According to newly released statistics by the FCC, the nation saw an addition of 110 broadcast stations added to its ranks during the third quarter, with the total number of commercially licensed UHF stations dipping below 1,000. In addition, there are fewer AM radio stations and far more FM translators and boosters. (VIEW BROADCAST CATEGORY COUNTS BELOW) Translator stations are primarily not new stations, …
Maintaining top tower talent, NWSA, and small cells best practices at NATE WIN Florida conference
The NATE Wireless Industry Network (WIN) will be hosting its Southeast Regional Conference on Oct. 29, 2018 at the Hilton Garden Inn Pensacola/Medical Center in Pensacola, Fla. The conference will focus on key industry safety initiatives as well as other educational presentations, and offer tremendous networking and professional development opportunities for attendees, according to WIN Director Scott Krouse. The conference …
Fund set up for MasTec construction manager’s family after he died in weekend tower collapse
On Saturday morning, Ken Mitchell Waddell, 30, of Crossville, Tenn. kissed his wife, Cadie, and their five children goodbye and drove 45 minutes to Cookeville to help erect a 70-foot guyed tower for a ham radio operator on private property. Late in the afternoon, expecting him to be home shortly for dinner with their five children, she received the horrific news that her …
Sprint paints a terribly bleak survival picture for the FCC if merger is nixed
Earlier this month the FCC, which is reviewing the planned merger of T-Mobile and Sprint Corp, said it had paused its 180-day review clock to give the agency time to analyze a large, complex submission on benefits that the proposed merger would create. On Wednesday, Sprint took a different path to grease approval by the agency – providing a presentation …
ATC’s frustrated with two-towercos restriction leads Fast -Forward Friday articles
Fast-Forward Friday is Wireless Estimator’s latest news offering that provides an overview of relevant industry news stories presented during the week by other media that were not covered by our staff, along with a link to the article to go upstream and read it in its entirety. After all, the articles’ authors did all the heavy lifting, and capsuling their content and …
Champ and Andrew promoted to key positions at Wireless Infrastructure Association
The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) has promoted Zac Champ to Vice President of Government Affairs and Don Andrew to Vice President of Spectrum Management, according to WIA President/CEO Jonathan Adelstein. In announced the promotions, Adelstein said, “Zac has led the Government Affairs team for more than five years. He has effectively overseen its expansion to include dedicated Congressional lobbying and state …
FCC’s rules passage will serve to put the U.S. as a leader in the race to 5G
As expected, the FCC voted this morning to approve rules, available here, designed to speed up the deployment of small cells and other 5G network equipment by regulating in part the fees and timelines cities and states can impose on wireless network operators and other wireless players. Although Democrat FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel voted for the rules, she dissented in …
NATE debuts “Be Your Brother’s Keeper” tower rescue video
The National Association of Tower Erectors today unveiled a video entitled “Be Your Brother’s Keeper” that focuses on the importance of the planning, procedures, equipment and training necessary to perform a successful tower rescue. The video includes an interview with an experienced industry safety instructor walking through a rescue scenario and discussing the measures that must be planned for and implemented …
Techs’ irrational Wyoming bar shooting might have been racially motivated
Two tower techs were arrested early Saturday morning after they allegedly shot a man outside of Mingles Lounge, a popular night spot off of South Douglas Highway in Gilbert, Wyo. According to a police affidavit, D’Marco Lee Jones, 23, of Detroit, Mich., has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and felony destruction of property in the case. His co-worker, Andreas …
Tower techs shouldn’t be the Rodney Dangerfields of field services professionals
Carriers frequently extol the skills of their purported in-house talent pool required to build out 5G or manage restoration efforts following hurricanes, but in most cases, those workers are from industry infrastructure contractors. Last month, Wireless Estimator pointed out that in a Sprint promotional video CEO Michel Combes said that Sprint was going to be successful because of “Our people that you …
Thanks to nation’s unsung tower techs, Florence’s NC cell site outages are down 77%
When Hurricane Florence’s full tally of cell site outages was identified in North Carolina on Sept. 15, tower crew restoration companies had already been servicing many of them, and the 1,063 outages were reduced dramatically to 787 the following day. Restoration efforts in North Carolina have brought the total of sites out of service to just 245, a 77% improvement …
Cell site outages in North Carolina cut by one-third in one day as networks rebound
Hurricane Florence restoration efforts in North Carolina have brought the total of sites out of service to 8%, a 32% improvement over yesterday’s outages, according to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) report for Sept. 18, 2018. However, Columbus County, hard-hit in the past couple of days by massive flooding, saw a 78 % increase in new sites out …
Carriers’ post-hurricane snow job promos beginning to flood the media
Carriers are trying to outdo each other in presenting how well their network faired following Hurricane Florence’s slow destructive dance across the Carolinas. Now a tropical depression, Florence is still a life-threatening storm as widespread flooding continues to destroy homes and cut off communities from resources and cell service. Yesterday, in a press release, Verizon said their “network continues to withstand …
Cell site outages aren’t always aligned with commercial power outages
Assessing the correlation between commercial power outages and the ability for cell sites to keep operating with a backup power supply will be a work in progress for months to come as carriers and FCC analysts review data obtained through Hurricane Florence research. An initial question might be why Pamlico County which currently has the Pamlico River flooding New Bern and …
North Carolina’s cell sites on the mend, but Onslow County gets hammered
Hurricane Florence restoration efforts in North Carolina in the past 24 hours brought the total of sites out of service to 11.8%, a 13% improvement over yesterday’s outages, according to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) report for Sept. 17, 2018. However, Onslow County saw a 31 % increase in new sites out of service, raising the county’s total …
Some N.C. counties’ cell site outages continue to increase as Florence’s flood levels rise
According to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) report for Sept. 16, 2018, 13.6% of North Carolina’s cell sites are out of service as a result of Hurricane Florence, down from Saturday’s 18.4%, but rising flood waters are seeing some counties’ outages rising. Although the agency’s out of service cell site numbers are the best information available, they don’t …
FirstNet delivers for agencies responding to Hurricane Florence
Hurricane Florence put FirstNet to the test. And the public safety network has been standing up to the challenge, according to AT&T. The carrier said they have been working across national, state and local agencies to keep emergency responders connected to the critical information they need to communicate and coordinate their storm response. Here are a few highlights of how …
First known communications casualty from Florence is National Weather Service’s four transmitters
Hurricane Florence has brought widespread flooding, torrential rains and devastating winds to North Carolina and South Carolina, and has taken out a communications network designed to warn residents of its scale and progress. At 9:47 a.m. this morning, NOAA’s National Weather Service announced that all NOAA weather radio transmitters in Eastern North Carolina supported by the National Weather Service in …
A ‘super cell tower’ in the stratosphere leads Fast-Forward Friday’s news stories
Fast-Forward Friday is Wireless Estimator’s latest news offering that provides an overview of relevant industry news stories presented during the week by other media that were not covered by our staff, along with a link to the article to go upstream and read it in its entirety. After all, the articles’ authors did all the heavy lifting, and capsuling their content and …
Hurricane Florence’s ‘ground zero’ cell tower starts to be battered by storm’s outer rain bands
There was no collective sigh of relief from wireless infrastructure technicians and management as Hurricane Florence was downgraded from a Category 4 to a Category 2 storm early this morning. Instead, news that the storm has widened and may stay over the coast of the Carolinas for a longer period of time, causing extensive flooding and cell site fuel resupply …
