I hate cell towers

Jay Honeck wrote:

Has anyone else grown annoyed by the proliferation of cell towers with
strobe lights?

Technically, these are not cell phone towers - those are pretty low. These are PCS
towers. That makes no practical difference, since people are going to be calling them
"cell phones" forever, but that's why you're seeing more of them. The PCS towers are
tall enough to require strobes, and the wireless world is moving to PCS.

George Patterson
None of us is as dumb as all of us.

Tom Sixkiller wrote:

If it's something you don't want to hit, does it really matter if it's a
tower or another aircraft?

Good point.

George Patterson
None of us is as dumb as all of us.

If it's something you don't want to hit, does it really matter if it's a
tower or another aircraft?

Yes. The towers are 200 feet off the ground, mostly lost in the ground
clutter, and are certainly not anything I'm worried about hitting.

My greatest fear is that one day these goofy strobes MAY distract me from
*real* traffic.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

maybe because strobes are easier to see than the simple red lights.
I kind of like the idea of enhancing the visibilities of things
that would be bad to hit.

Well, if you have to worry about hitting a 200 foot tower five miles from
the airport, you are in deeper doo-doo than any strobe is going to help...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Actually the strobes indicate when calls are being placed. The red
light is stil there to let you know there is a tower underneath.

I had a funny thought - what if on landing you came in and say Mary
wrapped the wheels around a power line and your only salvation upon
finding out that you survived was the cell tower you had the township
remove?


On Mon, 14 Jun 2004 17:43:42 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

Has anyone else grown annoyed by the proliferation of cell towers with
strobe lights?

Every time we're coming into land in Iowa City -- especially when Mary is
flying, and I'm concentrating exclusively on traffic avoidance -- I spot one
or more cell tower strobes out of the corner of my eye, and momentarily
tense up. There always follows a nervous moment or two while we determine
that it's really not another aircraft...

Who is the idiot that decreed that all cell towers should have *strobe*
lights on them? What was wrong with the simple red lights that other
obstructions sport?

On Mon, 14 Jun 2004 21:52:05 GMT, Bob Noel
wrote:

maybe because strobes are easier to see than the simple red lights.

Increasingly, I am seeing strobes within red traffic lights, and even
within red octagonal stop signs. They do increase awareness, but of
course in the end will lead to accidents at the traffic lights / stop
signs that are not so equipped.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! weblog www.vivabush.org

In the old days, tower requirements were white and orange paint to bring
attention to the tower during the daytime and Blinking Red lights to
bring attention to the tower during the night time. (remember the white
and orange towers???)

Sometime in the 70's the rules were changed such that the towers did not
need the white/orange paint if they had 24 hour stobe lights.

Keeping a tower painted is quite pricey compared to the operating cost
of Stobe lights; to say nothing about how ugly it would be with a
proliferation of white/orange cell towers.

Marty Pautz

Bob Noel wrote:
In article itlzc.90691$3x.12580@attbi_s54, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:


Who is the idiot that decreed that all cell towers should have *strobe*
lights on them? What was wrong with the simple red lights that other
obstructions sport?


maybe because strobes are easier to see than the simple red lights.
I kind of like the idea of enhancing the visibilities of things
that would be bad to hit.

If everyone had ADS-B, then we could have little ADS-B transmitters
on towers (neat idea - but will never happen because we'll never
get ADS-B).

"steve" opened mouth and inserted foot...
I bet if you were to collide with a cell tower with NO strobe, you'd be on
the FCC's ass like **** on velrco to get a strobe on it.

Even more so if it didn't have a red light, either. :~)

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
Who is the idiot that decreed that all cell towers should have *strobe*
lights on them? What was wrong with the simple red lights that other
obstructions sport?

Steve...read the whole thing before engaging mouth...ah, I mean keyboard.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:C8vzc.93394$3x.71344@attbi_s54...
If it's something you don't want to hit, does it really matter if it's
a
tower or another aircraft?

Yes. The towers are 200 feet off the ground, mostly lost in the ground
clutter, and are certainly not anything I'm worried about hitting.

My greatest fear is that one day these goofy strobes MAY distract me from
*real* traffic.

Someday a wingtip strobe may distract you from another, closer, aircraft
that doesn't have strobes. :~)

How far are cell towers above AGL? The ones I have seen are only maybe a
couple hundred feet.

"Tom Sixkiller" wrote:
"steve" opened mouth and inserted foot...
I bet if you were to collide with a cell tower with NO strobe, you'd be
on the FCC's ass like **** on velrco to get a strobe on it.

Even more so if it didn't have a red light, either. :~)

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
Who is the idiot that decreed that all cell towers should have
*strobe* lights on them? What was wrong with the simple red lights
that other obstructions sport?

Steve...read the whole thing before engaging mouth...ah, I mean keyboard.

--
Mike Flyin'8