_RaT_
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Whats "nexted" mean?
Cell phone tower near my home.
- Thread starter JohnBoy45
- Start date
- Views: 3176
rozett
Platinum Member
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- Mar 23, 2002
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The real key to putting some restraint on the growth of towers, is to do it BEFORE they pop up everywhere. After the first one went up in our town, the planning board did some investigation and held hearings on establishing requirements for communications towers. They have since been approved by the voters and are part of the code. You can't outlaw the towers, but you can put reasonable restrictions on them.
Our ordinance specifies setbacks, limits heights (along with the FAA regs because we have an airport in town) and even requires providers to show that sharing existing towers is not feasible. So far, it has worked well. I sit on our Zoning Board of Appeals and we have not had any variance requests as a result of the ordinance. Obviously, you have to have state laws that permit the local communities to pass some level of control.
Our ordinance specifies setbacks, limits heights (along with the FAA regs because we have an airport in town) and even requires providers to show that sharing existing towers is not feasible. So far, it has worked well. I sit on our Zoning Board of Appeals and we have not had any variance requests as a result of the ordinance. Obviously, you have to have state laws that permit the local communities to pass some level of control.
JoeR
Platinum Member
Most municipalities require setbacks based on height, and most towers do not fall over sideways. If a tornado hit that tower, than the buildings nearby should have been damaged too. Otherwise, the tower was not built to proper wind load specifications. The local muncipality defines the wind load requirements. In Florida, most towers have to withstand 140-180mph winds. Everytime a new carrier wants to locate on a tower, they spend $3,000 dollars on an engineering study to ensure the structure can withstand the new antennas at the rated wind load.
Wireless companies do not like to build towers. It costs the company about 700K to 1M dollars to build a tower and put equipment in the shelter below. The feedline alone costs over 15K dollars on a 200' tower. Nothing worse than having some idiot put holes in the feedline with a rifle when they try to shoot out the red lamps.
HAM Radio operators in most areas are protected from tower ordinances since they provide volunteer emergency communication. Their towers rarely exceed 70'.
As for RF radiation from a cellular tower. If it is 200' feet tall, than you will never be closer than 200' to the radiation center. Most cellular transmitters from the tower do not exceed 100W estimated radiated power. If the tower is 850Mhz and has 4 channels, then your exposure at 200 feet away, would not exceed 0.000008 Watts. You get more than that from your own cell phone or TV. Rooftop installations are the areas of real concern since people can get close enough to touch the antennas. I would worry more about an AM/FM or TV transmitting tower. Most FM radios stations broadcast with over 100,000 watts of power, and TV stations can get up to 4 Million watt ERP's.
Joe
Wireless companies do not like to build towers. It costs the company about 700K to 1M dollars to build a tower and put equipment in the shelter below. The feedline alone costs over 15K dollars on a 200' tower. Nothing worse than having some idiot put holes in the feedline with a rifle when they try to shoot out the red lamps.
HAM Radio operators in most areas are protected from tower ordinances since they provide volunteer emergency communication. Their towers rarely exceed 70'.
As for RF radiation from a cellular tower. If it is 200' feet tall, than you will never be closer than 200' to the radiation center. Most cellular transmitters from the tower do not exceed 100W estimated radiated power. If the tower is 850Mhz and has 4 channels, then your exposure at 200 feet away, would not exceed 0.000008 Watts. You get more than that from your own cell phone or TV. Rooftop installations are the areas of real concern since people can get close enough to touch the antennas. I would worry more about an AM/FM or TV transmitting tower. Most FM radios stations broadcast with over 100,000 watts of power, and TV stations can get up to 4 Million watt ERP's.
Joe
RedDog
Platinum Member
Joe, I think you pretty much summed it up. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
For the money people are getting for these towers to be placed on their property, they could put one outside my front door!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
RedDog
For the money people are getting for these towers to be placed on their property, they could put one outside my front door!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
RedDog
PineRidge
Super Member
The wife and I had a good laugh today while passing a cell tower that had just recently been erected not far from where we reside. The wife, (Rose) said, "Look honey they even went so far as to plant nice tall shrubs around the fence protecting the tower to make it less obnoxious."
I said that those shrubs would need to be some really tall (200 foot) shrubs to make any difference at all. Or maybe just hang a sign on the shrubs that says: Please don't look up. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
I said that those shrubs would need to be some really tall (200 foot) shrubs to make any difference at all. Or maybe just hang a sign on the shrubs that says: Please don't look up. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
JoeR
Platinum Member
The minimum I have seen paid is $600/ month to a land owner. I have seen as high as $10,000 a month too.
I have a really good story about local laws regarding towers. My County states that there can only be one tower in a 3,000 foot radius. This was designed to keep too many towers from growing in one place. Make sense... Right? Okay, Wireless carrier A wanted to put antennas on an existing tower owned by Wireless Carrier B. The tower would not pass wind load requirements, so the tower would have to be rebuilt at same height, just stronger. Wireless Carrier B tells Wireless Carrier A to build a new tower on the existing location and once it is complete to move the antennas over to the new tower for both wireless carriers, then take down the old tower. This way Wireless Carrier B does not have any outages due to awaiting construction of new tower. Anyway, the County says no on the permit since there would be two towers within 3,000 feet. Wireless Carrier A asks for a variance since it was a replacement tower not a second tower. County says no. Wireless Carrier A then builds their own tower 3,000 feet away! Now people have to look at two towers since the County was too foolish. Just an example of how tower laws can be applied stupidly.
Joe
I have a really good story about local laws regarding towers. My County states that there can only be one tower in a 3,000 foot radius. This was designed to keep too many towers from growing in one place. Make sense... Right? Okay, Wireless carrier A wanted to put antennas on an existing tower owned by Wireless Carrier B. The tower would not pass wind load requirements, so the tower would have to be rebuilt at same height, just stronger. Wireless Carrier B tells Wireless Carrier A to build a new tower on the existing location and once it is complete to move the antennas over to the new tower for both wireless carriers, then take down the old tower. This way Wireless Carrier B does not have any outages due to awaiting construction of new tower. Anyway, the County says no on the permit since there would be two towers within 3,000 feet. Wireless Carrier A asks for a variance since it was a replacement tower not a second tower. County says no. Wireless Carrier A then builds their own tower 3,000 feet away! Now people have to look at two towers since the County was too foolish. Just an example of how tower laws can be applied stupidly.
Joe
