Dr. Jonathan Kramer's Cell Tower Photo Gallery

Copyright 2000-2023 Dr. Jonathan Kramer

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 Cupola Site702 viewsT-Mobile's antennas are inside at the top of the cupola.
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 AT&T Monopine in Santa Fe, NM860 viewsAT&T's monopine site is above the 599 Bypass around Santa Fe, New Mexico (Mutt Nelson road). Note the BTS cabintes are mounted on a raised grill (good for drainage; snow, etc.).
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 An Insect Attracted to a Light1002 viewsView of the Andrew node of the Cricket Wireless DAS site (installed by NextG) on a light standard in Encinitas, California.
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 DAS Outboard on Power Meter Cabinet869 viewsOverview of a Cingular (now AT&T) DAS site in Rolling Hills Estates, California.
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 Das da ticket!572 viewsAT&T uses a distributed antenna system (DAS) to light this site on Valley Circle in the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles County). The DAS node, manufactured by Andrew Corporation, is the small box affixed to the larger power meter pedestal cabinet.
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 Das da ticket!569 viewsAT&T uses a distributed antenna system (DAS) to light this site on Valley Circle in the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles County). The DAS node, manufactured by Andrew Corporation, is the small box affixed to the larger power meter pedestal cabinet. Notice that the node is not directly affixed, but is held via stand-offs.
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 Das da ticket!493 viewsAT&T uses a distributed antenna system (DAS) to light this site on Valley Circle in the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles County). The DAS node, manufactured by Andrew Corporation, is the small box affixed to the larger power meter pedestal cabinet.
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 Das da ticket!543 viewsAT&T uses a distributed antenna system (DAS) to light this site on Valley Circle in the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles County). The DAS node, manufactured by Andrew Corporation, is the small box affixed to the larger power meter pedestal cabinet.
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 Das da ticket!645 viewsA close up of the AT&T Wireless DAS antennas. Note several things:

First, the RF warning sign is on the rear of the antenna, where is cannot be seen by someone approaching the antenna. This is not consistent with the FCC RF safety requirements.

Second, these are dual band antennas. In the far antenna, the cellular band antenna feed is on the right; the PCS band feed is on the left.
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 Das da ticket!610 viewsAT&T uses a distributed antenna system (DAS) to light this site on Valley Circle in the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles County). The DAS node, manufactured by Andrew Corporation, is the small box affixed to the larger power meter pedestal cabinet.
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 NextG Distributed Antenna System Node828 viewsNextG's DAS node located in Encinitas, California. The carrier supported by this node is Cricket Wireless. The DAS equipment manufacturer is Andrew Corporation. This DAS node is a member of Andrew's ION ("Intelligent Optical Network") line of products. The cover at the top of the DAS housing covers a cooling fan.

Under SDG&E rules, this site does not consume enough power to require a power meter; merely a breaker box (located to the right of the DAS node).
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 Los Angeles Cathedrial455 viewsA surface mount antenna site at the Los Angeles Cathedral.
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 Drunk Tank?801 viewsThis series of photos of an interesting Verizon faux water tank in Littlerock, California suggests that perhaps something was amiss when the tank was installed on the legs, don't you know! The microwave dish is for 'back haul' to the MTSO.1 comments
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 Drunk Tank?808 viewsThis series of photos of an interesting Verizon faux water tank in Littlerock, California suggests that perhaps something was amiss when the tank was installed on the legs. Quite an interesting way to mate things.1 comments
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 Drunk Tank?593 viewsYet another view of the 'drunk tank' in Littlerock, California. The BTS equipment shelter is located behind the building in the foreground.
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 Drunk Tank?561 viewsVerizon's 'drunk tank' in Littlerock, California.
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 Sprint's Drive Test Rover446 viewsThis is a Sprint vehicle used to receive the test signal emitted from the temporary transmitter van. This van drives a predetermined area collecting signal strength data for later mapping.
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 Rover's Roof480 viewsOn the roof of the drive test 'rover' is a GPS antenna (the square antenna in the center of the roof), plus two PCS omnidirectional antennas for signal measurement and communications purposes.
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 Drive Test Rover Ready To Run399 viewsInside the cab of the drive test 'rover' is a portable computer connected to the output of the PCS signal strength receiver and the GPS receiver. The computer records the data for later mapping. The clipboard holds the predetermined route that the driver of the rover will cover during the test.
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 Sprint Conducts a Drive Test469 viewsThe tech mounts the omnidirectional antenna to the telescoping mast. Once the antenna is mounted, he'll connect the coax that runs back to the portable PCS transmitter sitting inside the van. Then the tech will elevate the antenna to the desired height, and set the proper output power of the transmitter. With all this done, another tech will drive the streets in the area recording signal strength, latitude, and longitude for later mapping.
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 PCS-Transmitter-in-a-Box449 viewsWhen a wireless carrier selects a candidate cell site it will usually conduct a 'drive test' to determine actual coverage. The drive test consists of elevating an antenna (here, an omnidirectional antenna) to a predetermined height. Inside the truck is a portable PCS transmitter powering the antenna.

This is a photo of the PCS transmitter used by Sprint in this drive test. What? You thought it would be larger?!
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 Sprint Conducts a Drive Test475 viewsWhen a wireless carrier selects a candidate cell site it will usually conduct a 'drive test' to determine actual coverage. The drive test consists of elevating an antenna to a predetermined height. Inside the truck is a portable PCS transmitter powering the antenna. In a separate vehicle (call it a 'rover') the carrier will drive the streets around the test site out to a predetermined distance from the site. The received signal level and GPS location information are stored in a portable computer inside the rover.

After the test is concluded, the received signal strength and location information are plotted on a street map. That map then serves to guide the RF engineer to select a final candidate site, and to design the antenna system to cover the desired area without causing unreasonable interference to other cell sites on the same network.

Attached to the left of the antenna (and blowing in the breeze) is a measuring tape used to determine the height of the antenna.
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 Close-up of anti-Bird-bomb net over antennas600 viewsHere's a close-up photo of the net placed over the antennas to keep the birds off (and to keep them from bombing the cars below)!
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 What's that wrapping around the antennas?598 viewsHere's an interesting site (close up in next photo). Notice that there are cars parked in the auto body shop lot directly below the antennas. Perhaps birds like to take aim and, er, hit the cars below. What a clever carrier solution! Put a net around the antennas to keep the birds off.
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