Unknown Antenna type

[IdleMonitor]

Noticed an odd looking antenna recently put up in our downtown. Not sure why this was put there, or what it's exactly used for.

Anyone have an idea as to the type of antenna it's for?

The day they put this up there, I thought they were just fixing the chimney that it's attached too, but that wasn't the case.

 

[zz0468]

Cellsite. Painted brick red to match the building.

 

[IdleMonitor]

Not sure why they'd put in a new cell site for the area, especially downtown in a town of 8000 when there's already considerably good coverage for the area with other towers that are located here.

There was an ad in the paper earlier this week mentioning 2 new towers being turned on by Bell that would help service the area. In particular the Internet hubs. So I'm wondering if this is probably one of them, and why they would bother putting it where they did.

Cellsite. Painted brick red to match the building.

 

[zz0468]

Might be part of a 4g upgrade. Might be part of a newer carrier stilll building out their network. Might be a capacity upgrade. There's all sorts of reasons why cell sites are built in places that already appear to have good coverage.

 

[mmckenna]

Your area may have had good coverage, but it may not have had sufficient bandwidth. By making the cells smaller, you can reduce the number of users per site, and increase the amount of available data bandwidth.
Faster data speeds and more throughput requires more sites, usually

 

[mikewazowski]

They're cellular antennas.

 

[IdleMonitor]

This would seem to be the best explanation I'm guessing. But for where they put it, doesn't seem like a logical location. Elevation wise, it's not very high up. Just on top of a building downtown and that's about it and I definitely don't live in a town where there's skyscrapers that's for sure. There tower locations would've been a more suitable choice. I know where the towers are around here, and they would've been been a much better choice if they needed to get an upgraded signal out.

Your area may have had good coverage, but it may not have had sufficient bandwidth. By making the cells smaller, you can reduce the number of users per site, and increase the amount of available data bandwidth.
Faster data speeds and more throughput requires more sites, usually

 

[mikewazowski]

Elevation wise, it's not very high up. I know where the towers are around here, and they would've been been a much better choice if they needed to get an upgraded signal out.

Is that your qualified opinion as an RF Engineer:lol:

If it is in a downtown area where people tend to shop, then chances are it's to provide bandwidth and not coverage.

By offloading bandwidth from other sites onto this site, they free up the other sites to provide coverage and bandwidth.

If too many people are on one WCDMA site, it's coverage shrinks. By installing a site like this in an area where a lot of users are, the outlying sites get relief and their coverage areas are restored.

You also don't want the sites overlapping much since they all use the same frequency.

 

[exkalibur]

When it comes to cell sites, you don't necessarily WANT height. Back in the analog days when there weren't a whole lot of users in a small area, height was a benefit so it could cover as large of an area as possible.

These days, it is often desirable to position sites at a lower height to reduce their coverage area, for the reasons above of increased bandwidth.

Here in Toronto, it isn't uncommon to see sites very very close, for exactly this reason. For example, Telus has a micro-cell at Yonge and Dundas, Victoria and Dundas and Church and Dundas. Less than 1000 feet between sites.

 

[IdleMonitor]

Please read what I posted as a reply earlier, I said that it would make sense as the explanation had already been given. I wasn't doubting any of it, so no need for the snarky comment about being qualified for anything, as I wasn't stating that I was giving that as a qualified opinion. Just an opinion of observation. Not fact.

Feel free to keep on standby from the Moderators Union lodge.

Is that your qualified opinion as an RF Engineer:lol:

If it is in a downtown area where people tend to shop, then chances are it's to provide bandwidth and not coverage.

By offloading bandwidth from other sites onto this site, they free up the other sites to provide coverage and bandwidth.

If too many people are on one WCDMA site, it's coverage shrinks. By installing a site like this in an area where a lot of users are, the outlying sites get relief and their coverage areas are restored.

You also don't want the sites overlapping much since they all use the same frequency.

 

[IdleMonitor]

Thanks for the positioning on this. Makes sense. Like was mentioned, more for bandwidth rather than coverage.

When it comes to cell sites, you don't necessarily WANT height. Back in the analog days when there weren't a whole lot of users in a small area, height was a benefit so it could cover as large of an area as possible.

These days, it is often desirable to position sites at a lower height to reduce their coverage area, for the reasons above of increased bandwidth.

Here in Toronto, it isn't uncommon to see sites very very close, for exactly this reason. For example, Telus has a micro-cell at Yonge and Dundas, Victoria and Dundas and Church and Dundas. Less than 1000 feet between sites.