Network Vision/LTE - West Michigan Market (Grand Rapids/Lansing/Kalamazoo)

[keelerman8042]

Sweet! Sounds like sprint is really kick` en into gear

[jefbal99]

Well crap, that picture kind of sucks, much better on my phone. I'll try to get uploaded to flicker and post a HQ version

[BRUCEinGR]

I retract my earlier post, driving home from work and saw a tower being upgraded. NV panels are freaking huge.

 

Talked to a worker, said two other crews were working on Lansing towers and they had done six in Grand Rapids.

 

 

 

 

[ATTACH]1770[/ATTACH]

 

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That is good news, you didn't happen to get any more detailed info on where in GR did you? I'm going to have to keep my eyes peeled even more now. It seems like it took forever for these crews to get here, but I think is going to be like getting the proverbial snowball rolling, it's just gonna keep getting bigger and better!

[jefbal99]

That is good news, you didn't happen to get any more detailed info on where in GR did you? I'm going to have to keep my eyes peeled even more now. It seems like it took forever for these crews to get here, but I think is going to be like getting the proverbial snowball rolling, it's just gonna keep getting bigger and better!

 

I tried to get some more locations out of the guy I talked to, but he wasn't giving anything up.

[ryry4ya]

 

I tried to get some more locations out of the guy I talked to, but he wasn't giving anything up.

no harm no foul

 

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[BRUCEinGR]

I tried to get some more locations out of the guy I talked to, but he wasn't giving anything up.

 

Oh well, you tried. If they build it, I will come, I will just have to be looking harder, and fortunately there seems to be a few others that will be doing the same. I think by the end of the Summer, we will all just be taking this LTE thing for granted. (or at least I hope so).

[jefbal99]

Based on the towers in the Lansing area, the new NV panels stick out like a sore thumb. Those suckers are HUGE compared to the legacy panels. It should be easy to spot them.

[grimloch]

So which panels exactly am I looking for on these towers? Can someone point out legacy vs NV panels in a photo for me please?

 

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[Dkoellerwx]

So which panels exactly am I looking for on these towers? Can someone point out legacy vs NV panels in a photo for me please?

 

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This might help you: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2902-how-to-spot-sprint-panels-and-rrus-ericsson-style/

 

The RRUs will look slightly different in your area, but the panels will be essentially the same.

[BRUCEinGR]

So which panels exactly am I looking for on these towers? Can someone point out legacy vs NV panels in a photo for me please? Sent from my XT897 using Tapatalk 2

 

That tutorial from digiblur is a very good reference, and just in case you want to see it applied to the tower you have already looked at / may want to go look at again, here are 2 of my shots from the Byron Center tower with highlights added.

 

This first one is the zoomed image, the legacy equipment is circled in GREEN, and the NV equipment is circled in BLUE.

 

https://dl.dropbox.c...ed%20hilite.jpg

 

and here is a long shot where I cloned the tower (if only it was that easy for real towers) and highlighted one of the towers the same colors as above.

 

https://dl.dropbox.c...er%20hilite.jpg

 

I hope this helps.

[Deval]

That tutorial from digiblur is a very good reference, and just in case you want to see it applied to the tower you have already looked at / may want to go look at again, here are 2 of my shots from the Byron Center tower with highlights added.

 

This first one is the zoomed image, the legacy equipment is circled in GREEN, and the NV equipment is circled in BLUE.

 

https://dl.dropbox.c...ed%20hilite.jpg

 

and here is a long shot where I cloned the tower (if only it was that easy for real towers) and highlighted one of the towers the same colors as above.

 

https://dl.dropbox.c...er%20hilite.jpg

 

I hope this helps.

 

You have an awesome camera lens, I can almost read the site ID off the panel.

[BRUCEinGR]

You have an awesome camera lens, I can almost read the site ID off the panel.

 

Thanks. It really isn't anything all that special, it's an old Canon Powershot S5-IS, that I picked up at Circuit City about 5 years ago for about $300. The trick for getting good close ups like that is having a camera with a 10x OPTICAL zoom or better and also take the picture in the higher resolution range. I emphasized the word OPTICAL for a reason, "digital zoom" on most cameras is a fluff feature, it doesn't do much good. You need that big lens in front. My camera is a 12x zoom that takes 8 megapixel images. I have been thinking about buying one that Best Buy has on sale right now. It is a Canon Powershot SX500, that camera has 30x OPTICAL zoom and takes 16 megapixel images. Only $249.99. That unit would get some awesome tower close ups, for those sites in hard to reach places!

[ryry4ya]

Back to your pictures. When you have circled legacy and NV, I thought sprint put out new LTE panels and also the other panels. So I thought the lower 1 was the old sprint equipment. Did I miss something?

 

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[Dkoellerwx]

Back to your pictures. When you have circled legacy and NV, I thought sprint put out new LTE panels and also the other panels. So I thought the lower 1 was the old sprint equipment. Did I miss something?

 

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What other panels? NV Panels broadcast both 3G and 4G on 1900 and 1x on 800. No need for other panels right now. The legacy panels will be coming down at some point this year.

[BRUCEinGR]

Back to your pictures. When you have circled legacy and NV, I thought sprint put out new LTE panels and also the other panels. So I thought the lower 1 was the old sprint equipment. Did I miss something?

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

What other panels? NV Panels broadcast both 3G and 4G on 1900 and 1x on 800. No need for other panels right now. The legacy panels will be coming down at some point this year.

 

Like that. Or in other words, the panels circled in green have always been there, the panel circled in blue is the new panel and remote radios for NV on all Sprint bands. Soon the panels circled in green will be removed.

 

.

[ryry4ya]

Maybe I'm thinking something different. I thought it was all new equipment.

 

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[Dkoellerwx]

Maybe I'm thinking something different. I thought it was all new equipment.

 

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It is all new equipment. But they have to leave the legacy equipment in place while the transition goes on. Sites that have NV upgrades get new base stations, backhaul and panels. However, only one panel is needed for all types of signal Sprint uses. Therefore, one panel per sector. (except in the case of high capacity sites that may need two).

[BRUCEinGR]

OK, let me try again. They are adding NEW equipment next to OLD equipment.

 

Prior to "Network Vision" Sprint offered mobile phone service, they needed panel antennas and radios to provide that service.

 

They are upgrading their equipment to bring the new LTE service, along with other service improvements.

 

When they are satisfied that the new equipment will function properly they will take down the old stuff.

 

There are 2 reasons I have old and new equipment in my pictures. 1. It would not be easy to get a pic of just the new stuff on a tower, because it is too close to the old stuff,

 

2. Also, I point out what each looks like to make it easier for people to spot what they are looking for, since these panels will all be right next to each other.

 

I hope that helps . If not maybe I don't understand your question. Please let me know.

[ryry4ya]

OK, let me try again. They are adding NEW equipment next to OLD equipment.

 

Prior to "Network Vision" Sprint offered mobile phone service, they needed panel antennas and radios to provide that service.

 

They are upgrading their equipment to bring the new LTE service, along with other service improvements.

 

When they are satisfied that the new equipment will function properly they will take down the old stuff.

 

There are 2 reasons I have old and new equipment in my pictures. 1. It would not be easy to get a pic of just the new stuff on a tower, because it is too close to the old stuff,

 

2. Also, I point out what each looks like to make it easier for people to spot what they are looking for, since these panels will all be right next to each other.

 

I hope that helps . If not maybe I don't understand your question. Please let me know.

. The small panels look like they get plugged in to the bigger ones. But you're saying the smaller ones run down to the base station? The pictures look like the small ones connect to the new LT E that's why I thought it was new equipment.

 

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[BRUCEinGR]

Back to your pictures. When you have circled legacy and NV, I thought sprint put out new LTE panels and also the other panels. So I thought the lower 1 was the old sprint equipment. Did I miss something?

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

OK, I think I might have missed a word that would have helped me understand what you meant. Each one of those horizontal triangle shaped racks is equipment from other vendors (edited for bad word choice) MOBILE SERVICE PROVIDERS . I don't know which ones for sure, but say the levels above and below might be ATT or Verizon.

[pyroscott]

. The small panels look like they get plugged in to the bigger ones. But you're saying the smaller ones run down to the base station? The pictures look like the small ones connect to the new LT E that's why I thought it was new equipment.

 

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Yes, the smaller legacy panels have a coax cable running to the cabinet. The new NV panels have RRUs that receive the signal and process it right there to reduce signal loss.

[BRUCEinGR]

. The small panels look like they get plugged in to the bigger ones. But you're saying the smaller ones run down to the base station? The pictures look like the small ones connect to the new LT E that's why I thought it was new equipment.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

OK, now I think I really see what you are talking about, circled in blue is the new NV Antenna panel, (the tall thing), the shorter things on the side, still in the blue circle with wires going to them are the Radios or RRU's.

[jefbal99]

I retract my earlier post, driving home from work and saw a tower being upgraded. NV panels are freaking huge.

 

Talked to a worker, said two other crews were working on Lansing towers and they had done six in Grand Rapids.

 

 

 

 

[ATTACH]1770[/ATTACH]

 

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2 using Forum Runner

 

I swung back by this site yesterday and they were working again. I need to get my camera over there, but this site appears to have two NV panels per sector. Is this normal?

[newboyx]

 

I swung back by this site yesterday and they were working again. I need to get my camera over there, but this site appears to have two NV panels per sector. Is this normal?

It's it a high traffic area?

 

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[jefbal99]

It's it a high traffic area?

 

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It's Lansing, not the biggest population and there are other towers around it. Back in the day I would say yes to high traffic due to the old GM plants, but those got tore down years ago. It is fairly close to the freeway that bisects town. I'm going to try and get some pics with my DSLR in the next few days.

 

The techs were installing RRUs yesterday.