Jump to content

dkyeager

Honored Premier Sponsor
  • Posts

    9,415
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    262

Blog Entries posted by dkyeager

  1. dkyeager
    Dave Yeager  
    S4GRU/T5GRU  
    Monday, October 17, 2022 - 10:00 AM PDT  
                                                                                                                                .
    In T-Mobile Goes Deeper & Wider in 2.5GHz Holdings - FCC Auction 108 Results and Impact we discussed the white space T-Mobile won.  We also noted how the complexity of 2.5 GHz (band 41) kept other major carriers from competing, a true barrier to entry in strategic terms.  Now we will get you started on unraveling that complexity to compute how much 2.5Ghz bandwidth T-Mobile controls in your county or equivalent.  Control not only means ownership but also leasing.  In many of the traditional metropolitan areas there was no whitespace.  Rather a hodgepodge of licenses was cobbled together by Clearwire and Sprint in an heavily derided spectrum which is now viewed by many as the sweet spot of 5G.  This article will approach a more traditional county that has been heavily changed in recent years by T-Mobile/Sprint negotiations while the prior article, Determining T-Mobile 2.5GHz Band 41 in Your County - Whitespace Licenses, examined one county that represents the new aspects just introduced by FCC Auction 108 and its preparations.
     
    Example: Traditional EBS, Crawford County Ohio
    The FCC divides 2.5Ghz (band 41) into Broadband Radio Service (BRS or BR) and Education Broadband Service (EBS or ED).  ED is the larger portion so we will start with it.   Crawford County in Ohio has about 42,000 people along a route from  Columbus to the Lake Erie islands.  No white space was auctioned in this county and their are no federally recognized Native American reservations, therefor https://www.google.com/maps can be the preferred choice, since it offers a better road map. Like http://bing.com/maps, it does provide current information including population.  Crawford County has seen T-Mobile/Sprint purchase many licenses in recent years that continues to this day.  It also has a rare BRS radius license.  T-Mobile is on the march to total Band 41 domination in this county.

     
    The first item is to see if this county was in FCC Auction 108.  If yes, we need to note what channels T-Mobile purchased.
    Preferred Auction 108 Lookup Method (this FCC site may not be functioning correctly)
    1) Type https://auctiondata.fcc.gov/public/projects/auction108/reports/results_by_license in the Chrome browser.
    2) Slide search switch to On so little boxes appear under each heading.
    3) Select the box under Market and type the state or equivalent two letter abbreviation plus a dash "-".
    4) Select the box under Market Name and type the name of the county.
    5) Select the blue Apply box that popped up. (If there is a thin red box (error message) peaking out from under the apply box, the proceed to the Alternate Auction 108 lookup method below the FCC site image).
    6) If nothing comes up, then recheck the state abbreviation and the county name spelling, else this county was not part of the FCC Auction 108 for 2.5GHz -- you are reading the ideal article.
    7) If data does appear, Then the previous article is likely better: https://s4gru.com/entry/443-determining-t-mobile-25ghz-band-41-in-your-county-whitespace-licenses/.

     
    Alternate Auction 108 Lookup Method
    This FCC link is preferred when it is working (easier to read answer and so everyone can get used to their systems), but here is a Google Sheets FCC Auction 108 - Results by License spreadsheet work-around if needed.
    1) Go to edit, select find, a box will pop up, to the right of find put the state abbreviation plus dash, "OH-", then select find at the bottom of this box.

     
    2) Repeat this process with county name, "Crawford".

     
    3) If your county is not listed, (not found or matches the wrong state), then proceed to the FCC Advanced License Search section below, otherwise the previous article is likely better: https://s4gru.com/entry/443-determining-t-mobile-25ghz-band-41-in-your-county-whitespace-licenses/.

     
    FCC Advanced License Search
    1) in the browser of your choice, type in the address for the FCC's Advanced License Search, which is http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsSearch/searchAdvanced.jsp .
    2) Under Call Sign & Radio Services, select the button for Match only the following radio service(s):.
    3) Scroll the selection window and select ED - Educational Broadcast Service.
    4) Under License Detail, then Status, select the button for Active.
    5) Under Customize Your Results, then Results Display, select 100.
    6) in the lower right corner select Geosearch.

     
    Select the State (or territory/district).  The select the County or equivalent.  Then Search in the lower right.

     
    Any EBS in the county will now appear.  Select each Call Sign/ Lease ID, except the ones with the L for lease symbol to the right of them (unless they also have a pending application -- which we have two examples of below).

     
    The License will open on the main tab.  Under Dates, if the Grant  date is before 2/2/2020, it is most likely a traditional ED license.  Watch for possible sale or lease to be pending within a year of the expiration date if not already owned by T-Mobile or a subsidiary (common names include Sprint, Clearwire, NSAC, etc.  If controlled by T-Mobile, it will generally be mentioned on the Main Page for leases or the administrative page for licenses.  Look at the contact information or the e-mail address for further hints.
    Possible Multi-site Spectrum Swap or Purchase
    Given the pending applications, this license has some promise.  It could just be a renewal or name change or something much greater.  Select the underlined number to the right of This number has pending applications.

     
    It shows LN-New Lease, and just 4 lines above it says Clearwire Spectrum Holdings III LLC, which is a subsidiary of T-Mobile.  Most importantly, under Attachments, it says Reference to Lead Application, which likely means far more counties are affected.  Select it to find out more.

     
    The Reference to Lead Application then pulls up a pop-up window, which gives you the lead application number, which will cover two or more areas.

     
    To follow this, in a browser of your choice, type http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/searchAppl.jsp  then type in the file number from your lead application information as show below in this example. 

     
    Quickly select through the file information.  If there is more than one, choose the one that is pending rather than inactive.

     
    It will pull up the information and go immediately to the Admin tab as shown below.  You will find various attachments that can popup on your screen.

     
    Of these attachments, I would start with selecting the public interest statement.  In the Explanation of the Transaction and Public Interest Statement we can see that T-Mobile is buying a number of licenses and leases from W.A.T.C.H. TV of Lima, OH.

     
    In this transaction description further down, you get more details of the FCC licenses involved.

     
    Further down they given a summary that t-Mobile will gain from 22.5 to 06.5 MHz from this transaction.  I have never seen the cost stated in these documents, which is likely viewed as a trade secret.

     
    To help the FCC evaluate this purchase from the public good perspective, T-Mobile's ownership of other spectrum in the various counties must be shown.  Just the first page is shown below.

     
    Next a Competition Analysis in the affected counties must be provided.  Just the first page is show.  Of course other information is required, but we have seen what will affect us the most.

     
    When you find this type of information, I recommend sharing it.  Post it to S4gru.com where  a high percentage of members love this type of information.   On Reddit there is r/tmobile even though most posts are on phone deals, phone issues, and billing issues it should get attention.  Also on Reddit is r/cellmapper with many posts of tower pictures and software update details, but posts like this should be appreciated.  There are other groups as well so this list is not all inclusive.
     
    Return to the County's EBS leases
    So we now return to the EBS leases.  We will assume the transfer from W.A.T.C.H. TV to T-Mobile will occur soon, if it has not happened already (data entry can sometimes take months).  Here are our previous search results in this new light. Since every license is leased we will only be looking at the leases.

     
    Below is the first of two leases tied to license WLX885. The frequencies assigned to both leases match as well as the coverage area. A difference is the technical page for this lease is missing a central antenna site typically used for EBS.
    Select the Map tab.  Then under License Geography in the upper left corner of the map, there is a box with three lines, select it and select 2017 County to get county lines drawn on the map.

     
    A different W.A.T.C.H. TV lease being purchased by TV which should mesh well with any T-Mobile BRS holdings.

    Not the this lease also ties back to WLQ885 and has the same spectrum.

    We now move to Clearwire EBS leases, most of which were started in 2016 under Sprint.

     

     

     
    Now we enter the spectrum inform above into a spreadsheet for ED.  Since there are no Tribal or Auction 108 licenses, all are the same high priority:

     
    We now sort the licenses by frequency.

     
    We now combine the ED licenses by combining the contiguous frequencies.  You can see that almost all of the ED spectrum is consumed.

     
    We now need to look at BRS, which is the commercial side of band 41.  It was auctioned off as Basic Trading areas which later transitioned into PEAs, or Partial Economic Areas in most cases.  PEAs are best thought of as groups of counties. There are a few older licenses that remain radius, but this is rare.
    1) in the browser of your choice, type in the address for the FCC's Advanced License Search, which is http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsSearch/searchAdvanced.jsp . 
    2) Under Call Sign & Radio Services, select the button for Match only the following radio service(s):.
    3) Scroll the selection window and select BR - Broadband Radio Service.
    4) Under License Detail, then Status, select the button for Active.
    5) Under Customize Your Results, then Results Display, select 100.
    6) in the lower right corner select Geosearch.
     

     
    Select the State (or territory/district).  The select the County or equivalent.  Then Search in the lower right.

     
    Any BRS in the county will now appear.  Select each Call Sign/ Lease ID, except the ones with the L for lease symbol in front of them (unless they also have a pending application).  Very common that BRS in adjacent PEAs also appears.

     
    Select each Call Sign/License Link shown above.  Then choose the Map tab and scroll down to the map and find your county.  BRS search ability to find counties is poor, thus eliminate licenses that do not match (see below).

     
    Below are three licenses that do match our desired county.

     
    Below is a rare radius BRS license, likely from the earliest days.

     

     
    Time for a spreadsheet again.  First we add the T-Mobile BRS from the license spectrum range below the the map.  This has become much more accurate in dividing spectrum between two matching licenses in recent years.  Associated frequencies above the map can also be used if you want to accept more duplication.  Double check the spectrum accuracy of any leases since all spectrum may not be leased.

     
    Then we will sort the BRS by Start frequency.

     
    Now we combine the licenses with matching frequencies together.

     
    Now we combine the BRS results together with the EBS results. Since the EBS results have three different areas in the county, we will add the BRS results to each area. 

     
    Now we sort by Start frequency.

     
    Now we combine the contiguous frequency ranges together.

     
    What matters is the amount of contiguous space.  T-Mobile show soon own or lease all 2.5 GHz Band 41 licenses in this county. Therefore it should be not problem for T-Mobile to ask  the FCC to use the J & K "guard" band spaces as shown below. So 194Mhz of contiguous 2.5 GHz band  spectrum.  This could be used for 100 and 90 Mhz n41 as mentioned above or they could also set aside two 20Mhz channels for Band 41 LTE to take the load off existing AWS.  It really depends the overall customers' phone mix between LTE and 5g plus the other frequencies and tower site demand.
    Below is the traditional Band Plan for 2.5 Ghz, taken from a "Request for Special Temporary Authority" from Sprint in 2016.

     
    If there is any discrepancy in T-Mobile's favor between what you have calculated versus what signal indicates, first double check your work.  Else it is common for data edits and new leases in the FCC license system to lag by several months. 
    Now it is time for you to check your most interesting counties for 2.5GHz Band 41 spectrum availability!!
     
  2. dkyeager
    Dave Yeager  
    S4GRU/T5GRU  
    Thursday, October 13, 2022 - 1:20 PM PDT  
                                                                                                                                .
    In T-Mobile Goes Deeper & Wider in 2.5GHz Holdings - FCC Auction 108 Results and Impact we discussed the white space T-Mobile won.  We also noted how the complexity of 2.5 GHz (band 41) kept other major carriers from competing, a true barrier to entry in strategic terms.  Now we will get you started on unraveling that complexity to compute how much 2.5Ghz bandwidth T-Mobile controls in your county or equivalent.  Control not only means ownership but also leasing.  Since white space means what is left over, we will start with what T-Mobile traditionally controls by looking at two counties that cover most complexities. This article will examine one county that represents the new aspects just introduced while the next article will approach a more traditional county that has been heavily changed in recent years by T-Mobile negotiations.
    Example: Auction 108, Cuming County Nebraska 
    The FCC divides 2.5Ghz (band 41) into Broadband Radio Service (BRS or BR) and Education Broadband Service (EBS or ED).  ED is the larger portion so we will start with it. Our first county is Cuming in Nebraska with about 9,000 people.  It has other license holders.  One traditional EBS license holder has their radius edge slice through the county and the other is a Native American license holder.  T-Mobile won some but not all white space in this county.
    http://bing.com/maps is recommended for our purposes because it easily shows Native American reservations, which were given a special period for requests before Auction 108 and medium priority.  Note that Native American land may extend beyond the reservation and be quite fragmented.

     
    The first item is to see if this county was in FCC Auction 108.  If yes, we need to note what channels T-Mobile purchased.
    1) Type https://auctiondata.fcc.gov/public/projects/auction108/reports/results_by_license in the browser of your choice. 
    2) Slide search switch to On so little boxes appear under each heading.
    3) Select the box under Market and type the state or equivalent two letter abbreviation plus a dash "-".
    4) Select the box under Market Name and type the name of the county.
    5) Select the blue Apply box that popped up.
    6) If nothing comes up, then recheck the state abbreviation and the county name spelling, else this county was not part of the FCC Auction 108 for 2.5GHz -- you can still continue if you wish to calculate T-Mobile's 2.5GHz bandwidth for the county, although the next article/example many be more appropriate.
    7) Assuming data does appear, look in the Bidder column to the right and note the categories where the Bidder was T-Mobile.  In this case it is C2 and C3.  https://s4gru.com/entry/442-t-mobile-goes-deeper-wider-in-25ghz-holdings-fcc-auction-108-results-and-impact/ shows in the "2.5Ghz Band Plan" diagram that C2 frequency is from 2551.5 to 2602, C3 is from 2615 to 2616 and 2673.5 to 2690. [for future reference C1 is 2502 to 2551.5]. Make a note of the frequencies that T-Mobile won in the FCC Auction 108.

    This FCC link is preferred when it is working (so everyone can get used to their systems), but here  is a Google Sheets FCC Auction 108 - Results by License spreadsheet work-around if needed. Go to edit, select find, a box will pop up, to the right of find put the state abbreviation plus dash, "NE-", then select find at the bottom of this box. Repeat this process with county name, "Cuming". Scroll down two lines to see C2 and C3 categories.  Then proceed below.
     
    1) in the browser of your choice, type in the address for the FCC's Advanced License Search, which is http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsSearch/searchAdvanced.jsp . 
    2) Under Call Sign & Radio Services, select the button for Match only the following radio service(s):.
    3) Scroll the selection window and select ED - Educational Broadcast Service.
    4) Under License Detail, then Status, select the button for Active.
    5) Under Customize Your Results, then Results Display, select 100.
    6) in the lower right corner select Geosearch.
     

     
    Select the State (or territory/district).  The select the County or equivalent.  Then Search in the lower right.

     
    Any EBS in the county will now appear.  Select each Call Sign/ Lease ID, except the ones with the L for lease symbol to the right of them (unless they also have a pending application).

     
    The License will open on the main tab.  Under Dates, if the Grant  date is before 2/2/2020, it is most likely a traditional ED license.  Watch for possible sale or lease to be pending within a year of the expiration date if not already owned by T-Mobile or a subsidiary (common names include Sprint, Clearwire, NSAC, etc.  If controlled by T-Mobile, it will generally be mentioned on the Main Page for leases or the administrative page for licenses.  Look at the contact information or the e-mail address for further hints.  

     
    Select the Map tab.  Then under License Geography in the upper left corner of the map, there is a box with three lines, click on it and select 2017 County to get county lines drawn on the map.
    This is the typical EBS radius license.  Note the thin sliver in the NE portion of Cuming county.  It also has typical EBS sized frequency ranges.

     
    The License will open on the main tab.  Under Dates, if the Grant  date is after 2/2/2020 and the Type is Government Entity, highly likely that it is a rural tribal license.  You can verify that here: https://www.fcc.gov/25-ghz-rural-tribal-application-details or on a national map here (be patient) https://fcc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=b51c97987df5452da4a2b37ec6c28d09&showLayers=Granted - Applications&extent=-99.9200920559036,48.8052768617378,-99.657057161259,48.8924750077155 or check Under the Market tab for Auction. It should be 9997 - TribalLand.  These licenses get higher priority than Auction 108 licenses, but less than traditional ED licenses. 
    Under Buildout Dates, look at the 1st and 2nd.  Watch for possible sale or lease to be pending within a year of those dates just like with any other license or lease.

     
    Select the Map tab to see coverage.  In this case it is quite similar to the reservation noted on the first county map.  In this case it covers most of the NE portion of the county over basically what would be C1, C2, and C3 frequency ranges in FCC Auction 108.  After the frequencies is Auction. If is says 9997 - TribalLand, it will get higher priority than Auction 108.  They are recorded as traditional ED frequency segments rather than C1, C2 and/or C3, which is likely how the FCC Auction 108 frequencies will also be recorded.  (Hopefully the FCC can simplify EBS all owned by the same firm sometime in the future.)  Traditional auctions are often not listed, but they get the highest priority.

     
    Now we will figure out the ED allocations in Cuming county NE. The first item to note is the priority ranking of licenses.  The original ED licenses have first priority.  If two traditional licenses intersect on the same frequency, the FCC directions are to split the intersection in half, ie "split the football". Licenses from the Rural Tribal Window have second priority which were awarded as C1, C2 and C3 as requested.  Licenses from the regular auction 108 have last priority.  Enter the start and end frequency for each license segment and notes on coverage into a spreadsheet.  Google sheets is free if you don't have a spreadsheet.

     
    We now sort the licenses by frequency.

     
    We now combine the ED licenses, paying attention to each priority area.  This means we eliminate the lower priority frequency overlaps.

     
    We now need to look at BRS, which is the commercial side of band 41.  It was auctioned off as Basic Trading areas which later transitioned into PEAs, or Partial Economic Areas in most cases.  PEAs are best thought of as groups of counties. There are a few older licenses that remain radius, but this is rare.
    1) in the browser of your choice, type in the address for the FCC's Advanced License Search, which is http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsSearch/searchAdvanced.jsp . 
    2) Under Call Sign & Radio Services, select the button for Match only the following radio service(s):.
    3) Scroll the selection window and select BR - Broadband Radio Service.
    4) Under License Detail, then Status, select the button for Active.
    5) Under Customize Your Results, then Results Display, select 100.
    6) in the lower right corner select Geosearch.

     
    Select the State (or territory/district).  The select the County or equivalent.  Then Search in the lower right.

     
    Any BRS in the county will now appear.  Select each Call Sign/ Lease ID, except the ones with the L for lease symbol in front of them (unless they also have a pending application).  Very common that BRS in adjacent PEAs also appears.

     
    Select each Call Sign/License Link shown above.  Then choose the Map tab and scroll down to the map and find your county.  BRS search ability to find counties is poor, thus eliminate licenses that do not match (see below).

     
    Below are two licenses that do match our desired county.

     

     
    Time for a spreadsheet again.  First we add the T-Mobile BRS from the license spectrum range below the the map.  This has become much more accurate in dividing spectrum between two matching licenses in recent years.  Associated frequencies above the map can also be used if you want to accept more duplication.  Double check the spectrum accuracy of any leases since all spectrum may not be leased.

     
    Then we will sort the BRS by Start frequency.

     
    Now we combine the licenses with matching frequencies together.

     
    Now we combine the BRS results together with the EBS results. Since the EBS results have three different areas in the county, we will add the BRS results to each area. We also remove the other spectrum license holders, since we are just interested in T-Mobile.

     
     
    Now we sort each area's license parts by frequency.

     
    We can also reduce out the "Thin sliver of NE Corner" since it lies within the "Most of the Northeast Corner". Finally we end up with the T-Mobile band 41 holdings for each of the two remaining T-Mobile band 41 areas of Cuming county Nebraska

     
    What matters is the amount of contiguous space.  In the case of the 2616 to 2618 Mhz gap, the FCC does have discretion to allow unassigned Mhz to be used with adjacent matching license holders.  Typically this space would have been assigned to BRS owners already as shown below.  Note that J or K channels would need to be negotiated with the other parties.  In other cases the frequency owners could trade leases which could just cover portions of the bandwidth, but this is not typical.
    Below is the traditional Band Plan for 2.5 Ghz, taken from a "Request for Special Temporary Authority" from Sprint in 2016.

     
    Here is a refresher map of the two T-Mobile band 41 areas.

     
    As is, the northeast corner would likely yield 50Mhz and perhaps 10Mhz.  The remainder of the county would yield 60MHz and 70Mhz, although I do consider it possible for the FCC to give them a temporary accommodation until a future auction to have 136.5 in on contiguous section, thus 100Mhz and 30Mhz.  10Mhz is typically the smallest amount T-Mobile will consider, and may just be used to park an inactive phone until more speed is needed.
    If there is any discrepancy in T-Mobile's favor between what you have calculated versus what signal indicates, first double check your work.  Else it is common for data edits and new leases in the FCC license system to lag by several months. 
    Now it is time for you to check your most interesting counties where T-Mobile was awarded 2.5GHz Band 41 whitespace!
  3. dkyeager
    Dave Yeager  
    S4GRU/T5GRU  
    Tuesday, October 11, 2022 - 8:20 AM PDT  
                                                                                                                                .
    T-Mobile asked for Special Temporary Authority to enhance capacity in 5g 2.5 GHz band 41 after the  FCC extended the final payment deadline for auction 108 payments due to hurricanes.  As noted in T-Mobile Goes Deeper & Wider in 2.5GHz Holdings - FCC Auction 108 Results and Impact, "T-Mobile upgrading existing n41 sites is a no-brainer, likely immediately after FCC release."
    As a result of this filing, we now know which counties T-Mobile will upgrade first.  Here is the list:
    Alabama
    -----------
    Autauga
    Cullman
    Elmore
    Houston
    Jefferson
    Montgomery
    Shelby
    Talladega
     
    Arizona
    ----------
    Cochise
    Coconino
    Gila
    Maricopa
    Mohave
    Pima
    Pinal
    Santa Cruz Cruz
    Santa Cruz
    Yavapai
     
    Arkansas
    ----------
    Pulaski
     
    California
    ----------
    Butte
    Calaveras
    Contra Costa
    El Dorado
    Fresno
    Kern
    Lassen
    Marin
    Merced
    Monterey
    Nevada
    Placer
    San Bernardino
    San Mateo
    Santa Barbara
    Siskiyou
    Sonoma
    Tuolumne
    Ventura
     
    Colorado
    ----------
    Douglas
    Eagle
    Larimer
    Mesa
     
    Connecticut
    ----------
    Middlesex
    New London
     
    Delaware
    ----------
    Kent
    New Castle
    Sussex
     
    Florida
    ----------
    Alachua
    Brevard
    Calhoun
    Citrus
    Dixie
    Franklin
    Gadsden
    Gilchrist
    Glades
    Gulf
    Hamilton
    Hendry
    Hernando
    Highlands
    Jackson
    Jefferson
    Lafayette
    Lake
    Leon
    Levy
    Madison
    Miami-Dade
    Monroe
    Nassau
    Okaloosa
    Okeechobee
    Palm Beach
    Putnam
    St. Johns
    Seminole
    Sumter
    Suwannee
    Taylor
    Volusia
    Wakulla
     
    Georgia
    ----------
    Appling
    Bacon
    Bartow
    Brantley
    Bryan
    Bulloch
    Butts
    Calhoun
    Camden
    Candler
    Catoosa
    Charlton
    Chatham
    Chattooga
    Cherokee
    Clayton
    Clinch
    Cobb
    Coffee
    Colquitt
    Coweta
    Crisp
    Dade
    Dawson
    Decatur
    DeKalb
    Dodge
    Dooly
    Dougherty
    Douglas
    Early
    Effingham
    Emanuel
    Evans
    Fannin
    Floyd
    Forsyth
    Fulton
    Gilmer
    Glynn
    Gordon
    Habersham
    Haralson
    Henry
    Jeff Davis
    Jenkins
    Lamar
    Lee
    Liberty
    Lincoln
    Long
    Lowndes
    McIntosh
    Miller
    Mitchell
    Monroe
    Montgomery
    Murray
    Newton
    Paulding
    Pickens
    Pierce
    Pike
    Polk
    Rabun
    Randolph
    Rockdale
    Screven
    Spalding
    Tattnall
    Telfair
    Terrell
    Thomas
    Toombs
    Towns
    Treutlen
    Turner
    Union
    Walker
    Ware
    Wayne
    Wheeler
    Whitfield
    Wilcox
    Wilkes
    Worth
     
    Hawaii
    ----------
    Hawaii
    Kauai
    Maui
     
    Illinois
    ----------
    Champaign
    Kane
    Kankakee
    Kendall
    Lake
    LaSalle
    McHenry
    Madison
    Vermilion
    Will
    Winnebago
     
    Indiana
    ----------
    Porter
    Vigo
     
    Iowa
    ----------
    Dubuque
    Linn
    Pottawattamie
     
    Kansas
    ----------
    Finney
    Riley
     
    Kentucky
    ----------
    Adair
    Allen
    Anderson
    Barren
    Bath
    Bell
    Boone
    Bourbon
    Boyd
    Boyle
    Bracken
    Breckinridge
    Butler
    Calloway
    Campbell
    Carroll
    Carter
    Christian
    Clark
    Clinton
    Edmonson
    Fayette
    Fleming
    Floyd
    Franklin
    Gallatin
    Garrard
    Grant
    Graves
    Green
    Greenup
    Hardin
    Harrison
    Henry
    Hickman
    Hopkins
    Jessamine
    Johnson
    Kenton
    Letcher
    Lewis
    Lincoln
    Livingston
    Logan
    McCracken
    Madison
    Magoffin
    Marion
    Marshall
    Mason
    Menifee
    Mercer
    Monroe
    Montgomery
    Nelson
    Nicholas
    Pendleton
    Perry
    Rockcastle
    Rowan
    Scott
    Shelby
    Simpson
    Taylor
    Todd
    Trigg
    Union
    Warren
    Washington
    Woodford
     
    Louisiana
    ----------
    Ascension
    East Baton Rouge
    Iberia
    Lafayette
    Livingston
    Ouachita
    Rapides
    St. Martin
     
    Maine
    ----------
    York
     
    Maryland
    ----------
    Allegany
    Calvert
    Caroline
    Carroll
    Cecil
    Charles
    Dorchester
    Frederick
    Garrett
    Queen Anne's
    St. Mary's
    Somerset
    Talbot
    Washington
    Wicomico
    Worcester
     
    Massachusetts
    ----------------
    Barnstable
    Hampden
    Hampshire
    Worcester
     
    Michigan
    ----------
    Calhoun
    Clare
    Genesee
    Grand Traverse
    Isabella
    Kalamazoo
    Kent
    Lenawee
    Mecosta
    Montcalm
    Muskegon
    Newaygo
    Ottawa
    St. Clair
    St. Joseph
     
    Minnesota
    ----------
    Crow Wing
    Lyon
    Olmsted
    Otter Tail
    St. Louis
     
    Mississippi
    ----------
    Alcorn
    Benton
    Bolivar
    Coahoma
    Hancock
    Jefferson Davis
    Kemper
    Marion
    Neshoba
    Scott
    Sharkey
    Smith
    Tallahatchie
    Warren
    Wayne
    Wilkinson
    Yazoo
     
    Missouri
    ----------
    Boone
    Camden
    Cole
    Taney
     
    Montana
    ----------
    Gallatin
     
    Nebraska
    ----------
    Douglas
     
    New Hampshire
    ----------
    Belknap
    Cheshire
    Grafton
    Hillsborough
    Merrimack
    Rockingham
    Strafford
     
    New Jersey
    ----------
    Atlantic
    Monmouth
    Morris
    Ocean
    Sussex
    Warren
     
    New Mexico
    ----------
    Doña Ana
    San Miguel
    Santa Fe
     
    New York
    ----------
    Allegany
    Broome
    Cattaraugus
    Chautauqua
    Clinton
    Jefferson
    Oneida
    Otsego
    Steuben
    Suffolk
    North Carolina
    ----------
    Anson
    Avery
    Beaufort
    Bertie
    Bladen
    Brunswick
    Camden
    Carteret
    Caswell
    Chatham
    Cherokee
    Cleveland
    Columbus
    Craven
    Currituck
    Dare
    Davidson
    Davie
    Duplin
    Forsyth
    Franklin
    Graham
    Granville
    Halifax
    Harnett
    Hertford
    Hoke
    Iredell
    Jackson
    Johnston
    Jones
    Lee
    Lenoir
    McDowell
    Macon
    Mitchell
    Montgomery
    Moore
    Nash
    New Hanover
    Onslow
    Orange
    Pamlico
    Pasquotank
    Pender
    Perquimans
    Person
    Randolph
    Richmond
    Robeson
    Rockingham
    Rowan
    Rutherford
    Sampson
    Scotland
    Stokes
    Surry
    Swain
    Tyrrell
    Vance
    Wake
    Warren
    Washington
    Wayne
    Wilkes
    Wilson
    Yadkin
     
    Ohio
    ----------
    Adams
    Ashland
    Athens
    Brown
    Carroll
    Clermont
    Clinton
    Coshocton
    Darke
    Defiance
    Erie
    Fairfield
    Fayette
    Fulton
    Gallia
    Guernsey
    Hamilton
    Hancock
    Henry
    Highland
    Hocking
    Holmes
    Huron
    Jackson
    Jefferson
    Knox
    Lake
    Lawrence
    Licking
    Meigs
    Muskingum
    Noble
    Ottawa
    Perry
    Pike
    Richland
    Ross
    Scioto
    Stark
    Tuscarawas
    Vinton
    Washington
    Wayne
    Williams
     
    Oklahoma
    ----------
    Cherokee
    Comanche
    Mayes
     
    Oregon
    ----------
    Douglas
    Lincoln
    Tillamook
     
    Pennsylvania
    ----------
    Adams
    Armstrong
    Bedford
    Berks
    Blair
    Bradford
    Bucks
    Butler
    Cambria
    Chester
    Clarion
    Clearfield
    Cumberland
    Dauphin
    Elk
    Fayette
    Forest
    Franklin
    Greene
    Huntingdon
    Indiana
    Jefferson
    Lancaster
    Lebanon
    Lehigh
    Lycoming
    McKean
    Monroe
    Montour
    Northampton
    Northumberland
    Perry
    Pike
    Potter
    Schuylkill
    Snyder
    Somerset
    Susquehanna
    Tioga
    Union
    Venango
    Warren
    Washington
    Wayne
    Westmoreland
    York
     
    South Carolina
    ----------
    Aiken
    Allendale
    Anderson
    Bamberg
    Barnwell
    Beaufort
    Berkeley
    Charleston
    Cherokee
    Chester
    Chesterfield
    Clarendon
    Colleton
    Darlington
    Dillon
    Fairfield
    Florence
    Georgetown
    Greenville
    Greenwood
    Hampton
    Horry
    Jasper
    Kershaw
    Lancaster
    Laurens
    Lee
    Lexington
    McCormick
    Marion
    Marlboro
    Newberry
    Oconee
    Orangeburg
    Pickens
    Richland
    Saluda
    Spartanburg
    Sumter
    Union
    Williamsburg
    York
     
    South Dakota
    ----------
    Custer
    Meade
    Pennington
     
    Tennessee
    ----------
    Bedford
    Benton
    Bledsoe
    Bradley
    Cannon
    Carroll
    Carter
    Cheatham
    Chester
    Claiborne
    Cocke
    Coffee
    Cumberland
    Davidson
    Decatur
    DeKalb
    Dickson
    Dyer
    Gibson
    Giles
    Grainger
    Greene
    Grundy
    Hamblen
    Hamilton
    Hardeman
    Hardin
    Hawkins
    Henderson
    Henry
    Hickman
    Humphreys
    Johnson
    Lauderdale
    Lawrence
    Loudon
    McMinn
    McNairy
    Marion
    Marshall
    Maury
    Meigs
    Monroe
    Montgomery
    Moore
    Morgan
    Obion
    Polk
    Rhea
    Roane
    Robertson
    Sequatchie
    Smith
    Stewart
    Sullivan
    Sumner
    Unicoi
    Warren
    Washington
    Wayne
    Weakley
    Wilson
     
    Texas
    ----------
    Angelina
    Comal
    Cooke
    Denton
    Gregg
    Hays
    Howard
    Jim Wells
    Kerr
    Liberty
    Maverick
    Medina
    Montgomery
    Nacogdoches
    Polk
    Smith
    Starr
    Titus
    Val Verde
    Van Zandt
    Victoria
    Walker
     
    Utah
    ----------
    Box Elder
    Cache
    Iron
    Summit
    Utah
    Weber
     
    Vermont
    ----------
    Bennington
    Essex
     
    Virginia
    ----------
    Accomack
    Alleghany
    Amherst
    Appomattox
    Augusta
    Bedford
    Bristol
    Brunswick
    Campbell
    Caroline
    Carroll
    Charles City
    Charlotte
    Chesterfield
    Clarke
    Colonial Heights
    Culpeper
    Danville
    Dinwiddie
    Essex
    Fauquier
    Franklin
    Franklin
    Frederick
    Fredericksburg
    Gloucester
    Goochland
    Greensville
    Hanover
    Henrico
    Henry
    Hopewell
    James City
    King and Queen
    King George
    King William
    Lancaster
    Loudoun
    Lynchburg
    Mathews
    Mecklenburg
    Middlesex
    New Kent
    Northampton
    Norton
    Nottoway
    Orange
    Petersburg
    Pittsylvania
    Powhatan
    Prince Edward
    Prince George
    Pulaski
    Radford
    Rappahannock
    Richmond
    Richmond
    Rockbridge
    Russell
    Scott
    Shenandoah
    Smyth
    Southampton
    Spotsylvania
    Stafford
    Sussex
    Warren
    Washington
    Westmoreland
    Winchester
    Wise
    Wythe
    York
     
    Washington
    ----------
    Cowlitz
    Grays Harbor
    Lewis
    Mason
    Pierce
    Skagit
    Snohomish
    Thurston
     
    West Virginia
    ----------
    Berkeley
    Boone
    Braxton
    Brooke
    Cabell
    Fayette
    Hampshire
    Jackson
    Jefferson
    Kanawha
    Lincoln
    Mineral
    Mingo
    Monongalia
    Morgan
    Nicholas
    Preston
    Putnam
    Ritchie
    Wayne
    Wirt
    Wood
     
    Wisconsin
    ----------
    Brown
    Chippewa
    Dane
    Eau Claire
    Jefferson
    Kenosha
    La Crosse
    Marathon
    Portage
    Rock
    St. Croix
    Sauk
    Walworth
     
    Wyoming
    ----------
    Laramie
     
     
  4. dkyeager
    Dave Yeager  
    S4GRU/T5GRU  
    Friday, September 23, 2022 - 3:20 PM PDT  

    Source: www.sashajavid.com/Auction108_TMobile_Final_Demand_Round73.png  Click for interactive map covering all auction areas. (May take a few minutes to fully load, PC or tablet recommended)
     
    The very favorable FCC Auction 108 for 2.5GHz ED results shown above should allow T-Mobile to immensely expand its rural market share, currently around 13%.  The merger alone dramatically increased the number of T-Mobile customers traveling through rural areas.  The number of macro cell tower sites has increased from 66,000 on 12/31/2019 to a rough estimate of 88,000 sites by the end of 2022. (102,000 on 12/31/2021 minus the remaining 22,000 planned Sprint cell site decommissions by 9/30/2022 plus 10,000 sites for rural and small cities.  This does not factor in co-locations, any other new sites added in 2022, or sites that have been decommissioned where T-Mobile still holds an interest -- the true number may not be available until the 2022 annual report.)  
    T-Mobile 5G Home Internet Service should definitely attract new rural customers, which will help make rural sites more viable. n71 lowband 5G has already made T-Mobile's rural service much more usable. n41 will offload much of that 5G traffic given its much higher capacity.  Having more bandwidth will also extend the usable area of n41, which can be further extended by utilizing n71 CA to increase the upload range and performance.  Combining this with T-Mobile's long announced increased rural and small town focus could be a very winning strategy that allows them to fulfill their merger promise to the FCC concerning nationwide 5G coverage of at least 50Mbps.
    Drilling down into the auction results, T-Mobile recently won 7,156 2.5GHz ED licenses in 2,724 counties in FCC auction 108.  That is roughly 87% of all the U.S. counties (3,143 counties or equivalents exist in the United States.)  Each county license has 53% white space on average (area without existing ED licenses by frequency).  Note that white space varies by smaller frequency ranges and/or can cover just a portion of the county.  According to ALLnet measurements, 2,490 licenses have 90% or better white space in this latest auction.
    These ED licenses typically reside in rural areas, but do include a few metro areas.  Metro area counties with 25% or more white space include these metro areas: Atlanta, GA, Chicago, IL, Dallas, TX, Kansas City, MO, Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY.  These counties are typically at the outside edges of these metros.
    The auction timing, auction rules, and complexity of the ED band favored T-Mobile.  This auction occurred after the 2021 C-Band and 3.45GHz auctions which both offered the possibility of nationwide coverage.  Not much money appeared to be left for auction 108. Verizon's small bid in this auction has even been questioned as unwise.
     
     
     $ in Millions rounded.
     
    C-Band (Auction 107 - 280MHz)
    3.45GHz (Auction 110 - 100MHz)
    ED 2.5GHz (Auction 108 - up to 117.5MHz)
    AT&T
    $ 23,407
    $   9,079
    $        0
    Verizon
    $ 45,455
    $          0
    $        2
    Dish
    $           0
    $   7,328
    $        0
    T-Mobile  
    $    9,336
    $   2,898
    $    304
     
    For this auction, the FCC tried to simplify ED with C1= 49.5 MHz contiguous, C2 = 50.5 MHz contiguous, and C3 = 17.5 MHz (16.5 MHz contiguous plus 1 MHz inside BRS).  C3 was most attractive to T-Mobile given their BRS holdings.  In addition to ED, BRS makes up the rest of 2.5GHz band 41. 

    Source: www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/bandplan_for_fact_sheet.png
    Prior to the auction the FCC setup a special window for tribes to obtain ED licenses. They also eliminated the educational purpose requirement of ED, but preserved the role of non-profit groups like Mobile Citizen and Mobile Beacon.    They also allowed existing ED licenses to be sold rather than just leased.  T-Mobile has been quite busy securing available licenses since then.  It also fought for its lease details to remain secret, which other carriers opposed, but the FCC supported.   The FCC sided with the smaller carriers and T-Mobile over lease size being the smaller county size rather that PEAs which are typically multi-county partial economic areas.
    The original aspects of the ED and BRS licenses also discourage other carriers.  They both started as radius, but then most but not all of the BRS converted to counties, while ED primarily remained radius.  Where two intersect on the same frequencies, they "split the football".   Some shifted frequencies, but others remained the same.  The frequencies in ED are also quite small by today's standards and often not contiguous. BRS also has some licenses that appear to basically be duplicates.  Band 41 also uses TD rather than FD, thus favors downloads.  Basically no where near as clean as bands like PCS band 2 where all the other carriers are more comfortable. 
    It should be noted that not all licenses were sold, typically in Alaska and places with almost no whitespace.  Note that there is also a scattering of BRS licenses that were never sold plus licenses in other auctions.  Maybe the FCC should have an odds and ends auction once congress extends its auction authority which expires on September 23.  It is also possible that T-Mobile may choose to lease spectrum for some of the other winners, such as the North American Catholic Education Programming Foundation, who already leases 2.5GHz spectrum to T-Mobile.
    Final payments are due by September 30, 2022 (October 17th with 5% penalty.)  T-Mobile upgrading existing n41 sites is a no-brainer, likely immediately after FCC release.  More bandwidth first followed by greater fiber backhaul later.  What avenues T-Mobile pursues after that is the question.
    Here are the FCC Auction 108 2.5GHz results by license: https://auctiondata.fcc.gov/public/projects/auction108/reports/results_by_license.  If you are curious about the other winning bidders: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-22-910A2.pdf. Further overall analysis by bidder is available here: https://www.sashajavid.com/FCC_Auction108.php#county_details_table_overlay.
  5. dkyeager
    Dave Yeager
    Sprint 4G Rollout Updates
    Friday, February 8, 2019 - 8:00 AM PST
     

    Sprint’s tribanding project has reached a new phase -- former Clear LTE 2500 only sites are getting new equipment as reported by nowerlater in Cincinnati, Joski1624 in Cleveland, and here in Columbus.
    Converting sites from LTE 2500 only to triband LTE 800 MHz, LTE 1900 MHz, and LTE 2500 will significantly improve network performance in the traditional metropolitan areas of markets where Clear sites reside.  Adding LTE 1900, LTE 800, CDMA 1x1900, and 1x800 will mean stronger signal with improved building penetration that will allow surrounding sites to better serve their more immediate coverage areas. This added site density will be a key factor in performance improvements needed for high quality VoLTE (Voice over LTE) service.
    Upon completion, site density for the non-LTE 2500 bands will increase an astonishing 57% in Franklin County (Columbus) Ohio.  There are currently 162 macro sites not counting factory and private office building sites. There are 93 stand-alone Clear sites.  Hamilton County (Cincinnati) will show a 61% increase in site density for the non-LTE 2500 bands. Additional Clear sites lie outside these counties in both markets.  The level of increase will vary from market to market.
     
    Market wide LTE 1900 performance will improve if this increased site density allows for fewer 1x1900 CDMA carriers per site. This would allow refarming of spectrum to increase the bandwidth for LTE 1900. Minimum LTE bandwidth allowed by many of Sprint’s Remote Radio Units has been increased in recent months according to the FCC.  This will be market dependent.
     
    There will be a 50% or more LTE 2500 capacity improvement at most Clear sites. Mini Macro Clear sites broadcast only one or two carriers, while most metropolitan areas triband sites broadcast three carriers with up to five carriers at some sites.  The tribanded Clear sites go from having Mini Macros to 8T8R remote radio units at most sites, but some sites may retain existing Mini Macros in some markets.  With 8T8R, these tribanded Clear sites will also get improved performance and coverage. Samsung Clear equipment used in portions of the south and east often have three carriers thus will primarily gain benefits from the improved coverage of the 8T8Rs.
     
    Tribanding the Clear Mini Macro sites will also improve the LTE 2500 performance of surrounding triband sites.  If your phone is on the third carrier and you currently drive into an area primarily served by a Clear site your triband site signal will get weaker and weaker until it drops. The LTE 2500 at these existing Triband sites currently carries an extra burden.    
     
    Permit Foreshadowing
     
    Let’s dive further into the details.  We have been watching for these site builds for many months.  Permits were first seen in the early fall in Columbus, for example:
     
    ALTC1800834: ANTENNA UPGRADE TO AN EXISTING CELL SITE OF SPRINT. REMOVE (3) ANTENNAS, (3) MM RRUS, AND (3) 15/64" COAX. INSTALL (3) ANTENNAS, (9) RRHS, (3) 1-1/16" HYBRID CABLES, GC SUPPLIED RET CABLES, (3) OPTIC FIBER JUNCTION CYLINDERS, (3) POWER JUNCTION CYLINDERS, (1) SITEPRO SNP-12NP SECTOR MOUNT AND HANDRAIL KIT. REMOVE EXISTING CLEARWIRE GROUND CABINETS AND INSTALL ALL NEW SPRINT ECAB & ICAB COMBINATION CABINET AND PPC ON NEW CONCRETE PAD. REMOVE ALL POWER AND FIBER CABLING TO RRHS.
     
    Permits and drawings were also found in Sacramento by our resident staff Tim (lilotimz), with one site even going from CA to Massive MIMO: The Network Vision plus LTE 2500 using 8T8R LTE 2500, LTE 1900, and Four Port LTE 800,and the much rarer Massive MIMO LTE 2500/5G future, LTE 1900 and Four PORT LTE 800.
    A big question was whether the sites would have CDMA or just be VoLTE.  Most Sprint phones in use today can only use CDMA. OceanDave picked up the first Clear Triband Conversion signal in his logs recorded on 11/30/2018.  Joski1624 found and confirmed CDMA 1x1900 and 8T8R LTE 2500 at the site once the logs were analyzed in early January. Here is a screenshot from Joski1624 showing LTE 800 and 1x800 from the same Clear conversion site:
      
    Cleveland has confirmed other sites.  Nowerlater has reported similar results covering bands 25 and 26 from other Clear sites converted to Triband in the Cincinnati Market
     
    Here is a photo of a Columbus Clear site being converted to Triband.  You can see that the Clear Band 41(inside red outline) is still wired and was quite functional at the time of the photo. 1) Clear antenna (remove),  2) Mini Macro (remove for most sites), 3) Microwave antenna for redundant backhaul (will likely remain if present). This is becoming a Triband Hexadeacport 16 port Antenna Setup outlined in yellow with 1) 8T8R LTE 2500 Remote Radio Unit, 2) LTE 1900 Remote Radio Unit, 3) LTE 800 four port Remote Radio Unit, 4) 16-Port Triband Antenna. 
     

    In this next photo you can see the old cabinet on its metal grate and the new cabinet on new concrete.  The underground conduit needs to be placed then the concrete poured before you will see cabinets.

    Some of the sites will have double cabinets (permits say Eltek, but observed cabinets do not match catalog).  Note that they are pre-assembled, in this case by Stonecrop Technologies. These sites are also getting new Purcell cable boxes.

    In Columbus, 86% of the Clear sites have permits. New permits are still being filed.  We began finding permits for Clear conversions last October. Permits are active for one year.  They can be extended, but typically the work will be done in that time period. It is quite possible the FCC will not approve the merger into T-Mobile until December or later based on the Shentel – nTelos merger.  This merger could finish sooner or not at all. If the merger is approved this work would likely stop, but any completed site work would benefit existing Sprint customers during the estimated two to three year transition period (market dependent).  
     
    If all Clear sites were converted to triband, here is an image of roughly where the sites would strongly benefit in the traditional Columbus metro area:

    Please note that actual site coverage areas are not circular but are shaped between a three bladed airplane propeller and a three leaf clover. There would be significant variations from the heat map above. Of course Columbus overall has Network Vision and other Next Generation triband sites.
     
    These Ohio markets mentioned have active S4GRU signal hunters, thus are likely a proxy for what is happening or will happen in other markets with active former Clear LTE 2500 only sites (for clarity we will now refer to them as Clear sites).  Indeed lilotimz has found permits and drawing in Sacramento. Reddit user Marley3456 has confirmed triband Clear sites in Salt Lake City Utah, thus they very likely exist in other parts of the country.  The following cities in state order all had more than 10 Clear sites with LTE in 2014 thus are likely prospects for this type of change:
     


     
    If your city is listed above, how will you know if you will benefit?  Start looking looking at the Clear sites in your city today and be observant of any changes. Help is available here at S4GRU.com if needed. Online guides can help: Nokia Mini Macros on Macro Sites, Samsung LTE 2500 Remote Radio Units and Antennas. It will be worth knowing if your market will benefit from the significant capacity improvements of the Clear site Triband conversions!
     
     
     
    Edited 2/8/19 to better cover Samsung Clear Sites.
     
  6. dkyeager
    Dave Yeager
    Sprint 4G Rollout Updates
    Tuesday, April 3, 2018 - 6:20 PM PDT
    Exciting times for those of us who track Sprint Macro sites and signals.  Sprint has accomplished a lot during the last few years in many places.  Even during a period of reduced capital expenditures.  Progress has been made by increasing bandwidth and adding carriers to LTE 1900 MHz, adding LTE 2.5 GHz macro and small cell sites, adding 3x3 LTE 800 MHz to many existing sites near the border, and working to eliminate 3G Only Ground Mounted Radio sites by adding LTE in many places*.  Some of these improvements have been offset by ever increasing data demands that have doubled every 18 months.  For maximum gain, a new plan was needed...Next-Gen.
    Since late Fall 2017 Columbus S4GRU members have been tracking new permits in Ohio trying to figure out Sprint’s Next-Gen plans in detail. These permits soon made it obvious that multiple site configurations are involved.  In late February / early March three Next-Gen sites were found in the Columbus Market.  To ensure that these were not just isolated test sites, two identical Next-Gen sites were confirmed in the Cincinnati Market about a week ago.  These are new antennas and are a different scenario than described in the prior S4GRU Wall Article on 16 port Triband Antennas. 


    Note that these new antennas (center) are about the same size as the 1900/800 MHz dual band antennas, except thicker and cover 2.5 GHz / 800 MHz.  There are 10 ports on the bottom, excluding the 4 AISG ports, for 8T8R  2.5 GHz and 2T2R  800 MHz (plus 2T2R 800 MHz from Network Vision antenna/RRH).  The site diagrams from Connecticut list them as Commscope DT465B-2XR-V2, which matches our photos. These new antennas are combined with a 2.5 GHz 8T8R RRH and another 800MHz RRH (a few permits list just one 4 port 800 MHz RRH) and always been found with existing hexport dual band 800/1900 MHz equipment.  

    **
     
    Sprint’s desire to add 2.5 GHz to all sites is well publicized.  But why two 800 MHz RRHs?  To allow 4x4 MIMO for 800 MHz LTE.  While only some tablets will fully benefit from 4x4 MIMO given the antenna size requirements, all devices will benefit from the significant signal propagation and stability improvements over 2xT/R diversity.  At the cell edge this is especially true. This will be a major improvement for technologies such as VoLTE where weak signals can wreak havoc on voice quality and even usability.
    Four Sprint scenarios were noted in some of the Connecticut information.  Besides the two scenarios covered in this and the prior wall article, there is a ground mounted radio scenario, which is dated February 28, 2018 -- well past the changeover to Next-Gen antennas seen in the late Fall 2017 permits.  Only the Triband decaport (10 port Antenna) is visible in the tower with diplexers and RRHs near the ground providing only 2T2R for 800MHz, 2T4R for the 1900MHz and 4T4R for the 2.5GHz, as shown below:  
    ***
    ***
    Below is the current status of our 2017+ permits for the Columbus market to give you an idea of where these antenna scenarios will be used more often.  Note that while there is extensive permit information for the Columbus market, not all jurisdictions put permit information online plus accuracy and detail varies. 

    There is at least one Sprint Next-Gen Scenario remaining.   Keep watching your local sites, especially if you see improved Band 26 LTE 800 or new Band 41 LTE 2500 signal or GCIs.  Report anything new to a S4GRU forum.  Include pictures and screen shots.  Others will guide you to help figure out what you have found.
    *For details for my market for 2017: http://s4gru.com/forums/topic/1904-network-visionlte-columbus-market/?page=219&tab=comments#comment-526696 Other spreadsheet markets in this region have similar stories to tell.
    ** Wiring Diagram source: http://www.ct.gov/csc/lib/csc/ems/east_windsor/southmainst/sprint/em-sprint-047-180126_filing_southmainst_eastwindsor.pdf page 61 of 66
    *** Ground mounted Radio Scenario: http://www.ct.gov/csc/lib/csc/ems/stratford/hawleylane/sprint/em-sprint-138-180302_filing_hawleylane.pdf page 7 of 107
    Many thanks to lilotimz and kineticman for their assistance with this article.
×
×
  • Create New...