Category Archives: Wade4Wireless BlogCast

IWCE and more Feedback from You!

I wanted to let everyone know that I will be at the IWCE conference in March, 2015. I will be on the “Tower Safety and Regulatory Compliance” panel on March 17th, 2015, starting at 1PM local time. It is in Las Vegas at the convention center. Click on any of the BLUE words for more. There will be an impressive group who I am honored to share the stage with. I will be up there with Cory Crenshaw of Crenshaw Communications, Charles Ryan of Concept To Operations, Inc, Dr. Denis Boulais of Bytecan Pty Ltd, and Robert Johnson of Narda Safety Test Solutions. My track will be sponsored by AGL Magazine. If you can make sure you go to see what is happening with today’s wireless communications systems. I feel honored to be selected to be on the panel. So if you can think of anything I should be talking about, then let me know below.

Go to Wade4Wireless products page where I have product links.  and an audiobook for the  eBook. If it helps, download the free eBook for a SOW Overview for more information.The Scope of Work training, SOW training package,  I made for you to understand how the SOW will affect your payments and bottom line as well as the customer and safety requirements. The SOW is your key to getting paid and to defining change orders! Because you asked for an audio book I put the Tower Climbing: An Introduction in audio so you can listen while you’re driving or too busy to read! Hey, don’t forget to sign up for my monthly newsletter over there on the top right. > > >

OK, more feedback.

This is from Feedback on Drugs, Morons, and Steel.

Comment: I appreciate the comment about working on the beacon on top of a mast. Like so many other precarious situations on a tower, a small rail around the mast to stand on and one around the beacon to hook off on is easily designed and manufactured—-unless it is required to support a 5,000# load as OSHA requires.
On the drug issue, there are a very high percentage of tower hands that use drugs. There is an even higher percentage that drink excessively, but not on the job. If accurate statistics existed, which they don’t, they would reveal that there are very few fatalities caused by someone being high or drunk. There are more accidents attributed to stupid than intoxicants, and there are a lot of hands that are stupid even when they are sober.
I watched the video of you with Kelly Hill and I totally disagree with you on the use of capstans on a tower job. To begin with, you have to use a fiber rope with a capstan, not a wire rope. The statistics will show that there are numerous fatalities caused by ropes breaking, but not wire ropes. Fiber ropes are good for a tag-line or a trolley, but certainly not for hoisting loads up and down a tower. I can cite four accidents where ropes broke that caused the death of twelve people.
The accident you referred to where the five men were killed was the 2,000′ Senior Road project in Houston. The men were riding the top half of the FM mast dressed out with the panel FM antenna. I think the load got too close to the tower and hung up which caused the picking channel across the face to fail. The load fell and hit the guy wire causing the whole tower to come down. I was hired as an expert witness by the firm representing Harris is why I am so familiar with this accident.
Riding the winch line is safe!!! Much safer than free climbing and every job that requires the hoisting and lowering of antennas and/or mounts should be rigged with a wire rope.

Response: I called this guy and he is amazing. He is a big fan of winches, but only if you use cable versus rope. That is where I got the idea for the blogRope Versus Steel Cable for Hoists”. We also talked about my video with Kelly Hill of RCR and he mentioned that the thing he disagreed with was the way I mentioned the safety of the winches. I made it clear that only a larger hoist should be used for man loads and he agreed. Now, as far as the accidents go, he knew so much about many of them. I plan to talk to him more in the future.

This is feedback from “Are work schedules Killing the Wireless Field Worker? Yes!”

Comment: Wade;
Scheduling is most definitely a problem, and a serious one. Unless you have been there and suffered in extreme conditions, you cannot fully comprehend the difficulty in working in subfreezing temperatures in a 15 or so mph wind. When you are in the midst of work on one of these days, you cannot help but wonder why this job wasn’t scheduled two months earlier or two months later. And you are not receiving any additional compensation for your suffering, and if you so chose, you could be at home in a warm house with your family—-maybe sort of like the bodily orifice that scheduled this project.
When that anger starts building up inside, it doesn’t take much of a reason for a man to suggest to his boss to “just take this job and shove it.”
If you don’t have a foreman with great leadership skills to keep this project under control, which means leading, not pushing, this job is going to go bad real quick. And when it stalls, nobody ever thinks of blaming the scheduler, they always blame the contractor and the crew.
I learned early in my career the difficulty of working in extreme conditions and I have always made every effort to avoid putting a crew up north in the winter. I have a famous quote that I use when scheduling jobs, it’s “If you’re gonna be stupid, you gotta be tough.”
I could write for hours telling stories about winter in the north without informing anyone of anything that they didn’t already know. I don’t really think the professional people who organize and schedule the jobs even care.

Response: Been there and done that, it is a tough job! I would bet that so many people have stories where they didn’t know how much they could take in the weather until they did it.

This is feedback fromIs Small Cell Deployment Cost Prohibitive?”

Comment: Thanks for this article with a high level approach to analyzing costs and benefits of small cell deployment. It raises more questions for me ultimately, and that is a good thing! I appreciate your work and insight, thanks!

Response: Thank you sir!

Comment: #4 small cell = small power demand. Depending on the load, duty cycle and site location an off-grid solar electric system could be the small footprint economical power solution rather than the minimum 100A service expense.

This is feedback from “Loyalty versus the Lowest Bidder in Wireless.

Comment: Enjoyed the article.  It is very timely for me.  Having serious problems getting paid.  Company/worker loyalty in an unbiased format would be a good article also if not already done.

Response: Thank you! It’s a shame that even today people are not getting paid for the work that they do. Why is it that loyalty to the people working so hard can dissipate so quickly?

Comment: Just left a company 2 months ago for lowering my per diem from $600 to $500 per week. And had us on a 40hr. Week salary working 60 – 80 + hrs. A week. And only got home every 2 or so months.

Response: This is often the case when they try to make tower climbers salary. So many times the way companies raise margin is to screw the worker. That is very common in the industry. If it happens to you I would look elsewhere like this guy did, it is only a matter of time until they start making more cuts.

Response: Good point! Solar would be awesome! If the physical footprint would remain small with the batteries I see it as a viable solution.

This is feedback fromLoyalty versus the Lowest Bidder”.

Comment: Wade, Reminds me of the stories we hear constantly with tower tech’s where they had to finish work started in the early morning and ended after dark.  The real part of the story is they had to drive 5 hours before and after the climb!  This is plain dangerous!  Completion bonuses, etc, etc, are nice to get your sub’s to hustle but would you like to explain to a jury why you  had people in dangerous jobs working these hours?

Response: I agree, sometimes the worker put in such long hours and no one cares because they feel the work is more important and the customer may not know what the worker is going through. The workers need representation in the company.

Comment: Very good Mr. Wade, hope we get a Congressman to help us. The situation should be better for a person who chooses to work in this field! Thank you!

Response: I think that the FCC working with DOL should help by creating TIRAP. It is still voluntary but it’s a start. This is a chance for the government to recognize the seriousness of the climbing industry hazards.

Comment: I have been in the industry for 12 years, each year it get worse for tower hands… this industry makes more money than it knows what to do with and what they need to realize is this technology isn’t going to put itself up on any tower, water tank, or roof top without the tower hands that do it… appreciate your employees and treat them better… give better pay, appropriate per diem, and most of all better hours…  the majority of tower workers have families, think about that when you go home to yours everyday and you have several crews that only see theirs 8 weeks out the year……  if that…….. so when you get on your cell phone to make your next call think about the guys that sacrifice so much for you to be able to enjoy that luxury and think about what they endure to provide you that luxury

Response: Like I said before, so many companies think that to raise margin they need to cut per diem and employee salaries. It is common. I guess the CFO that is sitting in his office that gets to work from 9 to 5 and go home every night to his family makes the decision that the tower crew who leaves Monday and won’t get home Friday night should skip meals. I guess they forget that physical work as well as engineering might burn a few calories each day. I guess they determined that they can always find more grunts. Good luck with that strategy. I have learned that it pays to take care of your employees, but there are so many people who just stay at a company because it’s a job and they don’t want to leave, no matter how bad the company treats them.

Comment: We have been blessed to be able to work with customers and vendors that have created a loyalty around what we do. We for the first time have really felt the issues of low bidder and the companies that go out of business one day and start again tomorrow.  We hope that our customers will determine that it is not a low bid industry and will continue to give us a chance to do work and be profitable. The 3rd party companies and now the equipment providers have created hard times for the small company trying to keep up with increased pricing pressure and hard to find quality staff.  They know they can stop us from taking work by buying a competitor and lowering their prices to push us out.
Small business can only grow with the help of our customers.  We need them to demand companies to have experienced employees and not just how many crews you can come up with.  We have to stop the companies and owners which have failed multiple times but keep doing work. We know these are the companies that have made the industry unsafe and less profitable for the hard-working small businesses.
Have a safe Thanksgiving.

Response: Thank you and I hope you had a great Thanksgiving as well. This is a great thought, I would like to think this is where the industry is headed, quality over quantity.
Some helpful links below.

Antenna basics free tutorial http://host.comsoc.org/freetutorial/rohde4/rohde4.html

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/coldstress/

http://www.wirelessestimator.com/blue-book/#!/

Please, please, please help the Hubble foundation. Don’t you want to support an injured tower climber’s family? Here’s how, click on the Hubble picture below and look for the donations button and give today! Thank GOD for the Hubble Foundation!

www.HubbleFoundation.org

Get on iTunes for Wade4wireless then subscribe and write a review now! Just click on any ICON below!

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Interested in products I have created for the tower climbers and wireless deployment, click on the pictures below to find out more!

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Climber rescued by fire department, again!

Another man was rescued form a cell tower, this time in Chicago. The worker was stuck on the cell tower, 150’ up, on a monopole from what I see, in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood. About 6:15PM on the evening of December 4th 2014. He was hanging below the platform and could not get back up or had the rope to go down. Two climbers were on site at 77th and State streets near Dan Ryan Expressway according to Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. They got him down around 6:50PM last night. The responders had an aerial ladder rig but I am not sure how they did the rescue. I am very thankful that everyone got to go home safe and sound. Once again, no rescue plan or preparation in place by the climbing team so thank GOD that the fire department is well-trained and quick to respond! Thank you Chicago FD!

http://www.bnd.com/2014/12/05/3547337/dangling-worker-rescued-from-chicago.html

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/01/watch-man-rescued-from-gaithersburg-cell-tower-84385.html

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/27552723/man-rescued-after-dangling-from-cell-tower-on-south-side

http://chicagosuntimes.com/news/man-dangling-from-cell-tower-on-south-side/

http://www.breakingnews.com/item/2014/12/05/photo-firefighters-rescue-worker-dangling-approxi/

Remember this video from January of 2013 when in Gaithersburg Isaac Dupree was rescued after being on the job for only 4 months. Very cold with numb hands he was very worried. Luckily, his coworker, Rob Bonsall geared up to rescue him. A successful rescue! It happened on Rob’s birthday, there is how it is done! Rob got him down from 180’ with no problems!

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/01/watch-man-rescued-from-gaithersburg-cell-tower-84385.html

Wade4Wireless products HERE! Documentation for your climbing and deployments needs!

What do you think about this? Do you think rescue plans are important? Do you know who this crew worked for?

Wireless Deployment Efficiencies (WDE)

Do you know what efficiencies can be driven from deployments with proper planning? Maybe I am asking the wrong question, let me ask you this, did you ever have a PM (project manager) or foreman call you and beg you to do a job or a task that you didn’t know about at the last-minute? Oh, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Schedules and last-minute changes can kill workers physically and mentally. You know what I mean! Why is it that the customer’s emergency becomes your problem? Probably because something got missed or changed at the last-minute. It happens quite often.

I’m here to help you. I made a Wade4Wireless products page where I have more information on the SOW training package and an audiobook for the Tower Climbing: An Introduction eBook. If it helps, download the free eBook for a SOW Overview for more information.Hey, don’t forget to sign up for my monthly newsletter over there on the top right. > > >

We all complain about how screwed up deployments can get, especially when we are on the receiving end of a schedule change or a last-minute install. We also hope to get paid for these emergencies that are caused by someone’s poor planning. So looking at this up front, what can we do to help the situation out? We can look where we can save time and money with WDE.

OK, planning is very important and most of the time the poor planning is pinned on the contractor when in reality the PM or the customer just missed something or didn’t listen to the people who do deployments all the time. Sometimes the customer pivots to get something done that they didn’t foresee. Other times permitting frees up in one market unexpectedly.

If you pointed something out prior to the deployment, then get over it. Just remember that when you say “I told you so” that it won’t accomplish much except to anger someone. So instead of saying that, why don’t you offer a suggestion on how to improve the situation? You should already know what to do. Make it a discussion, not an argument.

So what do you do? You work with your experience and make sure that your SOW (Scope of Work) has the information in it to make sure you get paid! Make sure that you are a partner in the deployment planning. Have a talk with the PM or customer to figure out the best way to deploy without breaking the budget.

Most of the time this starts up front, with the site surveys. If the survey is done properly and the planning is realistic, then many problems should be avoided. However, what other kinks can happen, like permitting delays, changes to the design post survey, and other factors can ruin efficiency.

If you can, try to make the best out of planning ahead of time. When you are bidding on a job or when you are working on the SOW, make sure you are already thinking of how to improve time to market (TTM) and control costs. What efficiencies can be found? Well, I have notice that in many deployments I have done and planned that there are savings in the following.

  • If the site survey is done properly and documented well then the installers will have no effort in deployment. This will include not only the installation information but building the proper Bill of Materials (BOM). Documentation really helps. Pictures that can be shared with the installers and equipment vendors can really help out the planning process. Many companies put their most experienced people on the estimating and surveys because they want it done right to avoid problems later.
  • If the same company doing the installation does the survey, then the transition usually goes much smoother for the actual deployment and BOM building. However, if something is missing then the installers will need to be sure that they can make up the missing parts. There is no excuse when the same company does the survey and then the installation and something is missing, unless there is a change at the last-minute. Also, the deployment team should let the estimator know if they missed something. Feedback is very important.
  • If the PM plans out the permitting the best they can then the installers should be able to move in an orderly fashion. That is hard to do but it may get better if the permitting process improves. Permitting can be a real problem because of the complexity of the process so the PM will need to keep everyone updated on the status.
  • Warehousing and staging is very important, make sure that the logistics team is aware of the schedule and works with the customer and the installer to provide constant updates. The warehouse will work with the team to provide updates on what has been delivered and staged. Include the installer on those updates to make sure that they are in the loop.
  • If the installers and the commissioning team are “connected at the hip”. They need to be talking and working together to schedule properly. It used to be that many PMs did not like different teams talking because they were afraid they would plan around them. Let me tell you, nothing is farther from the truth. When the installers and commissioners work together they become more efficient and deployments move faster than ever.
  • Deployment planning needs to be shared with the team. If the PM has a priority list then they should make sure that the installer and the warehouse is on the same page. Then let them know that they can move on the top 10 as soon as the site is staged. This is a way to let the installers know that they can move as soon as the staging is completed.
  • Batch sites by region, this is probably the one thing that can really save costs but the hardest to do. I have mentioned it before that if you can do all the sites in one region or city, then you save so much money on travel. It doesn’t always work, mostly due to permitting and leasing and customer expectations. I have been on projects where the customer wants to see progress and they order the installer to do one site in a region because they want to show the customer/investors that they are making progress in a hot area. They argue that they want you to install for the bulk price even though the installer costs increase when going to one area to do a single install if they are not local. Chances are you will do it to keep the customer happy but this really eats into margin causing you to raise the prices next time because the customer requests irrational planning not thinking of how the cost rolls downhill.
  • Understand what they big picture is. Sometimes the deployment team will get caught up in the deployment of their priority sites because they don’t think about the system. Sometimes the deployment of the sites may be ahead of either the core/controllers or licensing is ready for the turn-up. So the sites may be deployed and sit for months until brought live. Then when they are brought live problems show up. I have been through many deployments like this. It causes so many problems but this is how many deployments happen. Sometimes the customer will expect you to come back to repair something months after the installation, understand what the agreement is ahead of time, read the SOW and the contract so you can plan accordingly. Customer relationships need to be thought of as well, remember that if you piss of the customer you may lose the customer.
  • Have the right tools for the job. Remember to plan out the deployment. If you need a bucket truck then get a bucket truck, put it in the pricing and use it! You may need a crane or a welder or more manpower. Plan accordingly.
  • Plan out the overnight stays ahead of the deployment. You can save money sometimes if you are going to be in an area for over a month by finding an apartment or negotiating with a local hotel for the full month. If you can plan and work on hotel costs, it saves money.
  • Learn what you’re installing! This is something where you will need proper training on the equipment. Whether its beefing up a tower or installing several RRHs. Sometimes you will be deploying something new, but if this is something that has been GA’ed, (General Acceptance) then it should have a MOP (Method of Process) put out by the OEM. Remember not to confuse the OEM’s MOP with the customer’s MOP. They are usually very different. The OEM will cover the OEM equipment only but the customer’s MOP should cover all of the site equipment. If you know the proper process then it will cut down on the return visits for the punch list. Return visits cost money and time and delay payments. Make sure you do as much right the first time as possible and have the MOP to back it up.
  • Plan to be on site when the inspection takes place. This is really hard when you have limited people. I used to have a crew or person that would be on site when the inspection took place so that all the issues could be resolved in one inspection. This would speed payment and closure. The PM should be able to schedule this but they need to be aware of how much time this will save. One of the biggest reasons time and money is lost is because the customer and the contractor go back and forth trying to closeout a site. It can go on for weeks or even months. It is very frustrating and can be prevented by some simple planning.
  • Site prep is very important. If this is a new deployment, for macro or small cells, power needs to be ready. Leasing needs to be completed. Permitting needs to be completed. If you go to install something and something is not ready, it is a major problem. So if you are the PM, make sure everything is complete to prevent the second visit. Verify as much as possible.

I put a few things in here that may help you out. Most of this is obvious, but it seems that there are still problems with what I have laid out, no deployment is perfect. I see all of these problems arise again and again. Problems always arise, there are always delays due to outside issues, like weather or if the customer makes a change or if the contractor will not get paid. We always see problems that can’t be counted for. It happens.

Let me know what delays you have seen derail a deployment.

 Want to support an injured tower climber’s family? Here’s how. Support Hubble, they need it now  more than ever!! Have I told you lately how much we need to support this cause? Thank GOD for the Hubble Foundation!

www.HubbleFoundation.org

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More Feedback from You Wireless Workers!

I really appreciate all of the feedback. One of the posts that I got a lot of feedback on was “Tower Injuries: Is this the Price of doing Business?” I found out that the wireless community in general is fired up about the need for change in this industry! Not only the perception that it’s dangerous but the fact that we should be doing better. There is a not only a need for change, but the industry will get a black eye because it’s going to become a type of “US” and “THEM” mentality in wireless. What I mean by that is there will be the large customers, like the carriers, who will be the “THEM” looking to keep deployments as cheap as possible and the “US” which is the climber who puts his/her life at risk trying to get the tower completed in less time regardless of the risk.

Hey, don’t forget to sign up for my monthly newsletter over there on the top right. > > >

Also, I have a Wade4Wireless products page where I have more information on my new SOW training package and I released an audiobook for my Tower Climbing: An Introduction eBook. I have a free eBook for the SOW Overview if you’re interested.

What we need to do is change the perception that the tower side of the industry is too dangerous to work and get it back to a highly respected profession where accidents may happen but are not common. The past 2 years are poor examples of safety. You know what I am talking about, not only the deaths but the injuries and near misses. Injury and death should not be the price of doing business in any industry. We are working harder to make this change, but it will take a team effort from all sides and especially from you! Each of you can help by spreading the word and becoming living examples of what to do the right way!

So, here is the feedback. I will have the comment and then my response. Just to be clear, all of these are responses from “Tower Injuries: Is this the Price of doing Business?” I remove the names to prevent any harassment, but if you include a company name I will print it.

Comment: Hi Wade, The comment was meant towards Sprint, Verizon and AT&T. The major companies that contract out the work so they don’t have to pay Union scale wages to their employees. But I agree as the one it was said to about everything you wrote.

Response: Thank you.

Comment: This fatalistic approach has no place in a safety culture. No level of accidents, much less deaths, should be acceptable.

Response: I agree whole heartedly!

Comment: Great article. I experience a lot of “deadlines” or “it has to be done” situations. There are better ways to send guys out in the morning without turning it into a race. I am 15+yrs into telecommunications industry. I take a laid back and still be safe point view with my crew and it works. Also the quality of work is excellent.

Response: It is great to see that someone can relax and pay attention to the deployment itself rather than the dead lines that often overcome many of us.

Comment: If you have never worked as an installer on one of these towers, you cannot understand how difficult it is to perform the tasks required to do a job. The owners, designers and producers of these towers are simply designing towers to support the antennas and lines, without any thought as to how they will be erected and maintained. (Other than step-bolts which are a major contributor to the fatalities.) In comparison, look at the U.S. Forest Service towers. Has there ever been an accident where a forest service worker fell from a tower? If there was, I never heard about it and these towers have been around much longer than communication towers. The service was astute enough to provide a safe workplace for their employees.

Response: I don’t know about the Forest Service tower injuries, I couldn’t find any, but I agree completely that the tower should be made as safe as possible. When climbing there are so many physical obstacles in the way and there are not always descent tie off points. Some people don’t understand what I mean by that but you may need to wrap the lanyard around something to get a tie off point because it may be the only thing to connect the lanyard too. It could be an oversized cross beam or a large leg. Especially since we all know that the climbing pegs are not an acceptable tie off point. I find that companies that are tower owners only seemed concerned with the tie off points if they have their people climbing all the towers. This is when it becomes a concern. 100% tie off is a lot easier when there are well planned and accessible tie off points that are clean without sharp edges.

Comment: Hi Wade. There are aspects of life this side of the pond where we have a surfeit of legislation and it suffocates us, but when it comes to H&S in mobile comms. I am glad we have tight legislation, prescriptive regulations and significant penalties for companies and individuals that do not comply.  I work for a large tower co (JV between two carriers) and compliance with our Construction, Design and Management Regs is absolute and audited, and it underpins an uncompromising approach to working safe and staying safe.
It is frightening in any civilized country that injuries and fatalities might even flippantly be said to be the price of doing business, or perhaps to be viewed as in some way inevitable in delivery of rollout and upgrade projects to time and/or to budget.  It’s time we replaced the triangle of contention between time, cost and quality handmade it a pyramid with H&S no longer a silent factor.
Finally well done on having a blog and a LinkedIn page that call this out.
Regards

Response: Thank you for the comments and it shows us how not all regulation is bad. Unfortunately here in the states big companies generally set regulation until there are too many accidents.

Tower top cell

Comment: Every accident is preventable.  That is not a safety slogan but an actual fact.  The problem is that safety costs more than a lot of employers and/or their employees want to pay.  In this business (tower work) you don’t get off easy when you make a mistake.  Serious injury and death are the regrettable results when mistakes happen in an elevated position.
Take a closer look at the photo above.  Do you see all of those cable connections on the bottom of the antennas and radio heads that are inaccessible unless someone suspends themselves from the tower/platform mount?  How much would it cost to relocate those connections to positions above the bottom of the platform to afford a safer and efficient work position?  Why continue to put good people in harm’s way to do their work?
Safety starts on the drawing board of every product and every project.  If not, the risk to workers greatly increases and the opportunities for serious accidents go up accordingly.  It is time to re-engineer our approach to safety in the wireless industry!

Response: I could not agree more! However, it is not thought of end to end. I tried to bring this up before but it seems that there is no alignment from the beginning so it is mostly put on the climber. When I say from the beginning, we should start when new towers are constructed. They can’t be prepared for everything as technologies change, (who knew we would hang all the radio heads on the tower?), but the tie off points could be prepared better. When the equipment is hung on the tower it should be thought out so when work is done it can be easily maintained, but it is not. I worked on transmitters years ago where they were trying to get the unit to fit in a small space. It fit in a small space up until you had to work on it. Then you had to pull it out from the tight spot, hoping not to affect the connected coax and you had to practically pull it apart to work on the most common failures. Not to mention all the tools you needed, it had nut, screws that need a flat, Philip, Torx and more just to work on it. They improved that side by making everything modular at first, now they replace an entire unit when it has problems. But the climber has more and more work on the tower, in the air, at height. They have to learn fiber skills, coax skills, climbing skills, safety skills, and more. Yet, when something happens people always say, well they should have done this or that, not accounting for all the issues they have to contend with. When something bad happens, most people look at the end, not the beginning to end. How many times has OSHA said, “Well the RRH should have been mounted elsewhere” or “why didn’t the tower owner provide proper climbing tie off points”?

If you have an opinion, tell me about it!

I thought you guys may want to get more training, here is a good antenna tutorial.

Antenna tutorial http://www.comsoc.org/form/tutorial-registration-antenna-basics#.VGiNsOXkjUM.linkedin

 Want to support a tower climber’s family or a climber in need? Here’s how. Support Hubble, they need it now  more than ever!!

www.HubbleFoundation.org

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Guess what?!! I have finished the tutorial for the SOW.

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I also have books!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Here in the USA it is Thanksgiving. We give thanks for all that we have and what we have accomplished. It started a long time ago when the pilgrims came to this region to settle. Now we should be doing it to look at all that is good in our lives. It is not easy because so many times we have so many problems that we look at the bad, not the good. Included myself, when times were tough and I had a ton of problems it is easy to complain. I mean I felt as if there were no good in the world. I remember friends would say, “You have your health” because that’s really all I had. Believe me, that was enough, I now know how lucky I am and that things get better. It is hard to look at the good when you feel like you are surrounded by problems. I want you to make a conscious effort to look at the positive.

So let’s all be thankful that there have been no fatalities for the past 60 days! At least to my knowledge, feel free to reach out and let me know if I am wrong. I feel pretty fortunate that we are doing much better. I don’t know of any serious accidents in the tower industry for over 30 days. I am so glad that things have been good. This is not the time to get lazy! This is the time to step up awareness. Why? So everyone stays alert. Remember that when we get lazy we get complacent and we overlook hazards. We should make it a challenge to finish the year without any incidents. If the wireless and tower industry can do that then it will be a better 2014.

It was a rough start to 2014, with 11 fatalities in the tower industry. So many if not all should have been avoided. What about all of the injuries we had this year where the people lived but their lives will be changed forever from an accident? We are so grateful that they are alive but they need to keep the faith to work their way back to health. Finally, there have been many publicized near misses where the crew could not help their own crew mates. So may near misses that should have been avoided. So we are at a place where we can work to make this industry better.

Let me tell you what I am grateful for this year in the industry. OSHA creates the communications tower website to keep the tower and wireless field industry updated on the work. The FCC and DOL came together to create TIRAP. NATE created the Tower Family Foundation. Hubble Foundation is doing more than ever for tower climber families. You see, there are good things happening in the industry that we should all be thankful for. We should be thankful for the above groups all coming together to help the tower industry. Wireless workers can celebrate these wins for 2014!

I am also thankful for NATE creating a common standard for the tower industry to follow. Climber’s harnesses are better than ever and constantly improving. Climbers learning more about their trade by keeping up to sate with hardware, safety gear, and techniques. Awareness of training, all kinds of training including safety and rescue and rigging.

We all have ideas how to make this better but so far we cannot unite. I am grateful that so many of you have reached out to me with your stories. So many have you have told me what is really going on out there. I can’t always write about it because so many stories may be incriminating or may need more proof to publicize. I don’t want to just make a company or a person look bad unless I have serious evidence to back it up.

As an industry I am not sure how we will ever unite for anything except that we want to end the death and accidents in this industry. The dividing factor is how to do that. We all have ideas, but it’s time we think outside the box. I do believe that we can all unite for common values, or at least most of us. The values and vision we could all agree on is that each of us practice the best safety practices along with good work ethic and proper training. These together will be the key factor to continued industry growth and success. You see that is where it will all start, good values and vision.

Let me ask you, what is your vision to make the industry better?

 

 

If you’re interested I wanted to share this on my Amazon! A great gift and helps out Gette working on Hubble. I interviewed Gette, who likes to talk so make sure to listen to part 1 and part 2.

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Rope versus Steel Cable for Hoists

So I was talking to a retired climber who still works in wireless, (someone still passionate about the industry) and he was telling me stories about all the ropes that broke throughout the years. You know what he didn’t mention, any steel cables that broke. He did mention how it has been determined that ropes broke due to wear, poor tagging, and knots. Remember that a knot will weaken the rope. My point here is to make sure you know what the job is and that you’re prepared.

No argument that rope is way cheaper, but think about the purpose before you do the job. We know that each one has a slightly different purpose, rope and steel cable. What are you pulling? What is the combined weight of what you’re pulling up? How high? Is it a serious load that will strain the rope? What shape is your rope in? Do you need a steel rope/cable for the load?

To be honest, when you are using the small Capstan hoist you would only use rope, but aren’t you envious when you see the big drum hoists being used by other crews? Do you have hoist envy? Be honest!

So when pulling up the load remember that the weight is only part of the equation. If the load weight is heavy you need to account for the rope and maybe the drag, Remember that the block will not only have to hold the weight of what you are lifting but also the weight being pulled by the hoist. So it would be lifting 300lbs and the hoist would be pulling 300lbs, so double the weight and add the hardware and rope. I am just saying that when the rating of the rope or cable is close to the load, make sure you think of everything. But, I digress.

OK, OK, I know, there is an application for both nylon and steel ropes. So let’s focus on the winch use. When using a hoist, a full winch, not a small capstan that most crews use on the back of their truck hitches. Let’s talk a drum hoist that is used to haul up heavy loads. Will a rope work for this? Maybe, but think about what you will be pulling up. Make a plan ahead of time. I know that the broadcast guys and larger tower builders already know what to do and have the setup with the steel cables already. They know what they need to do the work. If you are just beginning to get into the heavy loads with the big boy hoists, then make sure you know what you are getting into. You may know rigging, but don’t overlook the tools you will need to do the work properly.

I have seen ropes break usually due to getting snagged or hung up so it’s something to consider when rigging. Make sure you have a plan for the tag line, if you have steel cable you could have serious problems if you get hung up on a guy or another antenna on the way up.

I am told that some people often use ropes for heavy loads. If you have the money for a serious hoist, you should have the money to get a seriously strong and long steel cable, whatever length you need. Rope is very strong, don’t get me wrong, make sure you know your load rating. Steel rope is strong and you need to know its rating. Anytime you work with any load, hoist or no hoist you need to know the rating of your working rope or cable. It is your job as defined by OSHA. You also need to know everything about the winch. It matters when you are going to determine how much to take up at a time or how you plan to use it.

What if the load is a human load? What if the load is a crew mate? What if the load is a buddy that says, “Take me up with the load!”? Would you trust a rope then? This is something you should seriously think about when hauling people up and down using a winch, with a rope. Ropes wear much faster, ropes knot up, ropes get weak from many different things. Pay attention to the rope! Pay close attention to your tools being used at the site before, during, and after the job. Someone’s life may depend on it.

I know that rope is the most common tool used in the industry. I can’t think of many installations where you didn’t use rope. Even when you had a hoist with steel cable chances are you used the rope for the safety line and for the tag line. You can’t be in this business without rope.

When using the rope for the load line, you may have issues when lifting heavy loads not because of the load rating, but because of the way you knotted the rope or maybe the rope gets a knot in it somewhere up high on the tower. If the rope gets knotted up, get the knot out before handling a load. It takes time. What would you do if you saw a knot in the load rope? Would you and your crew mates just say, “don’t worry about it”? Is that the smart and safe thing to do, of course not! You may think that it’s no big deal, but now you know better. You know the load and how knots weaken the rope. So being lazy in not an option. That is what gets people killed! Yet so many of you will ignore a knot is a load rope because of the schedule. Steel cables rarely get a knot in them, because steel has different properties and if it gets bound, it may break before it would knot up. I never saw anything like that happen, but it’s possible.You should know by now that a knot weakens a rope by 50% or more. Don’t believe me? I have information below that shows you the rope weakness. Then look at these, http://www.bethandevans.com/pdf/8_strength.pdf and http://www.netknots.com/rope_knots/ and http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Knots/Properties_of_knots and https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/tying-knots-in-rope-s-tension-weakened-strength.344191/. I mean you should know that from your safety training.

The pros of using rope, it’s cheaper and easy to use. The cons are it knots easy, weakens easy, and wears out quickly!

The pros of steel cable is that it’s very strong, easy to spot damage (if you’re looking), and lasts a very long time because it wears slowly. The cons are its very expensive and heavy and harder to work with.

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention. Plan for what you will be doing!

Rope Information

To learn more about rope testing there is a great Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/groups/RopeTestLab/ that shows information on rope stress as well as testing gear.

If you go to http://davidschmidtwriting.com/busted.htm you will see it has a good list of how different knots weaken the rope. David Schmidt has in his blog the following. (He has a great reference!) He is writes for SAIL Magazine Information below is taken from David’s article. This is a good reference. I know most of you use Kevlar or nylon kernmantle ropes so this is mostly for a reference.

1/2-inch double-braid nylon is a dynamic rope (it elongates under load) and is commonly used as docking line or for towing a dinghy. Its rated Broke at is 10,800 lbs.

Bowline: Broke at: 5,983lbs, strength lost: 44.6%

Clove hitch with two half hitches: Broke at: 7,021 lbs, strength lost: 35%

Round turn and two half hitches: Broke at: 5,148 lbs, knot rolled open in all three tests before the rope snapped, knot slipped: 52.33%

Figure 8: Broke at: 6,227 lbs, strength lost: 42.33%

Double fisherman’s knot: Broke at: 5,820 lbs, strength lost: 46.1%

Double-braid splice: Broke at: 8,384 lbs, strength lost: 22.37%

Sta-Set (double-braid polyester) is a static rope that is commonly used for sheets and halyards and as general-purpose cord; 1/2-inch Sta-Set’s rated Broke at is 10,200 lbs.

Bowline: Broke at: 5,617 lbs, strength lost: 44.9%

Clove hitch with two half hitches: Broke at: 6,471 lbs, strength lost: 36.6%

Round turn and two half hitches:
Broke at: 6,492 lbs, knot rolled open in all three tests before the rope snapped, knot slipped: 36.37%

Figure 8: Broke at: 5,352 lbs, strength lost: 47.5%

Double fisherman’s knot: Broke at: 5,250 lbs, strength lost: 48.5%

Double-braid splice: Broke at: 8,934 lbs, strength lost: 12.4%

Endura braid (rope with a 100-percent Spectra core and a polyester cover) is a static rope used for sheets and halyards; 1/2-inch Endura Braid’s rated Broke at is 19,300 lbs.

Bowline: Broke at: 7,855 lbs, strength lost: 59.33%

Clove hitch with two half hitches: Broke at: 7,448 lbs, strength lost: 61.44%

Round turn and two half hitches:
Broke at: 6,166 lbs, knot rolled open in all three tests before the rope snapped, knot slipped: 68%

Figure 8: Broke at: 7,713 lbs, strength lost: 60%

Double fisherman’s knot: Broke at: 6,268 lbs, strength lost: 67.5%

Core-to-core splice: Broke at: 20,594 lbs, strength lost: 0%

Steel Rope/Cable Information

Steel rope is hard to rate in one table because there are so many different types. Just like rope there are strands that are wrapped around each other and they bound in some way. Normally there is galvanized steel and stainless steel, both very strong.

A good overview is at http://www.wcwr.com/catalog/webcat.pdf to learn more on steel rope and cable. It goes over the types of cable that are out there and what the advantages are.

I got this table from http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wire-rope-strength-d_1518.html where they list the standard rating of wire rope, 6 strand by 19 wire.

Rope Diameter Minimum Breaking Strength Safe Load
(in) (mm) (lbf) (kN) (lbf) (kN)
1/4 6.4 5480 24,4 1100 4.89
5/16 8 8520 37,9 1700 7.56
3/8 9.5 12200 54,3 2440 10.9
7/16 11.5 16540 73,6 3310 14.7
1/2 13 21400 95,2 4280 19.0
9/16 14.5 27000 120 5400 24.0
5/8 16 33400 149 6680 29.7
3/4 19 47600 212 9520 42.3
7/8 22 64400 286 12900 57.4
1 26 83600 372 16700 74.3

Another great steel rope reference is at https://www.wiscolift.com/pages/Wire-Rope-and-Cable.html that shows the rating of cables and the styles which I have listed below.

Types of cable wraps

Another resource is http://www.rigging.net/wire.html where they had this table.

MacWhyte Chart

Any comments? Tell me.

For more:

http://www.wirelessestimator.com/industryinfoselect.cfm?categid=319

https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/Directive_pdf/CPL_2-1_36.pdf page 5

http://www.sbasite.com/media/Tower%20Safety%20Handbook.pdf

http://www.wcwr.com/catalog/webcat.pdf

http://www.hubbellpowersystems.com/literature/lineman/BR09023E.pdf

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wire-rope-strength-d_1518.html

https://www.hydradynellc.com/t-p_tower_erection_hoists.aspx

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SOW Tutorial and more Feedback

I am taking this moment to let you all know that I put together a Scope of Work tutorial so everyone out there can understand the SOW. Yes, a shameless plug for something I made to help you out. I have a page setup to help you out, go to http://wadesarver.com/scope-work-training/ to learn more. Price is $24.99US but for reading this I have a discount code w4w_sow that will save you about $10 off of that price. I put this together for the wireless field workers that need to understand the SOW or may have to write one. It is a video tutorial. I have a free PDF white paper to help. Feel free to download it and see if it can help you out. If you want to order now click on the icons below.

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I understand from many of you that you are working as contractors and need to write or update a SOW. My intention is to make sure that you understand the work in the SOW and that you understand how to protect yourself from doing work that is not covered in the SOW. I tried to make it clear how this is going to be your key to getting paid for the work you do and how you can create a change order for the work that is not in the SOW. Remember that all the extra work you do will cost your company money so you will need to weigh out whether the customer is going to appreciate it and reward you with more work or if they are taking advantage of you. That is your call but if the SOW is properly written you can make it your decision how to process.

And now, more Feedback!

OK, now let’s get to the feedback. Let me start by saying that I really appreciate the time you have taken to post notes in the feedback forms, thank you! I don’t post names because I don’t want anyone to get in trouble or be ridiculed by the tower community. If you put your company name in, I will post it unless I find it offensive in some way.
OK, let’s get started.
From my post “Climbing alone” we have:
Comment: Awesome ……like minds are good to hear
Response: Thank you!
Comment OSHA 1910.151(b) in the absence of an infirmary, clinic, or hospital in near proximity to the workplace which is used for the treatment of all injured employees, a person or persons shall be adequately trained to render first aid. Adequate first aid supplies shall be readily available. Seemingly this indicates the necessity of a minimum of two persons.
Also, OSHA 1910.38 Emergency action plans. The requirements for a rescue plan under OSHA 1910.38 require a written rescue plan is on site completed and signed by all participating personnel.
To my knowledge, I have never reviewed a plan of rescue that
could be construed with a single climber carrying out the complete written activities to be performed during execution of a rescue.
One last thought, I do not believe there is a legal allowance affording the presence of only a single employee on site at any given time. This/these are my interpretation of the readings of the above stated reg.’s. Be familiar with the rules and when and where they may apply. Help with your crew members to become familiar, and at the same time become able to Trust yourself to know. That’s all I have,
Response: Thank you sir!
Comment: Wade – I wrote a blog post about this myself back in May:
http://safetyoneinc.com/climbing-alone/
I hear about this frequently. Not too long ago one of our clients told me about how he fired someone for climbing alone after repeated warnings. Nice to see someone stand behind his words with actions.
Be Safe!
Response: Thank you for taking the time to let everyone know the dangers of climbing alone. Even if you think you can, it is better to have someone there. I know the mentality that it won’t happen to you. We all think that until something so stupid happens, then we know it could happen to anybody. Things happen, good and bad, not always in our control or we get careless. Not fair, but it does. We aren’t always smart, safe, and we don’t always pay attention. We say we do, but we get stupid when we are in a hurry or tired. I know I do!
Comment: Well I do understand where this is coming from. I remember when our policy was buddy system we were to NEVER climb alone. Then as the company got busier it was well its okay just call me before, at location, and back on the ground. Then it went to no mention the fact I was aligning a 6′ or 10′ antenna by myself at 500’….. As time went on the company got so adapted to us climbing alone that if I said someone should be with me , it turned into well I guess we didn’t have what it took to step up. I made my way from greenhorn to lead man to supervisor, to job coordinator. After 15 years I decided to leave. There comes a point when a man becomes a man (at times a stupid one) but we all do what we have to do to take care and provide for the time being. Once he or she realizes the company that sends them out alone is only worried about their Upper Management Bonus check that comes in when the job was done with less payroll. PROFIT is all it comes down to. So if you’re reading this and you understand what I mean. Stop living (risking) your own life for your company that doesn’t care about your worth as an employee. I’m no longer there and left the industry entirely. Now I only kick myself for not doing these 14 years and 11 months ago. When your employer values and respects you……. You as an employee will have a new-found fire and self-worth to exceed farther than you would if you were left alone with no help if needed. Be safe guys and WHOOP! WHOOP! Climb safe and take your time to double-check your anchor. And remember its okay to be 100% tied off it’s a good habit & gets you home safe. Take care.
Response: Thank you for the honesty! I know exactly what you mean. We usually start out with the best intentions, but then something changes, the workload, the schedule, the bonuses, the money, or we just get lazy. We may deny all of these, but I have been there and I have the advantage of 20/20 hindsight, and I know that I fell into these categories. Denial is something we can do until something terrible happens, then all we have is our excuses.
Comment: At the end of the day it all comes down to safety training. But people still make mistakes… most of which I’d say is caused by fatigue caused by poor management, busy work schedules, pressure to finish sites quickly, etc. Wireless work is very complex and it takes very knowledgeable people to make it work.
Response: So true!
OK, I have more feedback and I guess I have to do a follow-up. I will put more out in the next post unless some big news happens. I will try to get it to you soon!
Let me know what you think, don’t be shy!

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Are Work Schedules Killing the Wireless Field Worker? YES!

Hey, I read an article from Jon Gelman (found here) about workers schedules. If you have the time I seriously recommend reading the article. It explains how so often schedules are completely out of control of the workers. When I read this headline I thought, finally, someone cares about the wireless field worker! However, this bill targets retail, food service, and cleaning industries, people who get to work close to home. (Once again the wireless field worker is ignored!) These industries apparently have rough schedules. This is a bill being proposed here in the states by Iowa Democrat Senator Tom Harkin that is going to change that. I don’t know this senator at all, or anything he has done, but I would like to see a bill like this one, found here, for the wireless field worker. Why? Because it focuses on how the workers lives that are greatly affected by their work schedules. This is because businesses often put the job first and families second. You see this when companies put the profits first by laying people off and working the people they have three times as hard to save the company, profits first. This bill is supposed to help people with their families and with continuing education. So let’s talk about why they are doing this, first off it has come to the attention of the government that the workers families can be devastated by these grueling schedules. People just can’t maintain a healthy family life nor can they continue to educate themselves. This will provide the workers with a schedule 2 weeks in advance and provide them with extra pay if they are sent home early without pay. Sound familiar?

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OK, here is where I vent, my opinions below.

Hey Senator Tom Harkin, ever work in wireless? I wonder, does anyone on Capitol Hill understand the wireless worker’s schedule? Schedules in wireless deployments are grueling and painful. When will this be magnified? Workers deserve fair schedules, right? Is it too much to ask to place some sanity in deployments? Did any politician ever work in wireless deployment? I don’t mean as an executive or as a CEO, but doing the field work? The only thing that is fair is……well, for the field worker not much. I mean you have all those perks like low pay, tough schedules, dangerous work, and hoping to get paid. With all of that on your side, why worry? Many wireless deployment companies work their people hard – physically and emotionally – by sending workers all over the country only to let them go the minute the work seems to be drying up. You get to see your family every other weekend and when you get laid off. I really don’t see that as fair. That is why so many of these guys are on the edge, irritable, and ready to explode. Don’t get me wrong, some people like the lifestyle, I would say about 10% in my guesstimate. Many people love climbing, it becomes a passion with many people. I don’t mean just for the thrill but for the combination of the work and product.So much passion can be ruined by these schedules and poor companies. However, if you work for a standup company, good business people, then you will really fall in love with the job and the business.

Schedules, family life, and pressure were the themes at the TIRAP conference, information found here and here. I think it’s amazing how long it is taking to get word to the US government beyond the DOL and FCC! How do we get the word to politicians? They seem to listen to carriers about the woes of the spectrum auctions.

The worker will need to find a way to get the word to the people who make the laws if they want to find a cure for this. Many wireless field workers deal with insane schedules, crazy jobs, remote locations, health hazards, corrupt employers, and mental health abuse. All this and then they find out that their per Diem has been cut or their paycheck is late or that when they return they are laid off. WOW! What a career move. Don’t forget that if there is an accident and the job is not complete they may not get paid! If they do have an accident, then they will be surrounded by lawyers who may want to blame them. All this and they have injuries that they will live with for the rest of their lives. Like they wanted to live this way for the rest of their live!

It is the old adage, if a climber gets laid off, does the customer care? Apparently not, but when the carrier lays off people it makes major news. Think about it. Did you read about Sprint lately? The funny thing is when they have a lay off people the stock value usually goes up, rewarding the stock holders for letting people go. I get it – the company is saving money by letting people go. There could be many reasons – the market changes, the management team planned poorly or could not grow the company or changing direction so now it’s time to make drastic changes. Everyone appreciates the downsizing, except the people who got laid off collecting unemployment. It really sucks for them. They need to find work in an industry that is tough to work in. They hit the streets to compete with their former co-workers for a new job.

I recently talked to someone who left the industry for different work, this was awhile ago but I remember he said in his email to me that “My worst day in this job is better than my best day as a climber.” He understood how hard the industry is to work in when the very people you are helping do everything they can to devalue your livelihood. He may be reading this so he knows who he is. If he reads this I am sure he will comment.

So, it’s great that the retail, food service, and cleaning industries have an advocate in government working for them. Who is the wireless worker’s advocate? Please, fill me in. I look to the FCC and the DOL, (OSHA), as our friends  and allies looking out for us in Washington. Maybe we need a senator or a congressman who wants the madness to end. Who is it? Please tell me! Who will help the wireless field worker?

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention.

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Loyalty versus Lowest Bidder in Wireless

I was reading a book where they mentioned how purchasing is done differently among companies and people. We all want a good price for what we get, right? Well, is the lowest price always the best? Sometimes it’s good enough. What about when getting high-end work done? Is it lowest bidder good enough for a wireless deployment? That is how most of the business is done. Except maybe among broadcast where they usually only put out the bid to people or companies they really trust. They know who is good and who is not, at least they used to. They usually build loyalty into the offer.

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Today’s world revolves around investors, who really have very little loyalty beyond the bottom line. I see it often where a contractor may have a horrible reputation but continues to get work because they are very cheap. It takes awhile before they are found out to be cutting corners or not paying people.

Many companies have lists of contractors that they know are not good, or don’t meet their standards. They also keep lists of acceptable vendors that were pre-qualified. The idea is that they have at least showed their qualifications on paper before getting the work. Then they need to win some jobs and get the work. If they do good work then they can be rated or graded on the work they have done. This is a normal system.

However, what happens when a company gets caught doing shoddy work? It seems some people change company names and they are back in the game. How can we stop this? We will have to do the due diligence by researching the bad seeds. This is why there are some people who are blacklisted in the industry. We just need to make sure that the blacklisting is justified. This is where loyalty and reputation come into play.

So loyalty between a sub and a company is earned, not given. Once you meet the minimum requirements you must do the work and do it well. If a company puts a contractor on the short list, it should be for good reason, either that company does great work or a particular crew really impressed the customer. That often is the case, where there is the “A” team that can really impress. We can’t all be on the A team but if you work harder to care for the customer’s needs then you will make a positive impression. Customers need to have someone they trust to do good work and be honest with them. Is that you?

Now, what about that crew that stinks? You know who I mean, the ones that run out of hardware so they use tie wraps to finish securing the mount because it’s Friday and they don’t want to do a return trip. Maybe you didn’t see the crew that did it but you saw the work. How does that not make it into the close out package? Do you report that to the tower owner? That is one more thing we need.

It’s hard to bring you’re “A” game when the customer might not pay you or if you are working for a customer that may be on thin ice. Sometimes the contractor does not pay its subs. This causes so many problems in the industry. If the customer hires someone they trust then they know the payment terms. If the sub is working for someone new or someone who is a piss poor manager, then payment will be late or not happen at all. The end customer suffers, the sub suffers, and people spend the rest of the time pointing fingers. That is going to destroy trust. If the PM purposely screws a crew by not paying the workers for getting the job 80% done then bringing in a cheaper crew to finish it just to pay the last crew a lot less money. That is just shameful. This is another issue with trust among workers in the industry. Loyalty and trust is a 2 way street not only to be earned by the hard-working crews but by the customer who is supposed to pay them and treat them fair!

Again, trust is earned and it’s a 2 way street. Remember that there are project managers that take pride in cheating hard-working crews because they think they are saving money but it really hurts the industry. When will this stop? Let’s hope today, but let’s face it, there will always be snakes in the industry, or any industry for all that matters. We need to get names of these people so we know who to trust. Names should be on a loyalty list of naughty and nice people to work with.

This industry is small, what comes around goes around like Karma on here we need to play well with everyone. Just because you compete against someone doesn’t mean they are the enemy. You may have to work together on a future job or you may team up one day. So treat your fellow workers with respect and learn from them and teach them something. We all need to learn to work together. Loyalty in the industry among coworkers is just as important as loyalty between customer and contractor.

Loyalty needs to be earned and it is hard to gain back once it’s lost. So many times there are people associated with bad companies. All you can do is work hard to regain trust and respect. It is not easy but it can be done. We all need to learn from our mistakes. The lowest bidder and the layers of subs really can cause problems in any industry. So let’s be fair when we bid and let’s understand the scope of work so we can all be fair to the workers as to not get in over our heads!

So let me ask you something, if you needed brain surgery or a heart transplant, would you put it out to the lowest bidder? Maybe it would be nice to have someone with a good reputation, a name that you can trust, someone who you got to know and someone you can trust. It should be the same in the wireless deployment industry. After all, if they could do the work themselves they would, but they don’t because it is a specialty.

The wireless deployments are not going to end anytime soon. It is time to build loyalty among the players in this industry. Let’s build a wireless industry based on trust. We need good leadership to do that. It is something that will be earned over time. Let’s each start with ourselves, let’s do the best we can for our own sake to make this the best industry to work in. In the wireless deployment industry we are looking at NATE, CTIA, FCC, OSHA, DOL, and each other for leadership. We now have TIRAP. They are the groups working to make sure that there are examples of safety and workmanship. It is up to each person out there working to align with the leadership and become a leader in their company. To become the poster child for quality and safety for fellow workers to follow should be the goal. Just because I say align doesn’t mean we should follow blindly, we all need to point out faults when we see them. Here is your chance to set the example of being the best worker you can be in safety and quality. With enough people working hard to be the example them more people will want to align and follow only to become the future leaders.

I was talking to Richard Bell, the owner of Bell Tower, and he is setting the example of how to act in this industry. He is 73 years old and a neat guy to chat with. He has safety on his mind even now, he knows so much about the industry and he shares all of his information with everyone. Go to his web page and you will see his safety policy. He shares it with everyone, there are no secrets there. This guy is setting a great example! http://www.belltowercorp.com/safety_first.htm

Tell me what do you think?

My SOW training will be out next week. My big release will be soon! Make sure you tune in!

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention.

www.HubbleFoundation.org

Soon I will release my training for the SOW and more, to build your library of basic knowledge so you can advance in your job and the industry! My books will help teach someone the basics of tower work.

Kindle:

W4W Cover 4sworWireless Field Worker's cover V2

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Is Small Cell Deployment Cost Prohibitive?

Hey small cell fans! I was recently looking over what has been holding carriers back for outdoor small cell deployment. I will lay it out for you. But first, a quick overview.

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I know that many people I have talked to are looking to get into small cell deployment. Many of you have already started some indoor installations. This is great! Inside building installations are a good place to start because of the small cell experience. The great thing about buildings is that you are mostly running CAT5 to the small cell. You may need to get creative and pay attention to the cable runs. Remember that core drilling is very expensive.

  • First, let me describe the small cell options.
  1. Stand alone small cells that would be an all in one unit, it may or may not have the antenna attached to it but the controller and radio would all be in one box. If the antenna is remote then it may have the RF jumper connecting the small cell to the antenna.
  2. Then there are some that have a controller somewhere, like the broadband unit on a macro cell, and then connects to the radio via CAT5 or fiber. The remote radio head will be a smaller unit and will need power, wither from an outlet, from the controller, or from a router via CAT5. The controller probably controls several remote radio heads, and may control them a direct connection or through the network.

For indoor, stadiums, arena, or another controlled smaller venue you could use either one, because it is usually in a controlled environment. For street coverage in a city chances are real good that you would want the standalone unit because of real estate on a pole or in a cabinet that you’re mounting to. For these options DAS is really going to benefit from the small cell options. They still like to have some more power, I mean higher that 1 watt, but they are going to be able to control much more of the power distribution using these units.

  • So what has been holding back deployments?
  1. Is it the price of a small cell? No, the cost of the small cells is very reasonable, cheap in fact, compared to a macro or even a microwave link.
  2. Is it the antenna, cable, hardware, parts, and pieces? No, much more cost-effective because it is so much smaller.
  3. Is it the rent? Probably not, because leasing on a pole is much more reasonable.
  4. Power? Maybe, smaller circuits but if you need to install power, even the minimum 100A or 200A service, whatever the local zoning permits, it will cost money.
  5. Is it the prep work? Like site acquisition and site surveys? It could be. This may entail a lot of prep work. It may need structural drawings on a pole, power planning, backhaul planning, site survey, and more. I will explain below.
  6. It is not the cost of the install, although the carriers seem to attack the installers because it is something they feel they can control and beat down. It may still take a bucket truck to do the deployments, but in the grand scheme of things, compared to a macro it is very reasonable if it is planned out properly. Planning is the key for efficiency and saving money.
  7. Design, integration, and optimization? It is not the design or the integration or even the optimization, but they will hammer that down to because anything that is a service is something they can beat down. Design and integration can mostly be done remotely and optimization is something that is happening anyway.

So what is it? It appears to be the backhaul. They seem to think that they need >100Mbps fiber at every small cell. Does this make sense? It might! They may need more bandwidth at some sites than others but these stand alone sites probably don’t need anything near what they have at an arena. But the carrier would know better than I would because they have Per Call Measurement Data, (PCMD) that they get and put into a tool to determine where they need coverage based on weak signal and loading. I have to tell you, they don’t really seem worried about weak signal unless it affects a major customer. So the 3G small cells never really took off, did they? The 4G LTE small cells are all about bandwidth and data, so that may be a game changer. Carriers are worried that VoLTE may not be great if they don’t have decent bandwidth. They are also looking at the constraints in the bandwidth they are allocated by the FCC, so they will need to create smaller cells to help target larger data customers. This is something they are already trying to figure out.

Do they really need 100Mbps at a small cell? Who is going to use this thing? Is it something that businesses will rely on for watching video or will you be downloading your movies from these things? Maybe someday, but to get things rolling they should look at all of the options. To put in fiber at every site is quite a bit of money, but once it’s in they never have to go back to configure it again.

So who would need high bandwidth? Any venue like a sports venue – where fans would want to look at video, listen to audio, and share anything going on at the game. No matter what the game is the arena or stadium will have crazy heavy usage. Insane usage! Perhaps at certain businesses or in some malls. Maybe on special streets like Times Square in NYC where a massive amount of people gather every New Years Day. So it makes sense to put high bandwidth backhaul and any location like that.

What about the street coverage that is there so people don’t have a dead zone or a place there customers may need coverage for their business? I don’t think they need 100Mbps but the carriers would know better than I would. This is someplace that they could plan to scale up as needed.

So, back to my point – do they need this at fiber every small cell site? I don’t think so. I think that the hybrid solutions will be the way to go to start out. They could put fiber in a site that has fiber, saving cost on installation and site acquisition. This may be a building where they could use wireless backhaul to shoot down to poles, bus stops, other building, whatever. Wireless could be E-band licensed point to point (PTP), 5.8GHz point to multi point (PTMP), or another solution. I think that the traditional licensed bands, like 18GHz or 23GHz may not be feasible due to bandwidth and physical constraints. You will need something small and easy to deploy.

I think that the PTMP may be a quick solution but it’s in the 5.8GHz shared band. This means that anyone could interfere with you at any time causing serious degradation to your link at any time, and there is little you can do about it. It is cheap, comparatively speaking, and easy to deploy. The bandwidth you get may range from a few Mbps to >20Mbps that I am aware of. This varies but realistically I would not expect much more than this. Vendor dependant. Distance could be an issue and depends on what you are trying to achieve, but I would not recommend going too far, over a mile, just to keep your reliability as high as possible. Again, look over your design, know your OEM, and understand the plan for growth.

The E band solution in the 70 to 80 GHz bands. They have a 60GHz band solution as well. This does need to be licensed but they call it light licensing because it is quick and easy and the link distance is very short, under a mile in almost all cases. It does however, based on design and distance, allow you to pass up to 1GHz of bandwidth between links. It must be line of site (LOS) and weather is a factor. It all has a price!

I think that the hybrid solution of using both wireless and fiber may be the best way to go. When you look at putting fiber at every site it could not be cost-effective. However, if you put fiber there from day one you may never need to go back to upgrade. So the design and growth plan is so important. If you don’t see much growth in an area, then why put the money into it up front? I think there are already many business models to look at cost-effective alternatives.

Some carriers want fiber everywhere without any type of reference. What I see is a team of people who do a great job building out a Macro site trying to find synergies with the small cells. However, on backhaul requirements, you have a large area to cover, 3 to 12 sectors, and real loading with many customers at any given time. On the small cell, outside of a sports arena, you may cover 10 to 50 users, realistically, at one time. It may go up to 128 to 256 is this is a busy area. Will they all be using heavy bandwidth, probably not, but it is still loading.

What can you do as a deployment team? Make sure you understand the needs of the customer. Chances are good that they will need site surveys done prior to deployment as part of with the RF design and site Acquisition. When you do the site survey make sure you are aware of all obstacles. You can make sure you understand where the fiber is located. They should have fiber maps showing where the rings are. Maybe you would recognize that a building would be a better fit than a pole because you could set it up as a hub then connect the surrounding poles using wireless backhaul. Look for obstructions that would block wireless backhaul. Maybe you know where the macro site is and that could be the hub and connect to it directly with wireless backhaul. However, most of this may be wishful thinking and there may not be any path back to anything if the customer does installations across a huge area and not a planned organized deployment.

Remind the customer of the cost savings of planning mass deployments in one area. That is something to make clear, if they do single installations all over a wide area, then there are no savings on installation. If they plan it out very well in one area and do 10 installations in one city or metro area, then they will see installation savings.

Be open to suggest idea to help. If you get the site survey work then you are in an excellent position to offer advice. I won’t’ guarantee that they will take it, but hey, you tried to help.

Let me put the budget into perspective for you. To run fiber, even 100 feet it may cost up to $30K or more, all depending what is involved. Underground will involve trenching, permitting, maybe a planned road closure, or more. Overhead may be cheaper, but I am not a fiber guy, they would know better than I would. If you purchase radios they may be $10K and up, but once you mount it then it should work for a very long time assuming it is of good quality and the installation was done properly. You always have cable modems that would connect you to the internet and the carrier would have to build a VPN tunnel to keep it up, I think this may be the cheaper route up front but then you have the monthly OPEX.

So it will not be cheap or free no matter what they do. So it is up to you in the field to make sure you do all that you can to assist them to make the right decisions. Help them out by offering advice to how they could deploy, after all, you are on the front line and we all know that the front line is where all the good ideas come from, right? Of course! Make sure you think it through and be open to a conversation, and listen to what they are really looking for. If they determine that they need fiber at every site regardless of the cost, then so be it. Give it to them and respect their wishes. Just make sure you offer alternatives that are smart and cost-effective.

Tell me what you think!

http://www.thinksmallcell.com/

http://www.smallcellforum.org/

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/solutions/small-cells

https://www.qualcomm.com/1000x/small-cells

My SOW training will be out next week. My big release will be soon! Make sure you tune in!

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention.

www.HubbleFoundation.org

Soon I will release my training for the SOW and more, to build your library of basic knowledge so you can advance in your job and the industry! My books will help teach someone the basics of tower work.

Kindle:

W4W Cover 4sworWireless Field Worker's cover V2

PDF books so you can buy with PayPal:

W4W Cover 4sworWireless Field Worker's cover V2

PDF books you can pay with Credit Card:

W4W Cover 4sw  Wireless Field Worker's cover V2