Response To Buildings with Cellular Antennas

[ladderthebuilding 2]

After reading the march edition of fire engineering (Safe Operations Near Roof Cellular Base Stations) we started to pre plan some of the buildings in Elmsford that had them. I was wondering if anybody had addtional information or experience with this type of situation? Any good training websites regarding this would be great too.

Thanks

Mike E

[HFD23 37]

also see WNYF for an article in this quarter about cell stations and so forth...

[x635 4,066]

Here's a photo of what's becoming increasingly common all over:

(Photo by me, from http://www.x635Photos.com)

It adds a great amount of weight to buildings sometimes not designed to carry such a load, and in some cases even structurally modified to accomodate it. Additionally, the electrical wires and tranmission from the antennas can pose their own hazards. Not to mention making ventilation difficult, which I'm sure are mentioned in detail in both publications but I feel I should point out so everyone keeps them in the back of their mind.

[Guest Dept 10]

Dont forget the battery backup systems!.

[Goose 188]

It depends on what type of equipment is being housed on top of the building. iDEN (nextel) and GSM (at&t and t-mobile) transmission equipment usually has a building or room associated with the tower because the equipment is bulkier and needs to be housed free of the elements. That tower looks to be a PCS tower - likely Sprint or Verizon. CDMA (what Verizon and Sprint use) equipment has a smaller foot print and can be housed outside in the elements.

As far as the RF harming you from the actual panels...its no worse for you than throwing a bag of popcorn in the microwave and watching it pop. I don't know about around here, but i do know that in NYC there are strict guidelines about what you can and cannot store on top of a roof and where it can be located.