cell tower construction

Guess someone is going to have to tell me why we are still building towers when we have sattilites.

ChopperBill wrote:
Guess someone is going to have to tell me why we are still building towers when we have sattilites.

Take a look at the size of an antenna used to transmit a high data rate signal from the earth to a geosynchronous satellite.

Supposedly several companies (including Google I think) are kicking around the idea of putting a lot of satellites at low altitudes. That would mean smaller antennas, but a lot of motion to acquire and track the nearest satellite.

ChopperBill wrote:
Guess someone is going to have to tell me why we are still building towers when we have satellites.

they are "cell phones"

NOT "satellite" phones

price "S-phone" and you understand real fast

besides that was NOT the question..you answer does not help

The length of time it takes for a cell tower to become fully operational can vary greatly, depending on who owns the tower, what space contracts are in place for it, the lead time needed for technicians and equipment to arrive on site, etc. The cell companies themselves actually own relatively few towers, with most of them owned by specialty companies that can lease space to multiple carriers, and even some non-cell services.

You can check who owns towers in your area at Cell Phone Tower Search. Note that not all towers are listed though.

To try to tell if it is a Verizon tower, when the antennas go up check to see the directions the 3 sectors point to.
If it is North, Southeast and Southwest, then there is a chance it could be Verizon.
If the antennas point Northeast, South and Northwest, it is not Verizon.

If you see some guys working stop and ask them.

As stated, construction time can vary, but it could be operational within a couple to three weeks if all goes well for them.

It depends on how "Urgent" it is to get that site operational! They can work super fast, or at a more casual rate. Yes 3 weeks seems like a good estimate once the tower is up. They might bring in a sea container size trailer, set it down Monday and have it working on Tuesday! In that case, everything is pre-assembled, with only a 200 amp electrical connection and antenna wires needing to be installed after delivery to the site.

I worked in several buildings where space was leased to cell sites. Basically if I opened the equipment room and it was air conditioned, then the electrical meter room was turned into a cell tower radio room, and the ladder to the roof was in that room too. Radio's on the walls, and antenna's on the roof.

Many cell sites in the city, they want the tower to be less than 50' off the ground, and spaced every mile or two. They do NOT want any cell site to pick up all the cars and people 4 miles around the site, but limit it to only about 2 miles, so that the site is not picking up more than about 1,000 cells at any given time. In rural areas, all those rules are changed, so that the site can handle 500 - 1,000 customers who will be 3-5 miles from the antenna. Some can even reach out 8-10 miles, say if they are located near a National Park, and that area is 'protected' from having a cell site located near it. They might even put a site at the top of a hill.

Good luck!

Fred.

Where I used to live (rurally)all my neighbors where clambering to allow these phone companies to put a cell tower on their property. They were paying 3,000 a month rent to the property owner for the right to put up a cell tower.

They went up incredible fast around a month time from start to finish.

Once the foundations are in (tower and building), you can easily stack a cell tower in 1-2 days depending on height. Hanging antennas and coax are probably 3 days hung and terminated depending on how complex the arrays are. The equipment is built and often comes in turnkey. The building usually poured concrete and completely finished and delivered on site, just add power. Its a one day set easily.

We just had a 299' self supporter with close to 15 dishes with coax and waveguide built in San Antonio, and it was about 3 weeks only because of the long runs into the studio.

this one is no more than 50-60ft
and the the three "horns"/elements are mounted and its being dressed as a tree
its going in between existing commercial bldgs one of which is a restaurant
i'm in the area several times a month..just spotted this today
usually over night for business, also have friends in the area
it will be nice IF it turns out to be verizon
my 4g sucks in that area
hope its online, next time in the area

Near to where I live, Sprint constructed a tower within an existing church steeple. From the time they craned the steeple off of the church to begin construction to the time the steeple was back in place and the tower was in service was two weeks.

Bruce