Question about singal coming from a Super tall (Boomer) Sprint tower

[bq91]

Question about my sprint signal which right now is still 3G, but due soon to be upgrade to LTE here in Austin.

 

I live in exactly 1.4 miles (6300 feet) as a bird fly’s from a Sprint tower in Georgetown, Texas (North Austin). This tower is right off I-35 and close to the 130 loop. This tower though is a boomer, super tall. It is like three to four times as tall as a normal tower.

 

 

What I don't understand is how I could be so close to a big extra tall Sprint tower and only get a signal on 96 dbm (at best) most of the times it is 101dbm or higher, even outside on the porch on my house. But at my office in town I can be 2.5 miles away from a different Sprint tower and get 85-91 dbm, yet it is almost twice as far in terms of distance.

 

My theory is that this tower is a boomer super tall tower to help throw signal up and down I-35 towards Temple as everything north is farmland countryside, and that it is not angled the right way towards our subdivision, I think it might overshoot us if that is possible. Could that be the issue I and my neighbors face? Can a tall Sprint tower over shoot signal so to speak that it misses us, and we get a weak signal?

 

The reason I am worried is per Roberts posts on signal strength need for LTE, when LTE come (hopefully soon) we will not have a strong enough signal to pick it up when out and about in the neighborhood or on the Golf course.

 

Also, is it possible in LTE conversion that they will reconfigure the tower to help angle it more to get the signal lowered in our neighborhood, or is that not something they do during the conversion?

 

I have always been amazed I get such a average to poor signal (tried multiple phones EVO, Iphone 4s, Galaxy SIII) to close to a tower.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

[boomerbubba]

Question about my sprint signal from tower DA04XC037 (per S4GRU Austin map) which right now is still 3G, but due soon to be upgrade to LTE here in Austin. The tower is on the S4GRU maps for upgrade soon.

 

If you want to discuss specific tower locations, IDs and schedules from the S4GRU maps, you should do that in one of the Sponsor forums.

[MacinJosh]

If you want to discuss specific tower locations, IDs and schedules from the S4GRU maps, you should do that in one of the Sponsor forums.

 

I think he is asking more specifically why he has a weaker signal being that close to a tower and if it will improve after NV upgrades.

 

Being that it is a tall tower it may very well be that it is setup for long distance signal for the Highway and rural areas and not for close-up like shorter towers are for.

[boomerbubba]

I think he is asking more specifically why he has a weaker signal being that close to a tower and if it will improve after NV upgrades.

 

Being that it is a tall tower it may very well be that it is setup for long distance signal for the Highway and rural areas and not for close-up like shorter towers are for.

 

Yep. There was really no reason to include details from the Sponsor map in order to frame such a general question. The specific tower ID, location and schedule have no real bearing on that.

[bq91]

Sorry, I guess I posted this in the wrong forum; I have edited my post to take out the details about the tower info from the sponsor map. Sorry about my unintentional mistake.

[boomerbubba]

sorry I guess I posted this in the wrong forum.

 

Or just edit the specific details from S4GRU Sponsor maps out of your post and leave it here. These details really add nothing to your general question. Then everyone can get back on your real topic. There is nothing privilegd about the basic facts that you bring to the topic from your personal knowledge.

[bq91]

Thanks corrected and fixed.

 

The main point is I live about 1.4 miles from the tower and I get relatively bad signal no matter the phone. I have always thought that since It was such a big tall tower I should get a great signal, but it is the opposite. I can only hope that sprint will correct this with the network vision upgrade that is coming.

 

One note I can drive two miles up I-35 and get a great signal 78dbm or less, which I asume is from the same tower, but two more miles down the highway. Just does not make sense.

 

Thanks, again sorry to post the detailed info.

[boomerbubba]

Thanks corrected and fixed.

 

The main point is I live about 1.4 miles from the tower and I get relatively bad signal no matter the phone. I have always thought that since It was such a big tall tower I should get a great signal, but it is the opposite. I can only hope that sprint will correct this with the network vision upgrade that is coming.

 

One note I can drive two miles up I-35 and get a great signal 78dbm or less, which I asume is from the same tower, but two more miles down the highway. Just does not make sense.

 

Remember that the gain in the antenna comes from shaping its signal to be stronger in certain directions (in 3 dimensions) at the expense of other directions. That gain in this case comes primarily in the vertical dimension, so the signal lobe is flattened. So in theory, an antenna like this atop a very tall tower can have a stronger signal a little farther away than close up. That could be even more enhanced if the test point farther away is at a higher elevation to be closer to the center of the lobe.

 

For example, here is a link to a spec sheet for an antenna that is likely pretty close to what the legacy tower is using. See the "Elevation Pattern" diagram, which shows how horizontally flat the signal pattern is. In very general terms, I would assume that the new antennas would have similar charateristics.

 

Also, if this boomer is configured with two sectors with the lobes oriented roughly north and south to focus on the rural freeway (rather than the more common three-sector tower), that would disadvantage the areas to the east and west.

[S4GRU]

There are many factors in determining how far a signal will propagate from a tower. Just because a tower is high does not mean that Sprint is at the top of that tower. I live next to a boomer, and Sprint is way down on the tower.

 

Also, you may be between two sectors. There are three sectors of antennas on each tower (sometimes only two). If you are positioned perfectly between two sectors, you could have diminished signals in some instances.

 

Downtilt. Antenna panels are tilted toward the ground, based on RF engineering design calculations. Sometimes steeply. The steeper the downtilt, the less far the signal will travel, but the more concentrated the signal will be within its coverage area.

 

Physical Obstructions. You may have physical obstructions... large buildings, grain elevators, water towers, forests, swamps/marshes between you and the site. All are bad for RF signals. You may be in a slight gully/depression that may not be noticeable to you, but takes you out of RF sight to the tower.

 

RF Interference. Some locations just are bad locations for RF. They may have interference. Power plants, large power transmission lines and electrical yards are known to cause interference. And if one of these interference sources is between you and the site, it can cause problems.

 

So, there are no easy answers.

 

Robert

[Paynefanbro]

Can towers be programmed to certain distances because where I live, according to network.sprint.com the tower that I am.most likely connected to is about 5 blocks away yet when I am indoors I still get a 1bar signal.

[S4GRU]

Can towers be programmed to certain distances because where I live, according to network.sprint.com the tower that I am.most likely connected to is about 5 blocks away yet when I am indoors I still get a 1bar signal.

 

All the same reason that I listed in the post above yours can still be in play with an urban site just 5 blocks away. But indoor coverage is no guarantee of service, because some types of construction effect signal more than others.

 

Robert