Legacy/NV Antenna Placement Question *Pic*

[burnout8488]

 

Here's a site near me.... It is a 3G accepted site but I do not believe they are utilizing the NV hardware yet. (Speedtests are mediocre, even late at night) Are the three smaller panels the legacy antennas? If so...

 

Why would only one NV antenna be installed, when three legacy panels were installed previously pointing in all directIons? Is it typical for them to come back and install more antennas when they remove the legacy hardware? If they come to remove the legacy antennas and don't replace them with anything else, my town will be screwed for sprint service.

 

This tower has looked like this for a very long time, it just seems they're done here. But the legacy panels must come down, right?

[halcyoncmdr]

3G accepted but no 4G could mean that there is no upgraded backhaul available at that site yet. They could still be using legacy hardware, but likely not. It likely is on new hardware with legacy backhaul attached. The upgraded backhaul is just a simple little box on the ground near the cabinets, nothing spectacular to look at really, so people don't really look for it, and it's usually hard to find because of that as well. 

 

As for why only one panel is on the tower, there are a number of possibilities. A couple just off the top of my head... Nearby sites may plan to have the panel alignment adjusted to compensate, and thus provide overall better performance or reduce interference with each other. They may not be done yet (unlikely if it is an accepted site, but not impossible).

 

Legacy panel removal is not a priority at the moment. Unless there are some weird clauses in the leasing agreements about dormant hardware I suppose.

 

A single NV panel has multiple antennae inside and is all that is needed. The legacy panels were usually single antenna and thus needed multiple physical panels for the same number of carriers, etc. New technology is more efficient and compact. It is weird that there is literally just one NV panel for that whole site though. We'd need to know more about surrounding sites really to get a good idea why it may be that way.

[digiblur]

 

Here's a site near me.... It is a 3G accepted site but I do not believe they are utilizing the NV hardware yet. (Speedtests are mediocre, even late at night) Are the three smaller panels the legacy antennas? If so...

 

Why would only one NV antenna be installed, when three legacy panels were installed previously pointing in all directIons? Is it typical for them to come back and install more antennas when they remove the legacy hardware? If they come to remove the legacy antennas and don't replace them with anything else, my town will be screwed for sprint service.

 

This tower has looked like this for a very long time, it just seems they're done here. But the legacy panels must come down, right?

 

That's a 2 sector site.  I can see the other RRU barely behind the monopole.  Once everything is switched over to NV they will come back and remove the legacy gear.  This date is driven by their renewal of the lease as they don't want to re-up with double equipment on the site.

[burnout8488]

Thanks for all the feedback. I can confirm that this is the only site that serves the majority of my town, and have verified with the Signal app that I am connected to it and nothing else, despite living behind the new antenna and not in the "line of fire." 

 

Are you guys saying that the single NV antenna visible in the photo has the capability of serving users BEHIND it? There is only one new antenna mounted on this site. Digiblur, what do you mean by sector? Each RRU is for providing the antenna with different bands, correct? One for 1900Mhz LTE, and the other for 800Mhz?

 

This is the only site that serves my house right now, and I'm a few miles north of it. The new antenna is points South - so the legacy gear *Must* be still powered on unless someone can confirm that the single NV antenna is a 360º type deal. 

[digiblur]

Thanks for all the feedback. I can confirm that this is the only site that serves the majority of my town, and have verified with the Signal app that I am connected to it and nothing else, despite living behind the new antenna and not in the "line of fire." 

 

Are you guys saying that the single NV antenna visible in the photo has the capability of serving users BEHIND it? There is only one new antenna mounted on this site. Digiblur, what do you mean by sector? Each RRU is for providing the antenna with different bands, correct? One for 1900Mhz LTE, and the other for 800Mhz?

 

This is the only site that serves my house right now, and I'm a few miles north of it. The new antenna is points South - so the legacy gear *Must* be still powered on unless someone can confirm that the single NV antenna is a 360º type deal. 

 

No, a sector is designed to not have signal behind it.  That's the point of a sector to reuse the same frequency in the area to provide service to more users. 

 

You would have to get another picture as the one you have looks like I can see a few wires trying to peek around the side of the monopole indicating there is another set of RRUs and network vision antenna.  I can clearly see the legacy antennas providing coverage on two sectors. 

 

After looking at your phone and zooming in I can say with 99.9% certainty there is another set of RRUs behind the monopole, I can see the signature bracket.  Then looking at the direction of the antennas you can easily see this is a two sector site since the antennas a pointing in almost opposite directions of 180 degrees from each other.

[burnout8488]

I will go back and take another look today, and get a picture if I can get around to that side of the tower. I could've sworn that there was only one new antenna but will double check to be sure.

[WiWavelength]

burnout...

 

If I am not mistaken, this is your second thread started on this issue.  Please do not do that; keep relevant info in one place.  Moreover, local issues belong within their respective market threads.  So, expect your threads to be merged and moved later today.

 

Thanks...

 

AJ

[burnout8488]

This is a different site with a different issue. Sorry for the confusion. Please do not merge! It might make my other thread confusing.

 

I will stay in my market's thread from now on, this forum topic has been resolved Learned a lot!

 

I did just revisit this site, and there is indeed another antenna on the backside. Good call digi.

 

[leerage]

Looks like they already got the legacy stuff pulled from the site.

[burnout8488]

Whoa, is it just me or does it look like they did that between the time I took both pictures? 

 

It must have happened early this morning. Coincidence! 

[cdk]

Whoa, is it just me or does it look like they did that between the time I took both pictures? 

 

It must have happened early this morning. Coincidence! 

 

How much time between the pictures?

[burnout8488]

Took the first one yesterday afternoon, so right around 24 hours. 

[cdk]

Took the first one yesterday afternoon, so right around 24 hours. 

 

Talk about coincidence!