Antennas on Towers

[GTA82]

A type of scanning I enjoy is just listening to what I can find, and learning more about that frequency regardless of if I hear a voice or just noise.
A broad question as I get into this hobby is, what bands or frequencies should I focus on when I see an antenna on a communication tower?
I have attached two pictures of antennas on nearby towers and was curious to learn more about the bands or frequencies I should be focusing on. My focus on the two pictures is: picture one: tall white pole antenna, picture two: folded dipole antennas.

 

[Listener1440]

I have found this site useful at times:

AntennaSearch - Search for Cell Towers & Antennas

Search for the locations of cell towers and antennas to determine cell reception.

www.antennasearch.com

73s

 

[nd5y]

Fiberglass pole type antennas can be hard to identify. It's almost impossible to tell what band they are for since you can't see what's inside.

Folded dipoles are easy because they are approximately 1/2 wavelength long at the band they are designed for.

The wavelength formula is
w=300/f
w is wavelength in meters and f is the frequency in megahertz.

 

[pb_lonny]

A type of scanning I enjoy is just listening to what I can find, and learning more about that frequency regardless of if I hear a voice or just noise.

It is good to see somebody who also likes to do the same as I can. The advice above about the size and wave lengths is spot on. I also check online sources for infomatiom on various sites.

 

[mmckenna]

A type of scanning I enjoy is just listening to what I can find, and learning more about that frequency regardless of if I hear a voice or just noise.
A broad question as I get into this hobby is, what bands or frequencies should I focus on when I see an antenna on a communication tower?

The antenna search page is a good choice.

We don't know which country you are in, but if you are in the USA, you can also try the FCC:

This one will let you search by company/agency name, street address, city, county, state, specific frequency, specific ranges of frequencies, etc.

License Search - Advanced License Search

Some towers will also have an "ASR" or Antenna Structure Registration number posted. That will tell you who owns the tower, but not necessarily who is on it, or who they are leasing space to, but it can be a start:

ASR Registration Search

I have attached two pictures of antennas on nearby towers and was curious to learn more about the bands or frequencies I should be focusing on. My focus on the two pictures is: picture one: tall white pole antenna, picture two: folded dipole antennas.

As @nd5y said, it's difficult to ascertain the band of a fiberglass vertical antenna. That photo could be a VHF, UHF, 700, 800 or 900MHz antenna. No way to know unless you were looking at the model number on the antenna.

The folded dipoles are easier. Those look like UHF, but if you searched on line for companies like Telewave Base Station Antennas - Telewave.io you can start looking at approximate measurements to see which bands you should be looking at.

 

[kayn1n32008]

I have attached two pictures of antennas on nearby towers and was curious to learn more about the bands or frequencies I should be focusing on. My focus on the two pictures is: picture one: tall white pole antenna, picture two: folded dipole antennas.

The fiberglass vertical is a crap shoot. Could be VHF, UHF, 700, 800 or 900MHz. Knowing location and searching against what ever authority licenses RF in your jurisdiction would be needed.

The 2 folded dipole arrays are VHF. The 4 element one is 1/2 wave spaced, the 2 element looks to be 1/4 wave spaced, I am basing my guess off the scale of the tower, and the 3 element yagi on the left side , between the folded dipole arrays. Those dipole arrays look to be either Comprod or Sinclair antennas.

 

[bob550]

Consider purchasing a portable handheld frequency counter such as Surecom SF-103 or similar. They generally cover a wide frequency range and will display the frequency of any operating transmitter provided it's powerful enough, you're close enough, and it transmits long enough. You may have to sit there awhile before the counter locks on to the transmitting frequency especially if it's infrequently used, however. Just be discreet enough so as to not attract unwanted attention.

 

[mikewazowski]

The second picture looks like a 210C2 mounted below a 210C4.

 

[ladn]

A type of scanning I enjoy is just listening to what I can find, and learning more about that frequency regardless of if I hear a voice or just noise.

If your scanner has a close call feature, that can be helpful to a degree--it will show you which frequencies are in use at any given time, but it won't help identify a particular antenna on a multi-antenna tower.

Since you'll be close to relatively powerful transmitters, try either removing the scanner's antenna or using something like a straightened paper clip as an extremely inefficient antenna in order to mitigate overloading the radio's front end.

 

[kayn1n32008]

The second picture looks like a 210C2 mounted below a 210C4.

Agree.

 

[kc2asb]

Did not know about the Antenna Search site. Learned something new today! Thanks for sharing @Listener1440 !