Many 4G-enabled cell towers pose a safety threat today because of improperly mounted LTE antennas, Brandon Chapman, engineering and technical support manager, Valmont Site Pro 1, told an audience during AGL’s Wireless Infrastructure Conference, held last week in Irvine, Calif. “I haven’t seen a lot of failures. I know the potential is there from an [...]
View Article wireless infrastructureA coating of 2 inches of ice and high winds brought down a radio broadcast tower, April 10, as a spring storm slammed into southwestern Minnesota, damaging trees and power lines. In the rural town of Worthington, Minn., the top three quarters collapsed of a tower owned by the Radio Works, according to Minnesota Public [...]
View Article wireless infrastructureHughey & Phillips has launched HORIZON medium-intensity strobe LED based obstruction lighting line for daytime and nighttime lighting on tall structures such as communication, television and radio towers. The ETL-certified and FAA-approved L-864/865 provides both daytime white and nighttime red lights within a single unit. Daytime white strobe eliminates the need to paint the structure [...]
View Article wireless infrastructureNumb hands and leg cramps caused by wind chills of 10 degrees left a tower technician unable to extract himself from the top of a 180-foot tower, Jan. 23, in Gaithersburg, Md. Fearing hypothermia, Isaac Dupree, called 911 and co-worker Rob Bonsall climbed up to rescue him. In a dramatic rescue caught on video from [...]
View Article Tower Climbers, wireless infrastructureTalking about Crown Castle International’s closing on its purchase of NextG Networks in the fourth quarter 2012, it was obvious that Ben Moreland is sold on DAS. “We are still in the early stages of DAS infrastructure similar to where we were with towers a decade ago. In fact, the opportunity we see feels a [...]
View Article wireless infrastructureA safety harness malfunction left a climber stuck on a cell tower, Jan. 16, facing chilling winter temperatures and winds in a small northeast Kansas town. SiteMaster employee April Zumbrum was alone on the 190-foot tower in Strong City about 20 miles from Emporia, Kan., doing an audit for Commnet Wireless, but a coworker on [...]
View Article Tower Climbers, tower rescue, wireless infrastructureSpecialty contractor-engineering firm, KCI Convergent Technologies, is changing its name to KCI Communications Infrastructure (KCI-CI), along with combining its wire-line construction and wireless engineering arms. The resulting organization will provide turnkey cell tower construction, leveraging its contracting expertise in cabling, outside plant and cellular construction and maintenance with the comprehensive design capabilities of sister engineering [...]
View Article cell towers, Joe Siemek, KCI Communications Infrastructure, Tower construction, wireless infrastructureThe FCC will convene a series of field hearings in the coming months to examine challenges to communications networks posed by Superstorm Sandy. The hearing will address backup power, carrier readiness and resource-sharing protocols. The hearings, which will inform the FCC’s recommendations and action to improve network resiliency, were announced less than a week after [...]
View Article backup power, Julius GenachowskiA San Diego-based firm building a portfolio of telecom infrastructure assets is attempting to purchase cell tower leases from the town of Perryville, Md., according to Explore Harford. AP Wireless, an arm of Associated Partners private investment firm, offers to buy leases for a lump sum upfront with large payouts and flexible terms. “We will [...]
View Article AP Wireless, Jonathan Kramer, municipalitiesDeutsche Telecom is putting its money where its mouth is in the coming year, funding T-Mobile’s LTE and HSPA + rollouts, according to Rene Obermann, CEO, Deutsche Telecom, at the carrier’s Capital Markets Day, Dec. 6, in Bonn, Germany. The biggest chunk of Deutsche Telecom’s total CAPEX next year will be spent in the United [...]
View Article Deutsche Telecom, Rene Obermann, T-Mobile (USA)