How to Spot Sprint Antennas and RRUs (Samsung)

[jefbal99]

Is this a Samsung panel? Its on a roof so its hard for me to tell?

 

 

 

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That looks like an at&t lte setup rather than a sprint.  I only see 4 wires going into the RRUs.

[Marv1]

Sprint gave Engadget a close tour of their Samsung roof top site. Great pictures: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/12/sprint-testing-lte-cell-sites-in-san-francisco-we-go-hands-on/

 

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Here's a short video of this article.

 

[SID3232]

Im sorry if this was already discussed but what is the Canadian IBEZ?

[COZisBack]

It's the Canadian version of a PEZ dispenser.

 

Seriously though, in an unofficial description it's the towers along the US/Canadian border. With 800mhz being a stronger signal than 1900mhz they don't want or aren't allowed to have the signal penetrate across the border like that.

 

It's the same with Mexico IBEZ.

 

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[jefbal99]

I think it stands for International Border Enforcement Zone

[MrZorbatron]

exclusion not enforcement.

[smalltimehack]

More Samsung equipment.

Panel and rru.

 

[ryry4ya]

More Samsung equipment.

 

Panel and rru.

 

 

 

 

that's 800 and 1900 RUU yes ?

 

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[smalltimehack]

I believe just 1900 but I'm no expert on 800 rru id.

I know we're slated to get 800 later on which is when the two legacy panels will come down and new equipment will go up.

[lilotimz]

More Samsung equipment.

Panel and rru.

 

Left: 800

Right : 1900

[smalltimehack]

Awesome! So is it safe to say that when 1900 gets turned on 800 will as well on this site or can they control them individually?

[lilotimz]

Awesome! So is it safe to say that when 1900 gets turned on 800 will as well on this site or can they control them individually?

 

That is what we hope happens but each site is unique and anything goes. 

[smalltimehack]

Gotcha. Thanks for the confirmation and info!

[mhammett]

It is perfectly fine to call them panels. A panel is the whole assembly housing. There are multiple antennas within the panel. It depends how you use it whether it is right or wrong.

 

It would be proper to say, "I see a panel up there." It would be improper to say, "The panel broadcasts a signal."

 

It would be improper to say, "I see an antenna up there." But it would be proper to say, "I received the signal from the antenna."

 

It's pretty semantical in many ways. It's not like the tower/site argument. Because not every site is on a tower. But every Sprint antenna is inside a panel.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

Many sites have more than one tower, whether the same tower company or not. ;-)

 

There are many types of antenna including panel, parabolic dish, grid dish, yagi, omni, horn, etc.

[doug526]

I bought a Canon Rebel T3 and a 75-300 lens today and snapped some photos of some Samsung sites in my hometown. All of the camera settings were on Full Auto... so if anyone has any tips on how to use this camera to take the best shots of cell sites I'd appreciate it!!

 

Here is a water tower site:

 

 

Here is a site at the Avon CSX rail yard.  

 

[lordsutch]

I bought a Canon Rebel T3 and a 75-300 lens today and snapped some photos of some Samsung sites in my hometown. All of the camera settings were on Full Auto... so if anyone has any tips on how to use this camera to take the best shots of cell sites I'd appreciate it!!

 

Main things on any DSLR: make sure you have image stabilization/vibration reduction on (on Nikons, it's a switch on the lens itself; not sure on the Canon lenses) and hold the camera steady for a few seconds after focusing to let IS/VR do its thing.  If you have trouble getting the tower in focus with AF, try using aperture-priority mode (A) on the mode dial and dial in a higher f-number for more depth of field, or manually focus at infinity.  Both of your shots so far look great, though, so you're on the right track.

[mhammett]

Any hints as to the configuration as depicted here? Two sectors have two antenna and four RRU for each sector.

 

http://db.tt/F92IWFlf

 

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[lilotimz]

Any hints as to the configuration as depicted here? Two sectors have two antenna and four RRU for each sector.

 

http://db.tt/F92IWFlf

 

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Super high capacity narrow beamwidth setup with 33 or 45 degree antennas. 

[mhammett]

Super high capacity narrow beamwidth setup with 33 or 45 degree antennas.

What would the RRU setup be like? 3x 1900 1x 800? Or unknown, I guess.

 

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[lilotimz]

What would the RRU setup be like? 3x 1900 1x 800? Or unknown, I guess.

 

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1x 800 / 1x 1900 per panel antenna. Notice that they're pointed slightly away from each other. 

[mhammett]

1x 800 / 1x 1900 per panel antenna. Notice that they're pointed slightly away from each other. 

 

I did realize that and now feel stupid for having asked. ;-)

[doug526]

Took some more pics today of a high voltage mounted Samsung site in Indy. This site is currently marked 3G/800 complete on the Sponsor maps.

 

 

Here is the base station cabinets.

 

[doug526]

Here is a high capacity Samsung site in Indianapolis, currently 3G/4G/800 complete.

 

[jmeduri82]

The two towers in my area look as if the antenna's and RRU are up but there is no sign of LTE yet, does one crew come and install the hardware and another run the cabling, both towers are shared sites with AT&T or Verizon who have already done a LTE install, so I am assuming the site already has backhaul. It just seemed odd to me.

[COZisBack]

The two towers in my area look as if the antenna's and RRU are up but there is no sign of LTE yet, does one crew come and install the hardware and another run the cabling, both towers are shared sites with AT&T or Verizon who have already done a LTE install, so I am assuming the site already has backhaul. It just seemed odd to me.

There is one large crew. Part of that crew does the installation of the Antennas, RRHs, Fiber Ethernet up the tower. Another part of the crew installs the Basestation equipment and configures the equipment (Ericsson). If the Backhaul Vendor has done their job and installed the backhaul prior to Ericsson configuring the equipment, the site will go Live with LTE, otherwise it only goes 3G or 3G/800 live. The problem is, Backhaul Vendors such as ATT and TWC are taking their damn time to get work done for Sprint. Each provider (Sprint, ATT, VZW, T-Mo) has their own line of Fiber from a backhaul vendor. Some don't even share the same vendor.