Can ice accumulation mess with the towers?

[Steven800]

My question is can ice accumulation cause problems with the cell towers or is it possible for them to fall almost like power line polls due to ice. Just curious because we are supposed to get  a lot of ice here in Little Rock.  

[JDD]

A few years ago we had one of our local towers fall because of ice build up and strong winds. Not sure if one or the other was the main reason for failure. I don't think that it is a common problem just a mix of events that lead to this one falling.

[Rukin1]

My question is can ice accumulation cause problems with the cell towers or is it possible for them to fall almost like power line polls due to ice. Just curious because we are supposed to get  a lot of ice here in Little Rock.  

They should be good. We had a ice storm here a few years back and we just lost power... The phones worked when the Backups turned on..  And we lost power for 4 days lol

[shockerengr]

if it's heavy ice, you might get some signal attenuation, and not just from ice on the tower. (ice on trees and stuff)

Other than that, i don't think you'd see too much degradation assuming there isn't physical damage.

[AJC1973]

ice accumulation on the panels can degrade the signal... i mean water is an insulator so, so is ice... insulators aren't the best for transmissions of signals lol i would think that most panels would have some sort of heater to keep ice and snow buildup from occurring 

[AJC1973]

but i wouldnt think that you would have to worry about them falling i mean depending on where the panels are located id be more worried about power lines failing that power the towers themselves and doesnt most of them have generator backups just in case? rather than the tower falling because of ice accumulation 

[Steven800]

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated and most if not all have generators I think.

[WiWavelength]

...i would think that most panels would have some sort of heater to keep ice and snow buildup from occurring 

 

Yeah, that "heater" is called RF.

 

AJ

[digiblur]

Ericsson is going to be busy swapping 800smr RRUs in the spring due to them freezing over during the winter since they don't use them.

[xdfgf]

My question is can ice accumulation cause problems with the cell towers or is it possible for them to fall almost like power line polls due to ice. Just curious because we are supposed to get  a lot of ice here in Little Rock.  

A few years ago we had a substantial ice storm here in central Kentucky and all of the big 4 had substantial damage to equipment, mostly due to ice falling from the towers in large chunks and hitting the equipment below. Only one tower that I know of actually had equipment pulled from the rack by ice but it was a local WISP and not a carrier.

[anthony.spina97]

Ericsson is going to be busy swapping 800smr RRUs in the spring due to them freezing over during the winter since they don't use them.

And it's humor like that that makes my day better every time I log on this site

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

[MrZorbatron]

Ericsson is going to be busy swapping 800smr RRUs in the spring due to them freezing over during the winter since they don't use them.

Doesn't mean they don't have power.

[digiblur]

Doesn't mean they don't have power.

No signal on the spectrum analyzer means no amps kicking out heat.

[The Dave]

Ericsson is going to be busy swapping 800smr RRUs in the spring due to them freezing over during the winter since they don't use them.

So do I take this as when hell finally freezes over we will finally get some 800 MHz acceptances from Ericsson?

[MrZorbatron]

No signal on the spectrum analyzer means no amps kicking out heat.

I can all but guarantee at least 25 watts of heat from the power supply and control/processing hardware in each radio.

[digiblur]

I can all but guarantee at least 25 watts of heat from the power supply and control/processing hardware in each radio.

Not being in an Ericsson market I can understand missing the joke.

[MrZorbatron]

Not being in an Ericsson market I can understand missing the joke.

Would you rather change places and live in Pripyat?

[S4GRU]

Would you rather change places and live in Pripyat?

I think he'd consider it, as long as Ericsson is not the vendor there.

 

Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[MrZorbatron]

I think he'd consider it, as long as Ericsson is not the vendor there.

 

Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Except that there will still be no 800 MHz here.