Sutro Tower, Inc. Presorted 1 La Avanzada St. First Class San Francisco, CA 94131 US Postage PAID San Francisco, CA connection Permit No. 5 THE NEWSLETTER FOR THE SUTRO TOWER NEIGHBORHOOD | JULY 2017 Meeting with neighbors at the Forest Knolls block party. See story on page 2. Changing the Light Bulbs on Sutro Tower Questions? Visit o, how many workers does it take to change a light Sbulb on Sutro Tower? The answer is 1, but he’s not just www.sutrotower.com/ screwing a new bulb into a socket. for-our-neighbors/, or contact Sutro Tower The tower has 27 red lights, per Federal Aviation Admin- istration safety regulations, to ensure it is visible to pilots. Chief Operating Officer The light bulbs aren’t really red -- a red plastic lens, usually Eric Dausman at 18 inches high and 15 inches in diameter, goes over a bulb 415-681-8850 or and the wires, resistors, and other electronics needed so [email protected]. the lights turn on and off automatically. “Actually, it’s usually not the bulb itself that needs changing, it’s the wiring or other things that fail,” said Shane Best, Sutro Tower’s safety and maintenance manager. “The constant vibration from the wind wears and Neighbors Welcome New Sutro Driveway frays even the best materials.” Best should know – he and safety engineer Dave Gaddy are the ones who literally “ his is wonderful, it’s beautiful,” keep Sutro’s lights on. Tsaid Lisa Gautier of St. Germain Avenue as she walked her dog Tykhe, “We climb on the outside of the tower to reach the light bulbs,” Best explained. “We wear a safety harness, with up Sutro Tower’s new driveway. “It lifelines, carabiners, lanyards, rope grabs, and tool belts. was so full of potholes and gravely It weighs about 40 pounds, plus your tools. Pre-planning, before.” education, inspecting your equipment, and keeping your The new driveway is 340 feet long, first and second connections – that’s how we stay safe while we’re working up there.” Sutro Tower work practices with 613 feet of curb, from Sutro follow the standards of OSHA, Cal-OSHA, the National Tower’s security gate to the property Preparing the driveway for new Association of Tower Erectors and the American National line at Palo Alto Avenue – the portion pavement; Lisa Gautier enjoying the Standards Institute. used both as an access road to Sutro results “The toughest lights to change are the ones at the very Tower and as a walkway for hikers, Shane Best unclasps the top, because you’re tied in at your feet instead of from bicyclists and dog owners heading lens cover and changes a Planning Commission. The rest of the above,” said Best, who has worked on towers around the to and from Summit Reservoir. The light bulb 560 feet up access road, from Dellbrook Avenue to world for 20 years. contractor, Tim Wadleigh of the the property line, is a city roadway, La Wadleigh Group, also laid 142 feet of Avanzada Street. Repairs would be done by the Department new concrete and gutter within the fenced area. In all, crews IN THIS ISSUE of Public Works, which is responsible for city streets, or the laid 750 tons of base rock and asphalt over three weeks. Recreation and Parks Department, which owns the land on 1 Changing the 2 Helping the 2 Fog 3 FCC Auction: 4 Neighbors Permits for the driveway improvements were granted by the both sides of the street. “Maybe people are going to start Light Bulbs on Community Experiments Extensive Welcome San Francisco Planning Department and approved by the paving it themselves,” Gautier said. Sutro Tower and S.F. at Sutro Tower Work at Sutro New Sutro Schools Grow Tower Driveway 4 | SUTRO TOWER CONNECTION Helping the Community and S.F. Schools FCC Auction Means Extensive hether it’s handing out souvenirs at a And households throughout the area now have Work at Sutro Tower Wcommunity party or teaching young people Sutro Tower flashlights, pens and pet dishes – about antennas, Sutro Tower representatives are souvenirs given away at the block parties of the he Federal Communications for fifth generation (5G) wireless regular sponsors and participants at neighborhood Forest Knolls Neighborhood Organization and the Commission’s complex auction services and applications” as mobile events. Midtown Terrace Neighborhood Association, as Tof broadcast spectrum ended data use grows. well as at an informal potluck for dog owners at this spring with 10 Bay Area television For example, this spring Burton High School Repacking will be largely invisible to Sutro Reservoir. “We are proud to sponsor com- stations selling their broadcast fre- teacher Amber Zertuche brought her class of viewers. But the technical expenses munity events and to join our neighbors at these quencies to wireless providers. The physics and engineering seniors to Sutro Tower for involved in repacking Bay Area gatherings,” said Sutro Tower vice president Eric stations all have indicated that they a field trip, as the tower became a real-life science stations so they can broadcast on their Dausman. “They’re fun, it’s great to meet our neigh- will remain on the air by classroom demonstrating wave lengths and other new frequencies, in par- bors and answer any questions people may have, making agreements with principles of physics that the class was studying. ticular changing antennas and the food is always good!” other stations to broadcast Here are the Bay A few weeks later, dozens of kindergarten through Area channels that on Sutro Tower, will be on other frequencies or to fifth grade students took turns trying on the safety sold their frequen- tens of millions of dollars. share frequencies – which harness used by workers who maintain Sutro cies and will move The changes at Sutro means a lot of feder- Tower hundreds of feet in the air, at Clarendon Burton High School physics students their broadcasting Tower, deemed “extremely ally-mandated work to School’s annual Science Day. on a field trip to Sutro Tower to new frequencies. complex” by the FCC, will replace antennas at Sutro Four have antennas occur at the end of the Tower in coming years. at Sutro Tower. FCC’s nationwide transi- TV broadcasters, even “We’re thrilled to support fog-to-water CALL SIGN CHANNEL tion – probably in 2020. those who did not partic- Fog Experiments at Sutro Tower Expand experiments in the Bay Area, and then KRON 4 ipate in the auction, must “Broadcasters are inform- to be able to use the captured water KOFY 20 he fog collection research project The German Water “repack” their transmission ing the FCC what they right here to make a fun local product,” KRCB 22 at Sutro Tower expanded this Foundation’s frequencies into a smaller need to do,” said Eric said Caley Shoemaker, Hangar 1’s head KTSF 26 spring, with new fog catchers and CloudFisher fog overall band of frequen- Dausman, chief operating T distiller. “What the researchers learn a variety of special meshes installed so collector and a cies under the FCC’s rules. KEXT 27 officer for Sutro Tower Inc. here helps FogQuest and the German researchers can compare their efficien- new FogQuest No stations will be able to KMTP 32 “Once that is finalized, Water Foundation meet the water cies. There are now four fog catchers fog catcher have KTNC 42 we’ll work with the City needs of peoples in arid areas through- broadcast on a frequency from the nonprofit FogQuest, and a large different meshes KEMO 50 Planning Department so out the world, and could help farmers above channel 37. This fog-to-water system called CloudFisher, repacking can be done in California. We are grateful for the is possible because TV KQEH 54 developed by the firm Aqualonis for the within the FCC’s mandated cooperation of Sutro Tower that makes stations switched to all-dig- KTLN 68 nonprofit German Water Foundation. schedule.” this project possible.” ital signals in 2009, so Both FogQuest and the German Water broadcasters need less spectrum than In all, 50 wireless companies spent The fog collectors at Sutro Tower Foundation have installations captur- they did in pre-digital days. Thus some $19.8 billion for 70 megahertz of produce up to 200 gallons of water a ing water from fog in arid yet cloudy spectrum space previously allotted to spectrum nationwide. T-Mobile bought week under the typical San Francisco regions of a dozen developing countries, broadcasters could now be used by 45 percent of the available spectrum, The experimental fog catchers at Sutro volunteer for both of the nonprofits. spring-summer conditions of morning including Chile, Colombia, Ethiopia, wireless companies, which prompted spending nearly $8 billion. Dish Tower are sponsored by Hangar 1, the “We’re uniquely situated: lots of fog and fog and no rain. Precise equipment Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, and Yemen. Congress to authorize the auction. Network spent $6.2 billion, Comcast Alameda distillery, which also is making lots of researchers in one place,” he from the U.S. Geological Survey is For example, a system of 35 large fog $1.7 billion, and AT&T $910 million, sizeable donations to both FogQuest said. micro-measuring the different sizes of Charles Meisch, spokesperson for the collectors at the village of Tojquia in according to FCC data. Sprint and and the German Water Foundation, and moisture droplets from the different FCC in Washington, explained that the mountains of western Guatema- Hangar 1 will use the water captured Verizon did not participate. Of the is supporting research by Professor meshes on the various collectors at “repacking” television signals with la produces an average of 200 liters by the experimental fog catchers at $19.8 billion received, $10 billion went Daniel Fernandez at Cal State Monterey Sutro Tower.