[TowerTalk] Cellular sites

[z.pitman@libertel.nl]

Hi Ron,

I don't know your particular siutuation (Rural, suburbian, semi-urban,
urban) and the importance of of your location (overlooking an area or a road
segment, are there similar locations available e.g. your neighbour with
similar possibilities, etc) so it is very difficult to give you exact
advice. I've been involved in planning some hundreds of cell-sites for
different cellular operators in Europe and Asia for frequencies, 450, 900,
1800 and 1900 MHz bands. 
 
> I was approached by a company looking for a place to situate 
> a cellular
> phone antenna site. Upon receiving my permission, they ran a 
> lot of tests on
> various areas of my land, including soil conductivity tests.

This is quite surprising for me. On the frequencies their system might be
using soil conductivity does not make too much sense. Besides, I assume they
measured it on DC or near-DC so this data will be pretty useless on RF.
 
> I asked if they would allow me to
> put antennas on the tower. 

It's something what cell planners don't like to do because it can limit the
future expansions because the other antennas take up tower space and
introduce wind load. Wind load is important if they use microwave links and
the tower twisting and bending can be critical. Unless the location is a
very strategical, cellular companies wouldn't share with others. 

> Crew foreman said that was something to take up
> with the engineering section.

Sounds bad...

There are two options: 1, They go for a sectorized site with side- or
armmounted panel antennas. In this case you might use the top of the tower.
You have to be careful with: windload of your antenna system and
installation. They should be careful with: falling ice, jumper cables of the
rotating antenna. 

2, If they go for omnis (usually it happens in VERY rural areas} they will
most likely reserve the top of the tower. In this case you might use their
tower for sidemounted antennas or as support for wire antennas. 

What you can gain besides having a tower in your backyard: attractive rental
fee, they are very good at getting permissions for towers so you might get a
precedence case for your town or county, which might help you in latter
applications, these companies use the services of PE-bureaus and their
findings for your local circumstances (soil mechanics for example) could be
very useful for you, and finally they're excellent sources of 7/8" cable ;-)


There's a strong legal aspect in every tower sharing deal. Check the
fineprint and the safety and liability regulations before you sign anything.

I hope it's helpful. If I can help you with any specific info, feel free to
ask. 

73 de Zoli HA1AG

--
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/towertalkfaq.html
Submissions:              towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-towertalk@contesting.com
Search:                   http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm