What do 4g towers look like

In this article, we aim to tell you more about cell towers and how they work. There are over million cell phones being used daily in the United States. Once the cell tower receives this signal, it will transmit the signals to a switching center. This allows the call to be connected to either another mobile phone or to a telephone network. The insanely fast technology of a cell tower is due to its parts. There are four wireless networks in the United States that have the best coverage.

There are actually four different types of cell towers. The first kind is known as a lattice tower. Also called a self-supporting tower, this type of tower offers incredible flexibility. It usually has three or four sides with similar shaped bases. The second type of tower is a monopole tower. This type of tower features a single steel or concrete tube tower, usually under 50 meters. It only requires one foundation.

The antennas are attached to the exterior. A guyed tower is cost-effective but requires a bigger amount of land. They are attached to the ground in all directions. Most radio and television towers are guyed towers. The fourth type is the stealth tower , which we briefly touched upon before. They require additional materials that help them hide in plain sight. While much more appealing, they often do not provide the same amount of capacity for tenants.

The equipment on cell towers includes transceivers and other supporting technology. These are installed in cabinets or shelters or any other way that wireless carriers choose to protect them. Some even create outdoor cabinets on concrete pads or prefabricated equipment shelters. There are multiple antennas attached to a cell tower, typically mounted on a head frame.

Some towers even have up to 15 antennas per carrier. Carriers will also install utilities at the cell tower site. Each carrier has power to run to the site as well as phone service. Each cell tower also requires access by the carriers for initial installation and ongoing maintenance.

The aforementioned parts help determine just how far a cell tower can be a from a cell phone while still able to pick up its signal.

But even with all of those factors, the typical cell tower can provide service up to 45 miles away. The range of a cell tower is not a fixed figure. The most common variables include:. Cell towers are often built in areas with high population densities. Cell phone towers come in many shapes and sizes. Learn how to recognize cell phone towers and how they use their equipment to communicate with your phone. Cell phone towers come in many shapes and sizes - such as a tower made to look like a tree.

Multiple locks on a gate around a cell phone tower usually indicate multiple service providers. The box houses the radio transmitters and receivers that let the tower communicate with the phones. The radios connect with the antennae on the tower through a set of thick cables. The tower and all of the cables and equipment at the base of the tower are heavily grounded. For example, the plate in this shot with the green wires bolting onto it is a solid copper grounding plate. If your cell phone isn't compatible with the frequencies coming from a tower, it doesn't matter what SIM card you're using.

So step 1, the antenna. Once you discover the frequency you need, ensure the gain of the antenna at that specific frequency is as high as possible! Many antennas and amplifiers advertise a wide frequency range with a max gain number, but don't show the frequency gain curve for where that maximum gain occurs. So if Mhz is the target frequency, ensure the gain is maximum Next is the amplifier and again look for the highest gain amplifier at that frequency.

The Weboost Connect 3GX is one of my favorite amplifiers with 70db of gain. And finally is the cable itself. I'm a fan of N-type connections and 50 ohm cabling. However by using LMR, this number drops to 3. Keep in mind that 1 db could be the difference between a working signal and no signal. I've also seen people accidentally mix up cable and device types. So if your system is 50 ohms impedance, make sure all devices; antennas, amplifier and cable have an impedance of 50 ohms and not 75 ohms.

A mismatch in impedance between any two connections will seriously impact performance. As for the height of the antenna, the trick is to try and get the best "line of sight" to the nearest cell tower to reduce signal loss in the atmospheric path. In this regard, the trick is normally to clear the tree top line, since trees increase the signal loss in the atmospheric path. Good luck and hope this helps.

Hey, I love your article. I want to switch to a better carrier but their signal doesn't reach. My home is a trailer with no attic and I can't attach anything to the roof. Would it possible to make it a free standing tower with the wires and such going in through a window?

About how much did this cost you to make? I don't make too much money and am hoping to not spend my soul trying to build this thing. I hope to hear from you soon. I live on a farm in hilly and forested southern Costa Rica and do not get signal from a tower about four miles away.

Our house is located near the top of a large hill and in the forest , but is in the 'shadow' of the the cell signal which reaches across the valley below and works fine on the other hilltop facing us and the tower. Like your scenario - we often hike across to the other hilltop to download emails. Behind our house is a very large straight tree about 50 feet that clears the top of the hill. I'm pretty sure the tower is on , but I'll confirm that soon.

I'm kinda worried I'll drag all this gear down here, set up, and still have no service. So my question is: what can I do to improve my chances of success? Increase the height of the antenna? The power of the antenna? Something else? The use the data as a hotspot? Bypassing the need for a booster?

I am in a holler in Kentucky. At have a steep hillside that I can climb and get great signal. It's probably ft run. Can the RF cable carry the signal that far to the amplifier??? The distance seems to great. How far can I run a wire from antenna. I get good signal if I go up a hill about ft. Can I run a wire from the antenna to the amplifier that far.

Hi Al. I'm curios if this would work for an outside area as well? We get very poor reception in our yard, surrounded by trees.

If we put an antenna on one of the buildings, would it increase our signal outside in the yard too? Most sites only talk about getting signal indoors. Hi there, great article, I was wondering on the following hypothesis. Our cellphones continuously look for cell phone towers, I was wondering if info from our phone is passed to that tower. If so, is that info unique and identifiable, if that's true, isn't it possible that we can create a people counter based on that info?

Good luck. So an ft cable is way too long as that would introduce at least 48 db of cable loss so any remaining signal after that path would be in noise floor unfortunately. That said, all is not lost. If the signal is that strong at the top of the hill, why not build a 50 foot tower with an outdoor directional antenna as described in this article. A good directional antenna will have a very high intrinsic gain.

The one I used has a 13 dbi gain and the higher the number the better. These directional antenna's have the ability to really capture a signal at a specific location. And don't forget about checking with your carrier for other cell towers in your area. Although the one at the top of the hill may be the nearest one, there could be a tower in the opposite direction away from the hill that a system like this can easily pull into your home.

So the nearest tower is not always the best tower to point the antenna at which is not an obvious solution. I would use the directional antenna to aim at the nearest tower and then an outdoor omni-directional as the indoor antenna near the ground, say feet off the ground.

This approach provides a weatherproof solution and coverage in your yard. And in this Internet of Things world we currently live in, where vending machines, automobiles, ATM's, security cameras and much more communicate via cell towers, unfortunately it becomes impossible to separate out the machines from the humans except in the back end office systems held by the carriers.

This was very interesting. Thanks for posting it. We just bought a cabin at Culloden Lake, which is 15 minutes north of Kenora. Sounds like you are in a similar area. We get no service at the cabin, but 2 bars up a hill m from our back door. Your solutions may work for us as well. Hello, i have a situation that seems very similar to what yours was, only im in wa state. My provider is tmobile and my tower is running on lt and lt according to tech at tmobile. Am I correct in assuming this?

I was a bit surprised to find the tech person at tmobile very interested in as to whether or not this ends up working for me and asked that i let her know once its complete, she acted as if she hadnt heard of this sort of thing being done, I wonder how that is even possible. I would really appreciate your input on the antenna I have found. Thank you so much for your article. The antenna you referenced says 28dbi, which is probably true at Mhz but it could be dbi So we just don't know if this is the right antenna or not for your application.

All good antenna manufacturers will advertise their frequency-gain response curve, so if you don't see that defined it's probably not worth buying. If you look at the specifications, we see a gain of So this antenna is tuned for performance at which is perfect in your case. I just looked on the cellular map for Culloden Lake and if you proceed with this solution, it will be interesting to see if the Kenora towers south-east or ones located due south at Clearwater Bay will offer you the best reception.

So keep this in mind since I would certainly aim the Yagi antenna at each location to see which one provides you the best reception inside the cabin. Also keep in mind that the Mhz band will offer better range performance than the LTE bands at and Mhz especially through the woodlands of our north.

I too am an EE and have tried similar things with the Wilson amplifier but you have given me several new ideas to try. Some questions still lingering Rogers vs Bell towers? I would not want to bring 5 sections of pipe down the lake, and then find out I need two more! I have some enormous pines nearby yes that will likely fall on my cabin someday knowing my luck. I have been searching for this info for a long time.

Much appreciated. Ahhhhhhh, the million dollar question as to which tower to point to. I dare say it's almost impossible to predict the atmospheric attenuation path between your cabin and the tower, but here's some helpful ideas. From the reference Canadian cell tower website above, look at the frequency map and the lower Mhz the better since less affected by the atmospheric path.

The higher the better since removes nearby terrain from being part of the attenuation path and hopefully provides a better line of sight to your cabin. You could borrow a telescope and look at the path along that bearing to determine if a serious hill is in the path. Also, look at the azimuth of the actual transceiver on the tower.

The antenna azimuth indicates the angle from true north of the direction of maximum radiated power, so I would guess your looking for a azimuth of around from Hwy So not a question of Bell vs Rogers, but more of a question of who provides you the best transceiver with the best power on a tower to aim at. As an example, the Rogers tower above Marten River has a transceiver operating at Mhz, total height of m, azimuth of and Tx Pwr of 40W.

The other transceiver at Mhz is about the same height, but the azimuth is and the Tx Pwr is only 20W, half of Rogers. So in this case, the Rogers transceiver provides you the best solution on that tower. If there is a part of the tree that does not sway much it could be a solution for you, ignoring the impact of any broken branches falling on the antenna.

I've found various authorized dealers in the US, will allow you to mix and match components. Anyways, just an option to consider. I personally love my coverage at the cabin. Hi, wow great article.

I see 3 towers, I'm with Telus and 2 towers are Bell and 1 is Rogers. I think it would be better to try to point to the Bell tower on the green hill cell tower website cause it's at Meters. Their is a lot of trees and I'm not sure how you know where to direct the antenna from over their. We have no bar but restaurant near by as antenna kit and signal. Before I purchase a kit I just want to make sure it will work, thank you for your help So all good and very promising.

The second option would be the Rogers tower in Ferme-Neuve since it's Mhz, 40 watts of power, azimuth of degrees and has an elevation of m. So both of these towers could be possibilities for you. Next we need to ensure you design your system with maximum gain amplifier and antenna and minimum losses good RF cable with a reasonable antenna height to clear any local foliage. Then do the fine tuning as per the blog post above.

As your distances seem to match mine, I have faith in your solution working. My tower is 36 feet high. I have a 11dbi directional outdoor antenna and a panel indoor antenna.

My booster is a 65 gain. The vertical separation between the antennas is around 25 feet with about 15 feet horizontal separation. I am north of marmora, Ontario and the closest rogers towers are here N I have used OpenSignal to point to the closest signal the first one. Both towers broadcast in the range and are elevated between and feet. I get a as far as reception when I plug my booster in and all green lights I have experimented with indoor antenna placement and I have tried pointing the antenna to different towers in the area using open signal.

To no avail. Do you have any ideas as to what else I could do to troubleshoot? When the connection is on - it is strong and powerful! Thank you again for all your help. Now this situation sounds like a feedback issue as described in the blog post. Basically, the indoor antenna pattern is being picked up by the external antenna to create a feedback loop.

So, a couple of things to watch for. The external directional antenna should be aimed away from your home. Hence if the cell tower you're aiming at is south of your home, then the antenna should be located on the south side of the building. This prevents the external antenna beam from overlapping with the inside antenna beam.

Increasing vertical separation will help, but always best to ensure the external antenna is directional and placed on the side of the building closest to the cell tower. The second aspect is the inside antenna. If the external antenna is aimed south and on the south side of the building, then the inside antenna should be aimed degrees from that bearing, so pointing north in this example. This provides the best isolation between the external and internal antennas which will allow for maximum gain.

You may wish to call your supplier to see why the amplifier is not automatically lowering the gain to prevent this. But only do this after talking with the amplifier vendor, since the amplifier should be doing this automatically and adding loss to the system is just a bad practice. Well here are a few more. I was wondering about how far your closest tower is from you and is your 0 to bars increase on just 3G or 4G as well? Do you know how much of that increase was antenna related and how much was booster?

I also have a cabin in Northern Ontario near Alban and we have been using Rogers for the past 6 years or so. According to the Tower location website, we are about 16 and 19 kilometers from two towers, both of which have MHz signal.

It worked but would slow down in the afternoon. These fabrics offer an additional 40db of antenna isolation to prevent this feedback problem between antennas and can be found online from places like amazon.

Now to isolate your antennas which is the easier problem of the two to solve. Hi Al - thank you for your reply. My booster is a uniden cellular model and it does have the manual gain control for both 1. I did as you suggested and turned the gain of the 1. The booster allows one to manually attenuate the db gain of the device in increments of 5 and 10 db with a maximum of 15 db I have tried this in various combinations and I succeed in getting the light to stay on, but then my signal is too weak to connect to anything!

This weekend, I will try moving the indoor antenna around again as per your suggestions to ensure no feedback is happening Thanks again - I really appreciate you taking the time to help. I also have an open field near me. That is a picture of the property.

The direction of the arrow is the direction in which the closest cell tower is 15 miles. Now, I get zero service at the camp site. If I go to the main road entrance to get to the camp site there is LTE service and in town, about 5 miles diagonally NE from the picture. Would erecting a 50ft tower and putting a directional attenna work? Or am I shooting in the dark?

So a couple of observations. The most common LTE bands are 1. Hence if that's the band you are targeting, I would say this becomes a long shot for sure. Now we need to know the actual tower antenna azimuth and power output. A Mhz tower with an power output of 20 watts or better aimed in your direction with a good elevation improves the chances even more. If you have access to a good drone with a camera, mount a cell phone on the drone with the drone camera pointing at the display to record whether the cell phone obtains coverage or not.

Next fly the drone straight up 50 feet, let it hover for a few minutes and then bring it back down. If the cell phone connects to tower, then this solution will definitely work for you. If you do try, ensure you can return the system for a full refund if it fails to connect.

Most weboost distributors offer you that protection. In my case the tower need to be about 50 mts from the house to get the signal. Is it a wireless one that can receive the signal and re-direct it to the house? I am a seasonal resident of northern wi, and cell tower coverage as everyone knows is challenging at times. Look forward to hearing about new ideas and information for living in the north woods and having technology in your back door. Al, Well I figured out that I have two towers apparently per open signal close by less than miles each.

Since I have TMobile they only operate on ,, I feel like I have a good chance just need to find a drone. I attached the screenshot of the open signal tower location. If I bought the weboost antenna that goes frombeing, an amplifier, and an indoor antenna, I feel like I should get something even with no signal present if the antenna is mounted high enough.

My questions is, couldn't I at least see if there is a signal with just the antenna and an amplifier or would I need another indoor antenna to "cast" the signal. From your guide I can gather that the directional antenna "grabs" signal,zahner amplifier boosts it, and then indoor antenna allows the phone to see the signal gathered from the outside.

I did attach a picture of the tower location with a black dot for home location. As for the external antenna, in order to get the most gain we need a "narrow" band antenna and not wideband. And unfortunately, you do need an indoor antenna that needs to be isolated from the outdoor antenna to prevent amplifier feedback as described in the article. So the outdoor antenna is highly focused towards the tower, where the inside antenna tends to be a wider beam less focused to capture the internal cell phone.

Hope that helps, but miles sounds achievable. The critical components to this solution working in fringe areas are very high gain antennas, ultra low loss RF cabling and high gain, low noise amplifiers. All of these items carry a cost premium unfortunately. I would suggest calling your local hardware stores Home Hardware, Castle, etc as someone should be able to order it in for you or go online to amazon.

First it provides a nice conductive ground plane for the outdoor antenna and secondly it will improve the RF isolation needed to prevent feedback between the indoor and outdoor antenna which enables higher amplifier gains to be used.