's been a long time since I was involved in that industry 10-15 years. Rental space used to tarriffed and not all that expensive. Depended on the height, also colo space in the shack at the base. The biggest problem expense was the install. Towers have to maintained and if you add new equipment brought up to current standards. That could run into the thousands and usually scared away most casual inquiries. There are companies that specialize in tower work, you might find one in your province. You might find a customer or two but I'm guessing it might be an old microwave repeater tower if it's in the middle of nowhere. Likely not maintained for many years. If there is no high speed Internet service in the area it might be an option. Likely not worth more than scrap though. Is there a radio shack included, maybe with a generator? It would add value but again maintenance and upgrades would be costly.George

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2017, 05:16:46 am
content: It's owned by the railroad company, so I presume it was used for communication either for staff on the train or maybe to communicate with track equipment etc. It has a hut but it's super small, so if I was serious I'd probably have to build a bigger one. I don't think it has a generator but it does have a single phase hydro feed. Given all that land, I'd probably just power the whole thing off solar and wind power and then have a backup propane generator. Canceling the hydro service would save about $100/mo as there is still a delivery charge whether or not you use any power. If it did turn out to generate enough income I'd probably hook the hydro feed back so the generator is strictly backup. Solar would be primary, then hydro to keep batteries from discharging too much, then generator as 3rd backup.One issue is I work for a telco so I think this would be a conflict of interest anyway. If not for that I'm thinking the easiest bet with it would be to start a WISP. Even for a small town I imagine it could be somewhat profitable if done right.For what it's worth the sale also includes all the equipment, but no idea what kind of equipment. And yeah not too sure what kind of maintenance/codes etc exists for towers like this and I imagine it could get really expensive if codes require someone certified. It's in an unorganized township though so they may be less strict with that stuff. The real beauty of this land is if it did turn out to make money, like enough to live off of, I'd probably move there as it's super cheap to live. Like a couple hundred bucks a year in taxes.I don't think this is really realistic though, but still fun to look into.