My dad has (legitimately!!) come into possession of a ten year old Orange phone mast, complete with all accessories.

He’s already chopped the mast down and weighed it in for scrap, but do the electronics (several cabinets full of the stuff) have any conceivable value?

My guess is no, since EE gave him the land and paid him to remove the mast…

Im guessing there may be a large amount of stuff in there that he will probably need a licence to dispose of? potentially environmental issues? or is it really just all wire and electronics?

The internal gubbins, wouldn’t that be covered by WEEE regulations

Ha, and I’m pretty sure EE should be able to show a certificate of safe disposal to anyone that wants to audit them for environmental compliance.

Never mind, the electronics you’ve got will likely consist of some rf amplifiers and such like. I’d expect some ham radio types would pay a bit of cash to reuse the bits.

If the cabinets have got any NOKIA Flexi modules in, you’ll probably get something on ebay! If theres any old 2G gubbins that will be worthless. If theres any more modern Huawei 2G/4G kit this is still in use and someone might pay for it!
You never know …..

Edit. I you have any Feeders (cables that run from cabinets to antenna) theyre full of copper!

Send it to nigeria?

There could be a lot of batteries included which would have a scrap value. Possibly a MW radio link (or one end of it) which could be reused.

Take the cards out of the cabinet and google the part numbers to see if they have any resale value on ebay / with a broker. My guess is probably very little.

As a couple of people have said, eBay could be the place for some of the kit.
We have dealt with the comms unit on one of these before, and found a fair bit of value scattered through it.

Once we had got as much as possible the remainder went to a WEEE recycling place Mexborough (North Sheffield). Who paid around £5 per KG.

Feel free to email me a few photos of what your dad has left.. I can tell you if its similar to what we dealt with, and if it has any value..

Edit – I am not an expert in this kit at all! But happy to try and help out, even a little bit!

Cabinets or a cabin? A cabin is probably worth a fair bit.

Cabinets or a cabin? A cabin is probably worth a fair bit.

If its a cabin it would make a cracking garden shed/workshop! 😉

I’m assuming it’s outdoor cabinets they have left you, someday will take them of your hands no doubt. Failing that scrap value wouldn’t be that bad either PSU batteries and all the cabling.
Of course gaining access to them could be tricky, where are you based no doubt somebody will have a full set of Orange keys nearby or will know somebody who will!

Someone like me 🙂

or me, nearly!
I loaned my Alcatel key to a mate and haven’t got it back from him!

I still have a full set of keys from my time in telecoms somwhere, Orange, T Mobile, Three, Vodafone, SSE Telecoms, BT Reach cards and keys, various Forestry Commission keys (they used to come in handy when watching rallying!)
I had forgotten about the amount of different keys I used to have to carry around!

when they Deacom these, they take everything of value out..
Sadly, I’d be very surprised if they left any Flexis in situ..
Or TX for that matter.

You’ll probably just find you’ve a couple of D5 cabs, or an Ultrasite, with nothing in them.
Possibly the old batteries, but I’d doubt if much else.

I’ve a full set of up to date keys so depending where you are, could open it all up and see what goodies you’ve been left..