the "Building of a New Tower" thread

So anymore updated pics this was fun to watch

 

While I suggest you take pictures after the crew has left, if you're polite and stay out of the way I'm sure they won't tell you to take a hike.

 

Yeah I have had a hige interest in this. BTW most techs from what I have seen are very nice. In fact if that were me I would go talk to them and ask many questions lol.

 

cant wai to see these pics!

 

I've taken all kinds of picture with workers at the sites and have never been told to take a hike. They probably think I'm with the carrier and taking photos for the company.

 

Each crew is different and will have different boundaries that may or may not be crossed during your endeavors. Luckily, it sounds like you've only ran into some nice crews, just be forewarned that there are numerous people in this industry that unless they know who you are, or why you are there will tell you to beat it.

 

I wonder who will colocate on the tower now lol

 

Hmmm... In my area, there is this huge monopole where 6 carriers had antennae... Over time, the carriers either merged (sprint/Nextel) or installed their towers nearby (T-Mobile has built 2 stealth tree sites less than a mile away)

 

Thanks for the pics again. Nice new shiney site you have there. I wish there were new things going in my area. I have a suspicion tmobile will be adding something here soon.

 

awsome pics eric. will be cool to see who colocates!

 

No thank you this kind of thread is very neat and unique enjoyed it very much.

 

Yah its nice to see interest in the industry and alot of common folk so to speak dont get to see how it all transpires.

I have personally helped build tons of new sites, the one thing the pictures dont show is the trial and tribulations of dealing with contractors. Something is always being held up at these.

Sometimes you get tower companies from 5 hours away from the site and their slow and getting it built. You also have electrical contractors, the power company and a big one is waiting on Telco to install the backhaul lines. Telco can take for ever if it goes thru mulitple phone companies areas.

I had a tower that came on air on generator and stayed on generator for almost 45 days. The electrical inspector for that area went of vacation. Ever 4 days I had to get the generator filled, it got old about the 3 time I had to do it.

 

Wow, its been my experience that getting on site on church property is more difficult than anywhere else, but that just goes to show everywhere in the world is different. I did some network planning in Tunesia, and theres alot of small villages spread out there with mainly only 1 story high houses. The higest structure was always the mosque, which would be an ideal place for an antenna, but they didnt take too kindly to my suggestions

Yea, good thread to show the tower building process. As a network engineer Ive planned hundreds (or thousands?) of sites, but I rarely see them get built

 

Is there anyway to find out if there is any cell sites being built or being planned in my area? Is there any site that can show me any of that?

 

I live in Central Texas and I have seen a cell site built about .44 miles away from my house. I use sprint's EVDO Rev. A data card. Recently I have been experiencing a drop in service the dBm fluxing ALOT, dropping from 78 dBm all the way to 102 dBm... Ive worked with Sprint's Advanced technical support and they are supposed to be sending a tech out to the nearest cell site to check the orientation of the antennae... She said it seems like my card isnt locking on a specific site, but bouncing between sites. Has anyone else around here experienced these problems if so, any helpful tips of pointers? I am looking for some cell site maps for sprint in my area, does anyone know of any... I am also expecially interested in the actual equipment and how it works /specs as well. I do understand different carriers use different technologies and such. And I am sure there are some confidentiality issues there, but any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Could be a bad data card and/or software, but I doubt it. It's the network that directs your card as to which tower it should connect to. If they are building a new tower close to you, then that could obviously cause you some problems. Congestion on the cell closer to you could also force you to use a un-congested cell further away (resulting in a lower signal strength for you), so if you have some data-hungry neighbors also on Sprint, this could drive you to a further cell. Really Sprint should have some tools that they can look at their data records remotely with and analyze, not really needed to send a tech out. But I guess it depends on how much time and effort they want to spend trouble-shooting the problem. Probably just cheaper and easier to send a tech out.

 

Wow nice thread thanks for sharing. Did any other carriers Co locate?