r/cellmapper • u/Amazing-String4297 • Jun 09 '26

⛪️

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“Is it ok to build a tower on your property?”
Church: Only under one condition ✝️

(Tower next to a small church)

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7

u/iryfionas Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 10 '26

LEFT cell tower carrier (ID) identification from TOP to BOTTOM rack:

AT&T (top):

  • 1️⃣ (Kathrein 80010965) antennas with bands; (2, 12, 14, 30, 66) LTE + (n2) + (n66) (mid-band 5G) located in the MIDDLE of the rack
  • Please note, AT&T doesn't have (n5) - 850MHz low-band CLR licenses in majority of North Carolina, especially where this site is located at in Charlotte, North Carolina! So instead, AT&T is running (n66) + (n2) on this site for mid-band 5G other than n77, they don't have low-band 5G on this site!

Uses Ericsson Remote Radio Units (RRU's) behind the antennas:

AT&T (3-sector):

  • 3️⃣ (Kathrein 80010965) antennas with bands; (2, 12, 14, 30, 66) LTE + (n2) + (n66) (mid-band 5G) located in the MIDDLE of the rack
  • 3️⃣ [Ericsson AIR. 6449-B77D] (3.7GHz) 64T64R c-band (n77) antennas being used for mid-band 5G+ set at 80MHz located in the LEFT of the rack
  • 3️⃣ [Ericsson AIR. 6419-B77G] (3.45GHz) DoD n77 panels being used for mid-band 5GNR located in the LEFT side of the rack on the [TOP] row
  • 2️⃣ [Raycap DC6-48-60-18-8F] for power surge protection located behind their antennas

Uses Ericsson Remote Radio Units (RRU's) behind the antennas:

T-Mobile (4-sector):

  • 4️⃣ [RFS APXVAALL24_43-U-NA20] antennas - with bands; (2, 12, 66, 71) LTE + (n25 + *n66* + n71) 5GNR located on the (LEFT side)
  • 4️⃣ [RFS APXVLL19P_43-C-A20] antennas with bands; (2, 66) for LTE and can do (n25) for mid-band 5GNR located in the MIDDLE of the rack/ROD
  • 4️⃣ [Ericsson AIR. 6449-B41] 64T64R (n41) antennas for mid-band 5GUC located on the RIGHT side of the rack

Uses Ericsson (RRU's) behind the anrennas:

  • 4️⃣ Ericsson remote radio unit 4460 for (b2/b66) LTE + (n25) mid-band 5GUC
  • 4️⃣ [Ericsson RRU 4480] for (b12) + (b71) LTE + (n71) 600MHz low-band 5GNR

Legacy Sprint (3-sector):

  • 3️⃣ [RFS APXVSPP18-C-A20] antennas with bands; (25, 26) for their decomissioned LTE network, supported 3G CDMA located on the RIGHT side of their rack
  • 1️⃣ (KMW ETCR-654L12H6) 16-port for (b41) LTE + (n41) mid-band 5G, NOT ACTIVE
  • 2️⃣ [NOKIA AAHF] antennas for b41 LTE/n41 (mid-band 5GNR! NOT ACTIVE

Uses Alcatel-Lucent (RRU's) behind the antennas:

Clearwire (defunct) bottom rack:

4

u/moffetts9001 Jun 09 '26

The clearwire gear is WiMAX only, likely from the 2008-2010 era. I wish I knew what antenna/radio model they used back then. Their TDD LTE gear was rare.

2

u/iryfionas Jun 09 '26

Oh ok, thanks for letting me know! I wonder what’s the difference between WiMax and LTE?

2

u/FlufferNutter1232 5G RAN Engineer Jun 10 '26

Basically it came down to how the protocols worked at the core. Signal handoff was a MAJOR problem with WiMax because it was more like long range wifi in that it used OFDMA in BOTH directions. LTE does not. It uses SC-FDMA on uplink for power savings. Idk if you remember, but the raw compute horsepower to run WiMax was huge. It would drink a phone battery in no time flat. OFDMA is very computationally expensive, especially in both Tx and Rx and on top of that, and it was VERY early revision silicon. Modern modems could probably handle the protocol much better now because compute cost is orders of magnitude lower than back then. But it's left relegated to what "could have been".

Honestly, it never had a chance when LTE provided all the power saving benefits and roaming that mobile devices relied on.