Why Cell Towers Look Funny

Why do cell towers have so many antennas - and where do they get THEIR signals from, anyway?

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[IAMSAMSUN]

I work on cell towers. Done it for 15 years and it's nice to see just facts and not opinion when it comes to a very simplified version of what i do but you got the nail on the head great video

[Voltaic_Fire]

I suddenly have a strong urge to climb one and reveal the local area map. Damn you, Ubisoft.

[solarisfire]

Having worked for a mobile carrier since 2006... I love this video! Really accurate, and yup we use microwave for a lot of backhaul, esp in rural areas. It's also one of the biggest points of failure. You mention the antennas being angled downwards to reduce interference, but that's not totally correct... Carriers usually own a big chunk of spectrum, and we plan adjacent towers to run at different frequencies. They're typically angled downwards as the antenna are so directional, that if you don't angle them you end up with black spots directly under the tower... Some towers we can even change these angles remotely.

[Ilix]

I'm a city dweller so I haven't seen the cactus towers, but the tree towers are getting much better. They're actually passable for more than a glance while driving by at freeway speeds now.

[JoshColletta]

Fun fact: my great-grandfather helped develop microwave transmission technology, specifically for television at the time. He was NOT happy to learn that it was going to be used for anything OTHER than educational programming! But his team's work helped bring us the greatest communications infrastructure that's ever existed. If only he had lived to see what good has come of it!

[Phosphor]

in addition to the cactus disguise, there are also monopole towers disguised as pine trees or palm trees. I always thought it was funny that many city-dwellers want good cell signal but can't bear to see an antenna or tower.

[AFatNinja]

I'm a civil/structural engineer who specializes in the steel design of these towers. It's a pretty interesting, in-depth topic that a lot of people don't realize exists.

[whoawhoawhatsthis]

40 miles is about 64km for those who couldn't be bothered to pause and look it up

[davidperry]

My favorite ones are the little poles with the 4 boxes and a tubular antenna on top. MM wave is awesome

[pokerus]

The main thing that was incorrect is the part about who was first on the tower is the highest. Its all about density, and of course not all cell sites(As towers are not the only way a Cell site can be deployed) need to be on the highest available height. There is alot of detail that is availble suce as what the Antenna(Or panels as most would say) look like, what the different shapes mean, what the boxes behind the antenna are(RRUs), etc. Its honestly kinda addicting getting to see a tower, and know which carrier is which, what spectrum is deployed based on the equipment, etc.

Also there are a whole can of worms when it comes to small cells, DAS systems, CoWs, COLTS, Blimps, drones, etc. AT&T actually has a blimp called Firstnet one. They also have drones to accompany it to disaster areas for quick cell service recovery while the macro is being restored.

[Klockorino]

Coolest looking towers are the old AT&T long lines microwave towers with the horn antennae. In rural areas, they’re these massive, imposing towers that can be seen for miles, and it’s fun when you get the right angle, and can see the next long lines tower the horn antennae are pointing at

[NickyHendriks]

As a Dutchie who works as a tower climber I'm always amazed by just how different the towers look across the Atlantic. Way bulkier and technically completely different. Here you'll usually have a tower (usually either by VDL or Kaal) and each provider that's in there only has three antennas. Sometimes an operator adds another but that's to boost a certain frequency for example or as an added upgrade. Feeders and combiners are starting to become a thing of the past as more and more sites have their radios up in the tower as well. Mechanical down tilt is used sparsely as it can be done electrically for up to 6 degrees with the vendor were working with. Also no concrete building to put the hardware in, just cabinets on a steel frame and a fence. Roof-top sites are always completely different and depending on the roof.

But I guess the main difference is that the operators don't actually own the towers over here. Only the temporary structures and usually not even those are owned by the operator but owned by the contractor who builds them. Back in 2007 KPN, one of the major operators here, owned most of the towers but because of the monopoly that was arising it was forced to sell all of them by the competition authority. Now you have companies owning towers but not doing anything with telecom and you have actual operators. Works quite good. All three operators are in a trade association as well, making guidelines to make work in towers and on roof-tops a lot safer. A lot can be said about the Dutch telecom-sector but it is actually very well organized.

[shanent]

Love how the cosmopolitan multilingual foreigners are so flustered by inches and miles

[CreativityNull]

What's funny is that there's a building here in Nashville TN that is called the Batman building that's mostly filled with AT&T... Except it's definitely more reminiscent of the tower of sauron according to some photo editors lol. Look it up, it's hilarious. Your Sauron eye edit reminded me of it

[nthniel]

Not a suggestion per say, but it would be nice if you would write the units in international recognized kilometers as well miles O.o
Thanks 🙏

[waynestewart]

I live on Birmingham, Alabama. And I saw a cell tower designed to look like a pine tree. It was hilarious!

[m.junaidmahmood]

They are directed down to avoid black spots just near the tower(the tilt is mostly controlled remotely from a NOC (network operation center)). The interference is avoided by doing cell planning in a way that no adjacent frequencies are same(Also called frequency reuse). Also as other carriers have different frequencies so interference is completely avoided. Lower the frequency, higher the coverage area and higher the frequency, lower the coverage area. Also 5G cell areas are smaller than 4G and 4G is smaller than 3G and 3G is smaller than 2G due to the fact that higher bandwidth requirement shrinks the coverage area. There is a phenomenon called cell breathing. More people and bandwidth being used in a cell area reduced the coverage. This is especially an issue for people living at the edge of cell areas as their phone is constantly switching between cell sites. These are the places where the telcos put micro sites. Also carriers using lower frequency will have indoor coverage area issues and carriers using higher frequencies will have better indoor coverage. But carriers like low frequencies as it reduces the number of cells required due to higher coverage of lower frequencies.

[Donnerwamp]

Funny how I click this video, it starts and data breaks down on my phone... Almost as if my cell company doesn't want me to know how their towers work.

[thommckirdy]

The signal is transmitted in a shape more like a hemp leaf or maple leaf from sector antennas.

[conanobrien]

Even since I got covid vaccine, my 4g phone is connected to 5g network...











just kidding.