How close is too close to cell towers?

[ITGuy1024]

Hey all,

I've read many posts across the internet saying to avoid flying near these at all costs. Others said they fly next to them with no issues.
I'm a pretty cautious pilot but there's a building falling down that I want to get some pictures of and there's a cell tower about 50-80 yards away.

Too close for comfort or fly?

 

[Kelly57]

Here is a inspection video that I did with a P4P. I try to stay out of the direct line of the radiating elements. I had more interference with the water tower. Go figure.

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[ArmyVet]

Theoretically speaking, you should not have any issues. Frequencies are not close.

If you were to somehow get close enough to an antenna that was radiating that overloaded your receiver. Your Phantom might lose signal. And try to RTH, maybe right thru the tower........OUCH.

Then again it might not..........haha

Take your chances and have fun!!!!!!!!

 

[ArmyVet]

And one other point. Cell Phone towers can sometimes have other services on them. Like Micro Wave antennas and Ham Radio etc.

So you never know.

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

And one other point. Cell Phone towers can sometimes have other services on them. Like Micro Wave antennas and Ham Radio etc.

So you never know.

However IF you flew in a directed "micro wave" beam....wouldn't that concentrated beam.....fry the drones electronics and the drone would fall from the sky ?

 

[ArmyVet]

However IF you flew in a directed "micro wave" beam....wouldn't that concentrated beam.....fry the drones electronics and the drone would fall from the sky ?

I don't know about fry. What could happen is the receiver circuits could get overloaded as you got closer and it would disrupt the incoming signal. And yes that would at minimum induce the fail safe ,RTH. Hopefully not permanent damage, as in FRY

But who knows haha. Maybe we need a real RF engineer to jump in here.


Have fun and good luck.

Bill

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

I don't know about fry. What could happen is the receiver circuits could get overloaded as you got closer and it would disrupt the incoming signal. And yes that would at minimum induce the fail safe ,RTH. Hopefully not permanent damage, as in FRY

But who knows haha. Maybe we need a real RF engineer to jump in here.


Have fun and good luck.

Bill

Yesssss we got them here ....some pretty well educated drone owners and ones a frequency engineer ...give him time and we will get a answer....Army Vet me too 1st Air Cav 2/8th HHC ( field radio repairman)

 

[ArmyVet]

Yesssss we got them here ....some pretty well educated drone owners and ones a frequency engineer ...give him time and we will get a answer....Army Vet me too 1st Air Cav 2/8th HHC ( field radio repairman)

Thanks for your service!
Welcome back brother.

HooaH!

 

[N017RW]

The commercial communication signals won't fry circuits in the literal sense but can 'swamp' the receiver thus making it deaf... if you will.

Given sufficient duration this could initiate RTH which may then cause a collision with the structure depending on the particulars.

I used the commercial disclaimer above so as not to preclude the possibility of weapon-izing such radiation to create a failure or similar fault.

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

Yesssss we got them here ....some pretty well educated drone owners and ones a frequency engineer ...give him time and we will get a answer....Army Vet me too 1st Air Cav 2/8th HHC ( field radio repairman)

Back in the early experiments of microwave...a engineer walked in front of a dish that was powered UP and it melted his chocolate bar in his pocket..and it was then forbidden to get exposed like that..and very dangerous !

 

[ArmyVet]

Back in the early experiments of microwave...a engineer walked in front of a dish that was powered UP and it melted his chocolate bar in his pocket..and it was then forbidden to get exposed like that..and very dangerous !

Sounds like the story I remember about the invention of the Microwave oven...............or close

 

[N017RW]

From Livescience.com:
(snipped)

"Percy LeBaron Spencer was a self-taught engineer who had never finished grammar school, according to the Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communication and Computation. While at the Raytheon Corp., he worked on magnetrons — vacuum tubes that produce microwave radiation and are used in radar systems.

Spencer was testing a magnetron when he noticed that the chocolate bar in his pocket had melted, according to Raytheon’s company history. "

 

[LConn]

Yesssss we got them here ....some pretty well educated drone owners and ones a frequency engineer ...give him time and we will get a answer....Army Vet me too 1st Air Cav 2/8th HHC ( field radio repairman)

There are other entities on towers than just the cell carriers. I am CNO for one of the largest Wireless ISP's in the country, we have 20,000 wireless routers in the field including several hundred commercial towers both owned and leased. WISP's will often have a rad center on the same towers that cell carriers are on. While WISP's use some licensed frequencies the vast majority of the equipment is in 2.4 and 5.8 on both the sector antennas as well as backhaul dishes. We have 5.8 radios on dishes as large as 6ft. On a 400ft tower we own we have 31 radios in active operation, almost all in the 5.8 ISM band.

We use directional antennas on our remotes to increase signal strength and scan the frequencies before we put the drones up near the antennas. The drones can be overwhelmed by the tower rf and it doesn't have to be on the exact same frequency (due to inducted voltages, noise, harmonics, or intermod). I would definitely try to stay away from being directly in front of the antennas, especially the dishes which can be putting out a 1000w.

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

There are other entities on towers than just the cell carriers. I am CNO for one of the largest Wireless ISP's in the country, we have 20,000 wireless routers in the field including several hundred commercial towers both owned and leased. WISP's will often have a rad center on the same towers that cell carriers are on. While WISP's use some licensed frequencies the vast majority of the equipment is in 2.4 and 5.8 on both the sector antennas as well as backhaul dishes. We have 5.8 radios on dishes as large as 6ft. On a 400ft tower we own we have 31 radios in active operation, almost all in the 5.8 ISM band.

We use directional antennas on our remotes to increase signal strength and scan the frequencies before we put the drones up near the antennas. The drones can be overwhelmed by the tower rf and it doesn't have to be on the exact same frequency (due to inducted voltages, noise, harmonics, or intermod). I would definitely try to stay away from being directly in front of the antennas, especially the dishes which can be putting out a 1000w.

Thank You Soooooooooooooo much LConn...beings im involved in scanners and VHF UHF and higher frequencys this is a great bunch of info..Thank you so much.

 

[ravedog]

Question regarding legality: isn’t there an FAA rule that forbids flying within 2000’ of a tower that has guy wires? Someone clarify?

 

[N017RW]

Question regarding legality: isn’t there an FAA rule that forbids flying within 2000’ of a tower that has guy wires? Someone clarify?

Yea mostly.
You need to maintain 500’ from any structure which would include wires. There’s a kind of rule of thumb that you maintain horizontal separation equal to the guyed tower’s max AGL point.

However cell sites don’t typically require wires.

 

[ravedog]

Thanks!

 

[ArmyVet]

Question regarding legality: isn’t there an FAA rule that forbids flying within 2000’ of a tower that has guy wires? Someone clarify?

Legal or not, flying that close to a guyed tower seems like asking for trouble. CRASH!
Guys can sometimes look invisible depending on conditions. And you probably don't have good depth perception in that situation.

Have fun

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

Legal or not, flying that close to a guyed tower seems like asking for trouble. CRASH!
Guys can sometimes look invisible depending on conditions. And you probably don't have good depth perception in that situation.

Have fun

as far as these guys fly way beyond line of sight !......its a accident waiting to happen !.....and a great lost of a beautiful flying drone !..bet chaaaa i get No Likes !

 

[Frank Pliska III]

Back in the early experiments of microwave...a engineer walked in front of a dish that was powered UP and it melted his chocolate bar in his pocket..and it was then forbidden to get exposed like that..and very dangerous !

wonder what it did to his kahunas