Utility pole cell antennae?

[troymail]

Not sure if this is the right place to post but it seemed like the best option given the topic...

Curious if this may become an option in the future for public safety or other systems given many systems are multi-site (large "cell") systems.... I guess anything is possible....

Utility pole cell antenna a test for Prince William County, all of Va.

New type of Cell Tower

Cell Phone Dead zones could be a thing of the past

 

[jim202]

What's wrong with using a utility pole? back in the very early 90's, I worked for the A carrier cellular company that served the New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Houma area of Louisiana. Many of their cell sites used wooden utility poles.

Back in those days, it took an equipment shelter to hold all the equipment. Now these mini cells are housed in a small cabinet that can be attached to the utility pole. So the only footprint on the ground is the pole itself. Does the utility company require a permit to install a pole in the right of way. In most cases the answer is no.

With the cellular companies going to smaller cell sites due to the increased demand for service, the height of these antennas is getting lower to the ground so the channels or frequencies can be used again much closer than with a high antenna. If this cell company has figured this out and saw the use of a wooden pole as the support structure for their antennas, they are ahead of the game. It costs much less for a wooden pole than a steel mono pole or tower. It takes less space and is accepted by everyone because all the telephone and electric companies use them all over the country.

I think the zoning people are facing a backlash if they dig their heals in on this one. The court fight will probably go against them and they will end up paying court and legal expenses that the people will re bell against for spending public funds on this idea that they don't have total control.

I am trying to stay neutral on this one and just explain that this is not a new idea that just cropped up over night. It was done 25 years ago and didn't cause a problem in multiple jurisdictions way back then.

 

[jaspence]

Utility pole antenna

There are several antenna arrays on the towers that carry long distance power transmissions in Michigan. One of our high schools even leased their football field light posts for cell use. A good way to use available resources without buying up property and costs of building a structure.

 

[mmckenna]

Yes, the technology is there, but the service requirements are a bit different.

The expectation that your cell phone is going to work 100% of the time is often there, but in reality the cell phone companies don't look at it that way. Sure, these small cells have a battery backup, probably a few hours from the size of the battery they have. They also rely on fiber optic cable run along the poles, which is fairly reliable, but not fool proof. RF output of these system is in the 10 - 30 watt range.

For a public safety system, you'd want a longer battery backup. Likely the fiber plant would be underground for a bit more protection.

But, sure, no reason it couldn't happen. The agency would lease the space on the pole, power in from the utility, fiber in from underground.

These are often called "Distributed Antenna Systems". I've got these at work. The system is run by Crown Castle and all 4 of the big carriers are on it. There is an optical cabinet at the cell site. They take a padded down RF feed off the cellular base station and feed it to the cabinet. The RF signal gets converted to an optical signal and gets sent out over our fiber plant. At the far end, there is a box that converts the optical signal back to RF and feeds the panel antennas. Makes it much easier to cover our site with lower profile antennas.
The optical system that's used, manufactured by Andrews, will support RF down to 70MHz and up to 2400MHz, depending on the modules installed. We've looked at putting our 800MHz trunked system on a similar platform.

 

[surfacemount]

FirstNet is already in the works for public safety.

This sounds like a rehash of picocell or something similar, but I didn't read too deeply into the article once I saw Prince George County. That's like a whole other planet.

Where I live in a rural to urban area, DAS doesn't really offer many benefits. I look forward to greater penetration of fiber; we don't really have any kind of non-microwave backbone in many parts of my region.

 

[KE5MC]

Jim,
I think the issue is who owns the pole and was permission asked and given. Like you I don't see anything wrong with using a wooden pole if you own it.

Mike

What's wrong with using a utility pole? back in the very early 90's, I worked for the A carrier cellular company that served the New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Houma area of Louisiana. Many of their cell sites used wooden utility poles.

...snip...