Communications Tower

[mmcneill]

Brian, Kurt and the other Gurus

Do you know of any departments that have gotten funded for communications towers? We are in need of a tower where we can have our repeater located along with several other departments in the area.

Thanks

Mike

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

I have the one from Gazelle FPD (2005 Award) on my site, and they asked for upgrades to existing repeaters on towers plus 2 additional towers. It just has a block for $16k so I don't know what that consisted of. Tom from Yreka CA (SYFIRE) was the author so he can give you the specifics if you grab a hold of him on here.

I believe you can get towers and everything to put on them, but you can't ask for any construction related costs of the pads to put them on.

[ktb9780]

Brian, Kurt and the other Gurus

Do you know of any departments that have gotten funded for communications towers? We are in need of a tower where we can have our repeater located along with several other departments in the area.

Thanks

Mike

So Mike, then this would be a "regional type" application, it sounds like it will increase iyour nteroperable communications capability, so the only question that remains is, Does it solve your interoperability problem on a regional basis completley? Are all the other related interoperability problems solved and this remains the final piece to the puzzle? It must be a completet solution here, or as close to it as the max federal share will allow. If the answer is yes, then you have a green light for this on AFG.

[LVFD301]

There are ways to get towers, without spending a dime, AND getting income. it all depends on the three most important things in the tower industry today.

1. Location
2. Location
3. Location.

And if you just MUST build it on your own, build it carrier capable, so that
you may be able to reap some revenue from it.

It is NOT normally something your local two way shop can handle. No
matter what they say.

Get someone IN the industry to guide you. Once again, not the tower
builder, not the local two way shop, not your local radio station. Someone
who either consults for, does site acq for, or leases to, the cellular
industry.

There are many instances of public safety agencies across the country
getting use of the tower, a monthly ground lease, and more, in exchange for
leasing a small piece of property for a tower.

Lots of cases where public safety uses forthought and builds a carrier
grade tower, and leases space to cell carriers, in addition to having spaces
for all their equipment.

For more info, email me....

[neiowa]

In our area the telcos are giving away old microwave relay towers to public service agencies. With fiber in abundance microwave is a thing of the past.

[SYFIRE]

mmcneill

As Brian stated we received a Regional Communications grant in 2005.
$973K for 31 Departments. We bought 156 mobile radios, 613 Minitor V pagers, 415 handheld radios, and we were able to upgrade 4 repeater sites to narrowband. Additonally we were able to add 3 new repeaters to areas of limited or no frequency reception.

The repeaters sites were already established in all of the locations mentioned, even for the new repeaters. I don't believe you could build a new site under the terms of the grant...at least this was true last year.

The sites were either USFS or County relays, so MOU's and agreements were formulated for use. All things considered, our grant worked extremely well for our needs.

To answer your original question, we did not purchase towers. Perhaps you could work with other agencies who have mountain top relays, as we did.

Hope this helps. If I can help in any other way let me know.

Tom

[Res343cue]

In our area the telcos are giving away old microwave relay towers to public service agencies. With fiber in abundance microwave is a thing of the past.

I don't know where you keep getting your communications information, but it's far off. Microwave is not a thing of the past by any means. When you're looking at a true ring system, the cost can easily be 8-10x greater to implement then the cost of doing a multiple hop microwave system.

Microwave is still cheaper to implement and upkeep in many cases compared to fiber especially once you get into areas like New Hampshire, Vermont, or other "mountainous" places. Vermont has some microwave sites that could cover the span of the state top to bottom, where Fiber is just not an option at some of these places.

We recently investigated fiber links between tower sites and the main dispatch center... The cost to implement and install fiber links for public safety, public works, and other municipal organizations was 3-5x more then the cost to do microwave links from each site to the main tower.

[FFDFFD]

Towers on a Budget

Towers, Shelters , fiber etc

http://www.usedtowers.com/

[LVFD301]

I don't know where you keep getting your communications information, but it's far off. Microwave is not a thing of the past by any means. When you're looking at a true ring system, the cost can easily be 8-10x greater to implement then the cost of doing a multiple hop microwave system.

You are correct, sort of.

For private point to point systems, short haul, Microwave is still a very viable
option.

For long haul, or most telco use, Microwave IS pretty much a thing of the
past for various reasons, including cost of fiber, glut of fiber in some areas,
bandwidth, etc. Even most public utilities have gotten out of the
Microwave game.

MCI and AT&T have almost completely gotten out of the microwave business,
selling their old towers, in some case giving them to local government as has been pointed out. Sometimes these are great deals, sometimes not. Many of the MCI towers are on leased land, with very expensive leases. MOST of the AT&T towers are on owned land. Some have significant hazmat considerations that must be looked at before obtaining one.

Also, although cost of implementing a microwave system can be cheaper
than fiber, long term costs exceed the long term cost of fiber, in most
situations.

[LVFD301]

Towers, Shelters , fiber etc

http://www.usedtowers.com/

http://www.bishoptower.com/landa/

Mr Landa is the scourge of the tower industry.

I know of a two way shop in OH that is still going through federal
court on him.

If anyone is even considering doing business with him, email, I
can provide bunches of references NOT to do business with him.