Installing livestream cameras continues to be a big part of the business. A few years ago I installed a Hikvision 4K PTZ camera on a 18' steel pole for a customer. The camera worked good but the big problem was it would not tilt up much over 0 degrees. That would be ok if the camera was installed 100' up and looking down. But at 18' it was a problem. So the customer ordered a new Dahua 8A840WANF 4K PTZ from me to be installed on a new 35' wood pole.
Here is a picture of the old setup.
The customer had the local power company install the new 35' pole and the phone company installed fiber to the pole along with fiber to the office supporting gigabit internet. My end of the installation started in January. In Nebraska, January weather can be 50 degrees and sunny or below zero, windy and snowy. A weather window opened where I had one day of 45 degrees, sunny and no wind. A rare day indeed. The forecast for the next day was cold, cloudy and 45-55mph wind. The customer was nice enough to rent a bucket lift for the day.
That's my drill with a dead battery up there sticking out of the pole. Of course it was the last hole I needed to drill and was almost done when it went dead.
The setup on the pole is a 6" channel where I fabricated a 2" x 6" x 6" box to hold the camera with room inside to hold the wiring. There is a 1" PVC conduit from the camera box to the equipment housing below. There is a 36" lightning rod on top and a solid copper wire going to a 10" rod in the ground. The dish is a 5ghz Ubiquiti link to a camera live streaming an active beaver lodge about a quarter mile away.
The lower camera mount is for a Dahua 4K static camera to be installed later. In the equipment housing there is a Ubiquiti 8 port ToughSwitch to handle the power to the link dish and YouTube server.
The installation was completed by sundown and the next day did indeed show up with 50 mph winds and cold.
It was then decided that this would be a great place to install a couple of directional access points to provide backhaul for a camera trailer that I built for them and to install the 4K static camera. So, watching the weather, I returned the first week in February.
It was a frosty morning, 20 degrees but no wind. The picture below is a DSLR timelapse camera installed on the pole.
While working on the pole, a ruff legged hawk would site on the pole and watch me work. Beautiful bird to see up close.
I installed the two access points and the static camera, did some final leveling to the PTZ camera and installed linemans steps so I won't need the bucket lift to service the camera. Then, called it quits for the day.
Here is a link to the live camera and some information about the customer and purpose of the camera. Crane Trust River Cam
Here is a picture of the old setup.

The customer had the local power company install the new 35' pole and the phone company installed fiber to the pole along with fiber to the office supporting gigabit internet. My end of the installation started in January. In Nebraska, January weather can be 50 degrees and sunny or below zero, windy and snowy. A weather window opened where I had one day of 45 degrees, sunny and no wind. A rare day indeed. The forecast for the next day was cold, cloudy and 45-55mph wind. The customer was nice enough to rent a bucket lift for the day.

That's my drill with a dead battery up there sticking out of the pole. Of course it was the last hole I needed to drill and was almost done when it went dead.
The setup on the pole is a 6" channel where I fabricated a 2" x 6" x 6" box to hold the camera with room inside to hold the wiring. There is a 1" PVC conduit from the camera box to the equipment housing below. There is a 36" lightning rod on top and a solid copper wire going to a 10" rod in the ground. The dish is a 5ghz Ubiquiti link to a camera live streaming an active beaver lodge about a quarter mile away.


The lower camera mount is for a Dahua 4K static camera to be installed later. In the equipment housing there is a Ubiquiti 8 port ToughSwitch to handle the power to the link dish and YouTube server.
The installation was completed by sundown and the next day did indeed show up with 50 mph winds and cold.

It was then decided that this would be a great place to install a couple of directional access points to provide backhaul for a camera trailer that I built for them and to install the 4K static camera. So, watching the weather, I returned the first week in February.
It was a frosty morning, 20 degrees but no wind. The picture below is a DSLR timelapse camera installed on the pole.

While working on the pole, a ruff legged hawk would site on the pole and watch me work. Beautiful bird to see up close.

I installed the two access points and the static camera, did some final leveling to the PTZ camera and installed linemans steps so I won't need the bucket lift to service the camera. Then, called it quits for the day.

Here is a link to the live camera and some information about the customer and purpose of the camera. Crane Trust River Cam
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