Time to load up the first 3 of those transmitter frames.
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And another stop in the breakdown lane...
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Cell Tower Saga
Started by
Tom in Bristol
, Apr 25 2013 12:36 PM
590 replies to this topic
#121
Tom in Bristol
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Posted 30 July 2013 - 11:27 AM
#122
Tom in Bristol
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Posted 30 July 2013 - 11:30 AM
And, yes indeed, they got off another shot below the old tower...
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#123
Tom in Bristol
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Posted 31 July 2013 - 08:05 AM
1 tower 4 massive networks.... Technology never ceases to amaze...
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Truth! Eric, the Fire Marshal here told me yesterday he'd heard that towers like this have a maximum load rating (makes sense) and that once the limit was reached, no more transmitters can be added for any future carriers.
Since this tower is owned by AT&T, they get the top spot...other carriers lease the space for their services and equipment.
#124
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Posted 31 July 2013 - 08:12 AM
It's a rainy, drizzly day in the neighborhood...but finally the weeds by the Honda shop have been emptied of all the tower parts.
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The crew parking lot by the old strip mall is only part full today. They're still hauling material from the high parts to the low parts and have had to spread crushed rock on some of the muddy service roads.
Also, I see the drills back at work in the same spot as yesterday's shot below the tower...must be some solid rock along there.
#125
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Posted 01 August 2013 - 01:35 PM
Today they're using the original extension boom crane to assemble a larger crane.
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They also fired off another shot today below the old tower, but I wasn't quick enough to get a vid.
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#126
Tom in Bristol
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Posted 01 August 2013 - 07:23 PM
Yep, that's a bigger stick! And the tower grows some more.
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#127
johnthehillbilly
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Posted 02 August 2013 - 09:54 AM
Get to see the progress (from the highway) first hand today..... .gif)
... telekinetically tapped, tenaciously traversing the terrain ...
... telekinetically tapped, tenaciously traversing the terrain ...
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Feeding my android addiction......... one phone at a time.....
If you are feeling generous and would like to buy me a drink.... coffee
#128
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Posted 02 August 2013 - 10:58 AM
Now they have gotten serious with the crane...two additional bridge-truss extensions mean they can get parts all the way to the top.
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And now they've begun pre-assembling 20 foot sections on the ground before lifting the whole section up to the three men to attach to the tower.
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#129
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Posted 02 August 2013 - 12:41 PM
Hanging from the crane slings are two canvas buckets headed down to be re-filled with nuts and bolts.
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Another section moving into position.
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This section has a bracket frame with what I'm guessing is the antennae for the Fire Dept. comms.
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#130
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Posted 02 August 2013 - 07:55 PM
While I was mowing the neighbor's lawn, I spotted this section with a large transmitter rack going on. Not sure, but I don't think that's the top yet.
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After dark I happened to look up through the tree branches and there's a red light blinking up there now!
#131
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Posted 03 August 2013 - 10:11 AM
Saturday morning was spent attaching single racks at lower levels, so guess the tower is topped off.
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A couple of hawks were on patrol for their breakfast - finally caught one in the frame.
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Drove over to Marty's and watched from his driveway. Tower really looms over his place.
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#132
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Posted 03 August 2013 - 10:20 AM
The crane sling straps are positioned very wide-spread on the racks and I was curious how they would loosen/remove them. Seems he just steps out onto the rack...
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Stands on the rack...
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Loosens the near strap...
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Loosens the other one...
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Steps back onto the tower...
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And the sling straps are free!
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Time for the next rack five minutes later.
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#133
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Posted 03 August 2013 - 10:24 AM
By 2pm today the large crane was lowered and parked. The guys climbed down and all got quiet. Dunno if the large crane will be used to run the cabling up to the transmitters or if that is all done more by hand by a different crew...we'll see!
#134
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Posted 03 August 2013 - 12:29 PM
If its pulled up by hand, I'd really hate to be the one who snaps the 144 strand fiber cable because it got tangled in the tower!By 2pm today the large crane was lowered and parked. The guys climbed down and all got quiet. Dunno if the large crane will be used to run the cabling up to the transmitters or if that is all done more by hand by a different crew...we'll see!
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#135
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Posted 04 August 2013 - 09:03 AM
Late yesterday afternoon they disassembled the large crane, loaded it up and down the road it went. Today there are four guys up top doing...something!
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From here on out there probably won't be much to see for pictures of progress on the tower (unless I can make contact with someone for permission to visit) so my Saga might mostly be pics of moving dirt and maybe an occasional blast vid (Monday might be a fairly large shot).
And I'll be hoping to get the word about when/how the old tower will be demoed...that might be an interesting vid!
#136
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Posted 05 August 2013 - 10:38 AM
It wasn't a really large shot, but it was up front and easy to see.
#137
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Posted 05 August 2013 - 10:45 AM
One noticeable addition to the new tower is what I'll call a cable rack running from bottom to top next to the far leg. Kinda looks like a ladder but the crosspieces are too far apart.
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A little closer look...
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And at the top...
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I'm speculating that they'll mount conduit on this rack for the fibre optic cable up to the transmitters. These towers are all 3-sided with each transmitter covering 120 degrees, so maybe the conduit go up as far as each carrier's rack layer and split off to the three on that layer.
#138
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Posted 08 August 2013 - 05:29 PM
Annnddd...On Further Review (guess who's ready for some football!) there one of these racks next to each leg.
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Dang, that thing is tall!
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This is the shelter for VZW and the concrete slab for their standby generator. Sadly, a bunch of the necessary parts and pieces for the VZW part of the tower aren't on site yet. 
Can you say COWs?!?
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#139
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Posted 08 August 2013 - 05:51 PM
A general view of the space under the tower, with various panels, cabinets and two of the shelters, the one on the left is VZW and on the right for AT&T. Just beyond the door on the right side of the pic is one of the half dozen spools of coaxial cable that will be raised up the tower on those racks. Oh BTW, the coax isn't run inside a conduit as I had thought.
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#140
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Posted 08 August 2013 - 06:11 PM
This is a view of the part of the site they've just started working on...the edge of the tower hill is on the left, then there's the cone crusher, a bucket loader and one of the drills on the skyline and then the billboard that over looks I-81.
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The slope below the drill has been cleared of trees/brush and it's being loaded into trucks by the bucket loader on the left.
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Bucket loader lifts the slash...
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Loads it into a dump truck...
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Which hauls it down into a real low spot to be burned.
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