Check it out! >>> Stealth Antennae

I like the Cactus:




Bill

[This message has been edited by Bill Addiss (edited 01-14-2003).]

What a waste of money.The phoneco.ought to pass that cost straight to the people that complain about the conventional antennas,not the ones like me who realize they are needed if we want that cell phone.
A friend of mine has a tower on his property and he figures he makes a nickel everytime the lights flash on it.Calls it his money tree.Wish they needed one on my property

A lot better looking than the fake "pine tree" cell towers here in the northeast!

With that side branch, would make a good J-pole antenna, I'll bet!

Thats for sure, I was up in the White Mountains of NH and had a great veiw of some very unreal pines.
They seemed to fool the wife, she doubted they were fakes.

Still better then plain cell tower.

Somebody on Cape Cod was going to put up a cell tower that looked like a lighthouse, I think the town said no.

Great, we have trashed (and littered) the landscape long enough. I bet somebody will steal it though.


Roger

[This message has been edited by Roger (edited 01-14-2003).]

Out here in So. Cal, we have Palm Trees and Pine Trees!
(cell site antenna masts, that is!)

Scott s.e.t.

I think it's great.
The reg towers are usually an eyesore.
Maybe it'll make it harder for the terrorist's to jack up our communications in the future.

I agree with txsparky a waste of money. Plus these are harder to service when service is needed. Any one who wants to damage a cell antenna will not be fooled by it

Let's disguise those ugly traffic signals too.


[This message has been edited by txsparky (edited 01-15-2003).]

I would guess that those disguised antennae are probably more protected from the elements since it's a weather-proof "dome" that's placed over the metal components.

However...does beauty come at the expense of efficiency?

I like towers....but then again...I'm biased, cuz I'm a radio geek!

Can't understand these fools who yell about CONCEALED towers inside church steeples and then turn around and bitch about their non-working cell phones when they want to order a pizza or their piss-poor TV reception when they want to watch a football game. Hell-ooo!!

How would you know there's an antenna hiding in a church belfry unless you go poking around up there anyway?

It seems to be a common cry over this side of the Atlantic too. Many people want perfect coverage for the cellular phone wherever they go, but then object to every tower that's erected.

By the way, do you happen to know the origin of that last photo? The background (Leyland truck, yellow/white road sign etc.) looks suspiciously British.....

pauluk,
I'm not sure where or when the picture was taken.

Donnie

That cactus antenna look like something out of a Bond movie!

Update!!! Palm Tree Cellular Site Antenna Mast Located And Photographed!!!

This Animal was found in Huntington Beach, CA. behind a Commercial Stripmall.

Scott35 s.e.t.

You would think that they could make it look more realistic!

Boy I bet that fools alot of people

I saw a cell antenna cluster in the center of a high-tension metal tower this weekend (just north of Buffalo). The top of it was just below the upper set of wires (it had 3 sets). Wouldn't you think there would be a lot of interference with this type of installation?

Not a disguised antenna, but worth the look anyway. PS. That is not me on the tower!
Rick Miell

Ahhh....that looks like the Empire State Building antenna!!

I remember reading a story in the NY Times about the guys who climb the tower to change the aircraft warning lightbulbs up there.

The guy mentioned in the article about the Saguaro Cactus antenna (Larson) started out right here in my hometown (Tucson) making fake rocks. He got a patent then a contract to make all the habitats at the Desert Museum which gained him worldwide notoriety and lot$ more work. My brother worked for him in the 70's and had a chance to own a part of the biz and declined.

We have a few "pine tree" cell antennas here in NJ, put up to keep the "neighbors" happy.
Also, yes they are installing cell pods on the HIGH voltage transmission towers here also. Had two (2) sites to do inspections on recently. (Brave guys)
John

John,

Have you seen the small remote towers being used around here by Verizon yet? It hangs on a street light, plugs into the street lights power, is about the size of a small suitcase. It is used to connect 1 tower on one side of a mountain to a cell tower on the other side. The small repeater picks up the signal, transfers it to a land line, that goes to either cell tower. This way you can go through a dead zone and still be connected.

Harold,

I don't know if this is similar to what you're talking about. In the Financial District here in New York, some streetlights have these small boxes hanging upside down from the horizontal arm supporting the lamp.

The box has a short antenna with a coil (like the little springy portable phone antennae on car windows) poking from its underside. The whole thing is probably half the size of the lamp attached at the end of the streetlight pole.

There's one on each light at each corner of my building. Of course I work right across the street from the Federal Reserve bank (at Chase Manhattan Bank HQ) and I wonder if these boxes are actually part of a repeater system for the F.R. police or the Chase Manhattan security guards.

My local WalMart has repeaters, I get a better signal on the cell phone inside WalMart than out!

I've yet to actually see the suckers though.

NYC folks:

The tunnels (Lincoln/Holland) also have antennae (or repeaters?) in them, not sure which carriers, so your call doesn't get dropped as you drive under the Hudson River...

CAN YOU FIND THE "STEALTH" TOWER?

TG,

I don't know, that's a tough one ...

BTW, has anyone had trouble using cell phones near I95 in the southern states like South Carolina or Georgia? Everytime I drive to Florida I have trouble using a cell phone somewhere around there.

Bill