Although President Obama didn’t lock arms with heads of states in France on Sunday in a unity march, today he locked private versus public sector horns with CTIA’s President and CEO Meredith Attwell Baker after he said he will ask the Federal Communications Commission to assist in repealing laws in 19 states that prevent local governments from creating municipal internet …
Five years later, SCOTUS settles T-Mobile’s siting dispute with Georgia city
The United States Supreme Court gave a wake-up call to municipalities today as to how government agencies must inform wireless carriers, tower owners and the siting community at large when they reject a tower construction request. In its 6-3 ruling the Justices said that local governments like Roswell, Ga., that is at the center of the case must provide a …
Blue Book’s popularity surges with over 54,000 ad views in just three months
The nation’s largest and most effective buyer’s guide, Wireless Estimator’s Blue Book, hit a record number of ads viewed since its October launch of over 54,000 as of Jan. 8, 2015. The popular resource lists over 1,100 wireless contractors employing elevated workers, the most accurate listing ever available to the industry for networking and sales opportunities. The Blue Book also …
PCIA eyeing every opportunity to expand its niche in wireless safety/training
Update – 1.12. 2015, 12:20 p.m. – Jonathan Campbell, who is listed on TIRAP’s web site as one of or the organization’s executive board members and PCIA’s Director of Government Affairs, left PCIA on Friday to take a position with the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. It is not known if PCIA will be asked to fill his position with another association …
Nine front flips off of a broadcast tower is newest foolish YouTube entry
Whereas last week’s video of a tower technician climbing 1,500-feet to relamp a guyed tower almost served as a tutorial for safe 100% tie-off practices, a video uploaded Friday of a BASE jumper doing nine front flips on the way down personified that if brains were dynamite some folks wouldn’t have enough to blow their Go-Pro helmet off their head. …
Cold snap guide offered as Artic air blast brings bone-chilling temperatures
If tower techs from JMA Wireless of Liverpool, N.Y. were going to be heading north to Watertown yesterday, chances are they were praying that it would be one of their in-building wireless projects and not a bone-chilling outdoor installation where the temperature hit a national low of -30.1 °F. The waves of Arctic air coming in this week have been …
B+T Group brings aboard Largent and Gladstone’s capital to further growth
B+T Group, a leading full-service engineering, construction and technical services firm specializing in the wireless industry, has announced that Steve Largent will serve as Chairman of the Board following an investment from Gladstone Investment Corporation and its affiliate Gladstone Capital Corporation . “This is a great move for our company,” said CEO and founder, Chad Tuttle. “We’ve experienced tremendous growth …
Long-awaited FCC streamlined wireless facilities siting rules finally published
The Federal Communications Commission provided wireless siting professionals with a post-holiday present today: the final rules for acceleration of broadband deployment by improving wireless facilities siting policies. But its ultimate impact upon municipalities and siting professionals may not be known for weeks to come as interested parties scour each word in the 121-page document that has changed some of the FCC’s …
South Dakota tower tech’s climb to 1,500 feet heads north of a million views
YouTube is littered with many hundreds of climbers that are captured as they ascend a tower. Oftentimes their videographers weep at view counts struggling to break double digits. But a mundane drone-shot bulb replacement video in South Dakota recently went viral, and it’s expected to surpass over one million views this week. Filmed in September, eight-year industry worker Kevin Schmidt …
ComTrain sets a two-year expiration date on its new certifications
In an effort to prevent fraud and require mandatory tower climber retraining, ComTrain, one of the industry’s largest tower training companies, has announced that its new certification cards will expire after two years following their issue. In addition, all new cards will have the holder’s photo to further authenticate it. According to ComTrain President Zane Windham, after conducting surveys at …
New York State Troopers ticket technicians for taking an illegal smoke break
Two tower technicians responding to a T-Mobile trouble ticket in Upstate New York ended up with a ticket of their own from Wappinger, N.Y. State Troopers on Tuesday for unlawful possession of marijuana. Authorities say a rental truck drove through the rear parking lot of the barracks in the Dutchess County town of Wappinger around 8 a.m. As the truck …
South Carolina technician, 44, is 10th industry worker to die this year
UPDATE: Authorities have identified the tower technician who fell approximately 100 feet from a cell tower in Greeneville, Tenn. yesterday as 44-year-old Allen Lee Cotton of Sumter, S.C. Two of his co-workers from Central USA Wireless did not see him fall, according to Greeneville Police Officer Shawn Hinkle’s report which provided information regarding the 12:25 p.m. incident. “Mr. Cotton was …
Technician succumbs following a 100-foot fall in Greeneville, Tennessee
A tower technician fell to his death this afternoon in Greeneville, Tenn., according to Greene County EMS Director Robert Sayne, who said he was at approximately the 100-foot level when the incident occurred. Sayne did not have any additional information. An individual familiar with the worker’s death, said the tech was working on an Ericsson project for Sprint on a 197-foot …
NATE’s Carlson, Miller and Tracy re-elected; Little assumes board seat
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today released the official results of the 2015 Board of Directors election. Candidates Kari Carlson, Chief Operating Officer of Tower Systems, Inc. in Watertown, S.D. and Winter Park, Fla; Jim Miller, President of EasTex Tower, Inc. in Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Jim Tracy, Chief Executive Officer of Legacy Telecommunications, Inc. in Burley, Wash. …
Falling fuel prices providing early holiday gifts, especially to American Tower
Contractors and other infrastructure companies have seen free-falling fuel prices prop up their bottom line as gasoline continues to drop across the nation to its lowest prices since 2009. Although diesel fuel’s drop hasn’t been as dramatic, it too is showing a steady decline. Even though Spectrum Antenna Service and 23 other Missouri-based contractors can get gas today for as little as …
Corroded anchor may have contributed to a South Dakota tower’s collapse
A guyed tower in Mitchell, SD collapsed on Monday on West Havens Ave. due to severe winter weather conditions, but a corroded anchor rod may have contributed to the structure’s failure. The anchor shaft on one of the tower’s outer foundations separated from its deadman foundation due to severe corrosion, according to an individual knowledgeable about the collapse. Following the anchor …
Report: 5G growth won’t be introduced as quickly as 4G networks
If you’re looking to cash in on increased contractor opportunities that will become available as America moves towards a still undefined 5G network, seen as the mobile interface on which the network of the 2020’s and 2030’s will be based, you might have to reevaluate your business plan, according to a new market data forecast released by ABI Research. Research …
After two years of sparring, KSMQ settles tower collapse claim
When KSMQ-TV’s tower collapsed on Sept. 5, 2012 in Austin, Minn. during a severe wind and rain storm, the public television station turned to their insurance carrier to assist them in covering their anticipated cost of $620,000 to replace their 444-foot tall guyed tower. Then The Hanover Insurance Group threw them a curve ball, stating that they weren’t going to …
New year will usher in eased FAA lighting failure reporting requirements
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), through coordination with the FCC and other federal stakeholders, expects by mid-January 2015 to streamline the online process for submitting Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) to alert pilots to tower lighting outages. The FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau issued an advisory earlier this week announcing the FAA’s new process which will permit tower owners to individually select …
