Monthly Archives: November 2020

As we move further into the 21st century and nearly everything becomes wireless, it becomes necessary to send more and more information across cell phone towers. Although you probably take for granted the freedom you get from the presence of cell phone towers, cell phone towers are actually very important to our daily lives. Just imagine what would happen without them. You have surely encountered an area where you just can’t get a signal on your cell phone. Although these areas are growing smaller and smaller as more cell phone towers are built, some areas simply do not have cell phone tower coverage yet.

Few people realize the work and planning that goes into the building of a new cell phone tower to increase coverage in busy areas or provide coverage in “dead zones” where calls are dropped. Though land surveying is a very old profession, it plays a crucial role in the development of communications networks. Land surveying is a critical part of the process of building and maintaining a cell tower. In fact, several different survey types may be involved with this process. Among the most common is a cell tower ALTA survey. The survey may be requested by government officials or cellular telecommunications companies.

The tower ALTA survey is generally used to survey an existing cell tower rather than the area being considered for a new tower. The ALTA survey is specifically done to meet ALTA/ACSM standards, meaning that it is a standardized survey conducted by certified land surveyors. These are among the highest standards in land surveying today, and ensure that the cell phone tower survey is done in a manner that is standardized across the nation. ALTA surveying standards are created by the American Land Title Association. After an ALTA survey is conducted on any parcel of land, title insurance companies feel comfortable insuring the land, and the cell tower owner can be sure of the boundaries and other aspects governing the ownership of the land.

A cell phone ALTA survey usually includes a boundary survey, which shows the boundaries of the tower and its associated land parcel, in addition to information on easements, or the right to cross the cell tower land. These easements may be granted to utility companies, local governments, neighboring landowners, or others with an interest in the property on which the cell tower is located. This survey examines all legal descriptions for access and utilities on the tower itself and the surrounding land associated with the tower. A cell tower ALTA survey also shows the tower itself and any adjacent improvements to the land.

Cell tower ALTA surveys may be completed when the cell company is considering replacing or rebuilding an existing tower, such as the case with towers using outdated technology. Such a survey may also prove useful if there is a dispute over the land on which the cell tower sits, such as if a neighboring landowner has made improvements to the land too close to the tower in the belief that they have rights to the land. An ALTA survey is generally required for the sale of commercial properties, such as if the cell tower is changing hands.

Who invented the first portable lighting tower?

This depends largely on your definition of a lighting tower. A broad definition could include something as simple as a candle or primitive torch placed on a tall mast to cast light over a large area, such a device has probably been in use since the Stone Age.

In more recent history it’s un-clear as to when the modern lighting tower was invented. Researching patent applications indicates that machines not dissimilar to today’s lighting towers were being designed in the 1930s.

A patent from 1932 shows what might be the first machine of its kind filed in US patent 1934576 and is named as a “Portable floodlighting unit for airports”.

The patent describes a chassis with 4 wheels at each corner (allowing the machine to be towed), a generator powered by an engine and one large electric lamp at each end of the vehicle. The machine is designed to be used to provide on-demand lighting of alternative landing sites at airports on occasions when the main landing areas are out of use because of adverse weather conditions.

More recently in 1980 a US patent 4181929 was filed for a Portable illuminating tower that illustrates a much closer resemblance to modern day lighting towers.

The US patent 4181929 describes a portable lighting tower consisting of a base frame (which contains an engine and generator) and a vertical, extending, hydraulic mast with two electric lamps at the upper end. The unit does not permit towing but instead is lightweight and compact enough to be easily transported. The design also includes jack legs that are now common place on all lighting towers to ensure stability in high winds.

This is quite a significant development in the history of the lighting tower as this patent largely forms the basis of most modern day lighting towers which contain similar elements such as a base that stores the engine and generator along with an extending hydraulic mast that supports the luminaries.

The next patent was filed later in the same year of 1980 but was for a solution to provide more extensive illumination. The US patent 4220981 describes a chassis with 4 wheels to hold the generator and engine and two folding telescopic masts at opposite corners of the chassis that each hold a cluster of electric lamps. The design also allows for the masts to be rotated enabling finer control of the area of illumination. By offering two masts the light tower also allows for illumination over nearly all sides of the machine. This is unlike previous light towers which generally offer illumination on only one side of the machine.

Since 1980 considerable progress has been made by lighting tower manufacturers. Although the overall design has varied little from those seen in the 1980s many improvements have been made to make lighting towers easier to use and more environmentally friendly.

The Hylite lighting tower from Taylor Construction Plant includes Adjustabeam© technology which allows the user to adjust the direction of each lamp from the ground. The TCP Hylite also has a flexible chassis design which allows almost any generator to be used to power the light heads.

The TCP Ecolite lighting tower has also broken new ground by utilising extremely economical lamps to reduce fuel consumption dramatically, which is particularly timely seeing as global warming is becoming a more and more prevalent concern.

In 2009 a new form of technology was introduced to improve cellular connections in areas where coverage is poor. This technology is called Femtocell and allows for customers to have better coverage and business to supply this service with this device connected to a broadband internet connection.

Everyone should understand that a femtocell is most often used to improve cellular coverage without the cellular carrier needing to upgrade their networks. This implementation would be great for rural or remote areas (80% of Australia) but the technology itself may be a little bit expensive for small to medium businesses. As one knows, a lot of these femtocells can operate on spectrums without the permission of the owner.

This is occurring in the US and Canada now. This is full of controversy and I for one do not want to delve into this area when starting up or being stood on by the big Telco’s. Dual mode handsets worldwide could be taken advantage of but how would you price or pay for your costs? Does their Telco pay the business for supplying a connection or is it a pay-per-use system implemented by the owner. If you implement an agreement between Telco’s on a business to business basis than there is real money to be made. Especially when this technology is being released worldwide.

I could see the application of a femtocell network for business that have poor coverage or want to attract customers in high demand areas where churn rate is high. I could see cafes, book store and food courts implementing these ideas to improve the quality of service where coverage is lacking.

In my honest opinion wireless would still be easier and more affordable to customers than femtocell tech and allows businesses to implement e-commerce into their store. Well at least till I can determine how a business could achieve revenue from this activity. My presumption would be that the femtocell provider would only provide coverage in exchange for what? So that a user can continue to conduct their normal routines over a cellular network and ignore the concept of wireless technology.

So as you can see there is real possibility of a business now acting as a cell tower in business district areas. I am working on ideas that could really affect small business and boost revenue. Some countries may have dual-mode cellular phones which allow this technology to operate. Countries like Australia are falling behind with the concept of dual-mode cellular phones. So phones have to register with that spectrum to be any use.