subject: Types Of Cell Towers And Equipment [print this page] There are many land owners who either have a cellular tower up on their land or have been approached about having one up. If you have anything to do with one of these towers, you need to know about the different types of equipment and towers that might be going up on your property. Many people have agreed to all kinds of contracts involving towers that are all different styles, heights and shapes. Some of them are meant to be incognito, so you may pass by a tower and not even realize what it is. Some of them require more land than others, some need less maintenance, and so on. Here is a rundown of a few of the most common kinds of cell towers and the equipment that is needed for them.
There are three types of cell phone towers, one of which is the lattice tower. This type of tower is also referred to often as a self support tower, or SST. This type of structure affords the greatest flexibility so it is often used in conditions that require heavy loading. These structures are, for the most part, three sided with a triangular base. Even though the three sided towers are most typical, there are some of them that are constructed using four sides instead.
There is another type of tower in addition to the lattice tower, or self support tower. The next type is called a monopole tower. This one is a tower that is simply a single tube in the way that it looks. These types of towers require only one single foundation, and they also usually do not exceed two hundred feet in height. The antennas are mounted on the exteriors of these short, thin towers.
A guyed tower is the third type of tower, and these towers used to be the least expensive ones to construct. However, they also require the greatest amount of land to sit upon. For those towers that are more than three hundred feet in height, it is cheaper to use this type. Most radio and television towers are guyed towers, and these are the ones that are straight towers that are supported by guy wires to the ground to anchor it in place.
A cell phone tower also consists of many parts, and most of those parts are actually owned by different companies. Typically, a cell phone tower is built either by a tower company or a wireless phone company that is needing to expand their network coverage for customers who need better service. There are many questions that land owners have regarding these towers, one of which involves the antenna that is placed on the roof top.
