(This post is another entry in an occasional series on Wireless Siting Design Style by Jonathan L. Kramer, Wireless attorney, planner, and advisor to hundreds of local governments in the U.S. )
In wireless planning, it’s often the little things that can make a big difference to the visual outcome of a project. Above is an animated photo (and simulation) of a church in Santa Fe, New Mexico that contains a cell site in the bell tower.
The bell tower, however, does not contain a bell, but rather only an exhaust fan and three panel antennas.
Merely adding inexpensive RF transparent (FRP) material covers to three of the four bell tower openings would have effectively obscured the antennas and the exhaust fan cover, while still maintaining the ventilation and RF transmission functions of the structure.
