Ripon School Investigation Turns up Carcinogens in the Soil Vapor

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Subscribe • Advertise Tuesday, October 1, 2019 Volume 7 | Issue 191

Ripon School Investigation Turns Up Carcinogens in the Soil Vapor By Jim Fryer, Inside Towers Managing Editor The Modesto Bee and CBS’ KMAX-TV (“Good Day Sacramento”) both ran stories late last week finally exonerating the cell tower industry of being the cancer-causing agent in Weston Elementary’s school children. Inside Towers reported on the flap in March as a series of “experts” were dutifully quoted by various media outlets as to the harmful effects of tower-generated microwave emissions. The stories were subsequently picked up and used throughout the U.S. and the world (the London Examiner, for one) by local groups and residents fighting tower structures on school grounds. The monopole’s owner, Sprint, under pressure, took down the tower to appease residents.

In May, the focus shifted away from towers as the groundwater in Ripon was tested by the Regional Water Board and found to contain high elements of TCE, a residual chemical from a Nestle’s factory that had been operating near the school. Further studies released earlier in September have cited the soil vapor containing PCE, a carcinogenic solvent found in dry-cleaning as a leading contributor to local cancer- causing occurrences.

KMAX-TV said the PCE is not related to the Nestle’s plant but found near sewer pipes in the area. The report entitled the Interim Report on Soil Vapor and Groundwater Investigations Former Nestle Ripon Site by Hayley Aldrich was released by the school district on September 8. Ohio’s Broadband Report is Key to Building a Statewide Strategy

On Tuesday, Ohio’s InnovateOhio ofﬁce, led by Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, in conjunction with the Ohio Department of Transportation, released a statewide broadband report outlining potential challenges and a list of connectivity goals while it develops a strategy. The goal is to bring high-speed internet to 300,000 unserved homes, which totals 1 million Ohioans. The report is based on the input of 24 national and local wireless carriers, per StateScoop.

According to Husted, the goals include bringing broadband to rural communities, building connected autonomous vehicle-friendly roadways and funding a stronger network across the state. To accomplish this, the state will partner with private carriers, he added.

The governor’s office found that there is “no silver bullet” or one-size-fits-all solution to expanding broadband throughout the state. “I’m not sure any state has found the magical solution for extending broadband and high-speed internet to rural areas that don’t have it,” Husted told StateScoop. “The reason is simply financial.” Continue Reading

Virginia School Sees Ball Field Tower Generating Light, Communications and Revenue

A rendering of what the tower would look like overlooking ball ﬁelds of Fauquier High

Fauquier High School was presented with a plan last week to replace an 80-foot light pole on the baseball ﬁeld at Virginia’s Fauquier High School with a 130-foot pole, according to the Fauquier Times. Milestone Communications of Reston, VA, made the presentation for a pole that would house lights at the current level and multiple cell carriers above that height. Matt Penning, a Milestone representative said T-Mobile already agreed to be a lead tenant on the site.

Fauquier County Public Schools would receive 40 percent of all gross revenue from the site plus $20,000 up front with $5,000 from each subsequent carrier that comes on the tower. Penning told the Times that Milestone still needs permission from the town of Warrenton and must conduct a community outreach campaign to local residents. He hoped all permissions could be obtained in the next nine months to get the tower in place for high school and American Legion baseball seasons.

Swarztrauber Joins FCC Chairman’s Ofﬁce

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai named Evan Swarztrauber as a policy advisor. He replaces Nathan Leamer, who recently left the Commission after two- and-a-half years.

Swarztrauber was a policy advisor for Commissioner Brendan Carr on media issues and was Director of Public Affairs at TechFreedom, managing the organization’s communications and outreach teams. He previously was a communications staffer in the New York State Assembly and worked on political campaigns in New York City.

“Evan did great work on a range of policy initiatives—from media modernization and cable franchise reform to wireless infrastructure and workforce development,” said Carr. “He has a knack for communicating complex and technical issues in a way that makes sense to everyday Americans while building support from a variety of stakeholders.”

Senators Praise FCC Waiver for WEA Early Earthquake Warnings Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) commended the FCC’s decision to grant a waiver that will help mobile service providers more effectively deploy early warnings for earthquakes in the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system.

Washington, Oregon, and California are developing a west coast earthquake early warning (EEW) system known as ShakeAlert. The ShakeAlert EEW system detects signiﬁcant earthquakes fast enough so that alerts can reach many people seconds before shaking arrives. A key public component of ShakeAlert is delivery of alerts to cell phone users via WEA messages. To be effective to the public, these messages must be uniquely identiﬁable and transmitted with the smallest possible delay.

Specifically, the three states and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) sought clarification and rule changes to cellular phone alerts that support the unique EEW needs. They requested: (1) alert geo-fencing be optional and determined by the alert originator, so that ShakeAlert has a route to bypass geo-fencing, (2) cell carriers optimize WEA delivery within their systems, ideally to achieve latencies of five seconds or less as needed for ShakeAlert, and (3) WEA support a unique alert attention sound for the EEW system. Continue Reading

September 30, 2019 at Close Tennessee City of Sewanee and Verizon Hunt for Site Locations

The Sewanee Community Council and Verizon have run a gamut of potential choices for siting a 285-foot macro tower in their Tennessee community. The discussion continued throughout September following a proposal to bring 1 GBps ﬁber optic internet service to the town, according to the Sewanne Mountain Messenger.

The location options included:

Behind the football stadium: Rejected by the State Historic Preservation Office as having an “adverse effect.” The water tower: Rejected. Would not provide adequate propagation. Further down Breakfield Road: Rejected. Inadequate propagation. Former convenience center: Rejected by Verizon for liability concerns from toxic chemicals revealed in a bore sample. Airport: Rejected by the airport as too tall. Nearby woods: Rejected. Environmental Protection Agency objected to tree cutting due to concerns about bats. The University: Possible. Sewanee, University of the South location is under consideration, although school officials said they are sensitive to concerns of neighboring residents.

Ericsson and KDDI to Deploy 5G Network

Communications service provider KDDI chose Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) as the primary 5G vendor for next-generation network deployment in Japan. KDDI expects the ﬁrst commercial live 5G services to be available starting March 2020. It predicts 93 percent coverage of 5G base station areas speciﬁed by Japan’s telecom regulation body by the end of March 2025.

Ericsson will supply KDDI with Radio Access Network equipment. These will allow KDDI to maximize its spectrum assets and enable the service provider to roll out commercial 5G services in several parts of Japan on the sub-6 GHz and 28 GHz bands. Continue Reading

Note: the following article ran in NATE’s Sept./Oct. Issue of Tower Times and is being reprinted here exclusively for Inside Towers by special permission from the association. Written by Andy Thomforde and Scott Kisting, members of the PAN (Planning Advisory Notice) Advisory Group and researched by Craig Snyder, Jeremy Buckles, John Erichsen, Ken Hill, Michelle Kang, and Marianna Kramarikova.

Horizontal Lifelines (Part 1 of 2)

The safety of workers deploying the telecommunications networks is of critical importance to all involved. Use of properly designed, installed and maintained fall protection equipment by trained workers enables the safe and effective deployment of these networks across the country.

Our industry is very familiar with temporary vertical lifelines and vertical safety climb systems installed as a part of climbing facilities on the antenna supporting structures that are utilized to provide telecommunications service throughout the country. Another option that many are not as familiar with is the use of horizontal lifelines. This PAN intends to focus on horizontal lifelines (HLL), the standards and processes that govern them, as well as considerations for when they are to be a part of an overall fall protection plan. Inspection requirements are a critical component that will be discussed as well. Continue Reading

FirstNet Gets New AT&T Lead

AT&T named the carrier’s FirstNet leader Chris Sambar as an executive vice president in the company. Sambar will be replaced by Jason Porter, who was previously AT&T’s chief data ofﬁcer and led the strategic-planning organization for AT&T Technology Operations.

“Serving our ﬁrst responders through FirstNet isn’t just a dream job for me, it’s a calling, and I’m excited to take on this special mission,” Porter said in a prepared statement.

Porter joined AT&T since 2002 and has held numerous leadership roles in “engineering, strategy, operations and marketing spanning across the consumer and business customer segments,” according to a biography provided by AT&T.

Sambar was AT&T’s senior vice president for FirstNet since the carrier was named as its contractor in March 2017. The carrier credits his, “dedication, leadership and contributions” as “creating a solid foundation for FirstNet’s continued success.”

California Thieves Loot Tower Batteries With Stolen Getaway Car According to the Chino Police Department, three men were arrested on Sunday night on suspicion of tower battery theft from a Verizon tower, reported the Champion Newspapers. The men, Klint Ulloa, 33, of Ontario; Justin Ridings, 35, of Fontana; and Justin Hensley, 41, of Whittier were each released on $50,000 bail.

Ofﬁcers were called Sunday at 9:03 p.m. as a battery theft was in progress and found a car ﬂeeing, which matched the description of a vehicle seen around previous tower thefts, said Sgt. Nancy Franklin. “The suspects were found to be in possession of the stolen batteries from the Verizon cell phone tower,” the sergeant said, adding that the vehicle was stolen as well. “The stolen cell phone tower batteries, valued at $6,000, were recovered and returned to Verizon and the stolen vehicle was returned to the registered owner.”

CTIA Launches “5G Futures” Event Series

CTIA, the wireless industry association, launched 5G Futures, a new event series featuring the policymakers and innovators that are making 5G a reality. The next generation of wireless, 5G will enable the industries of the future, from smart cities to the Internet of Things. The series began in Houston yesterday. 5G events in Denver, Minneapolis and Indianapolis are on tap for the rest of this month.

“From new smartphone applications to driverless cars, remote healthcare, connected education and more, the future is being built on 5G. We’re bringing 5G Futures to the cities where next-generation wireless is coming to life to foster conversations about how 5G will transform these communities,” said CTIA SVP/Chief Communications Ofﬁcer Nick Ludlum. Continue Reading Click on the image above to access the link featured in the tweet

Outdoor Small Cell Sites: Tackle Densiﬁcation Issues With Smaller, Local Solutions

CommScope's Outdoor cell site solutions are designed to help wireless networks increase their capacity and coverage quickly by integrating a technical solution in an aesthetic package to mitigate the challenging zoning and permitting environments. Our Metro Cell portfolio of outdoor small cell solutions are designed to meet both the thermal and aesthetic requirements of multiple types of radios and environments. They can quickly be installed on existing street furniture or come in kitted solutions to include new poles and RF components.

CommScope provides you with everything you need to deploy metro cells—from base station antennas, combining solutions to RF transmission systems and concealment solutions that conform to local municipal codes.

When it comes to expanding your network in urban and suburban environments, trust CommScope. Our array of inventive connectivity solutions can address your specific situation no matter how complex. To help you take your wireless network to the next level, connect with us and together we can figure out how to best unlock your current potential and future possibilities. Learn more here. Recent Releases Latest posting from the FCC 9/25/19 Click Here

VAWA Annual Golf Charity Open Ready to tee it up? For more than three decades, The River Course has hosted the world’s best players on both PGA and LPGA tours. It has also hosted thousands of lesser-known golﬁng superstars. Like you. So, please join the Virginia Wireless Association for their Annual Charity Golf Tournament on Wednesday, October 23 on the River Course at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, VA. There will be a social the night before (Tuesday, October 22) so arrive early and network with industry colleagues from all over the state. Click here to register.

Hayden Tower Service, Inc. is Hiring

Join a growing, well established company of tower erectors, tower maintenance technicians, and site civil construction crews to advance your career today!

Serving the entire Midwest and Southern regions from Topeka, KS Celebrating 40 years in the wireless industry Founding Member National Association of Tower Erectors Growing all divisions to meet demands of our highly sought out services Competitive wages, beneﬁts and per diem Health & Dental Insurance Proﬁt Sharing We train for safety & success Internal advancement

To apply, click here. Carcross, Yukon Territory contributed by Carl Guse. Email your tower shots or upload them here. Please be sure to include the tower location. Remember to follow us on Instagram!

Managing Editor: Jim Fryer Washington Bureau Chief: Leslie Stimson Reporters: Keara M. Piekanski & Kristen Stelzer Contributing Analyst: John Celentano Marketing & Advertising: Megan Reed Creative & Advertising: Cara Aston Advertising & Classiﬁeds: Phil Cook

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