What do land surveyors have to do with cell tower height verifications?

There are all kinds of land surveys, and anything being constructed, from buildings to cell towers, generally requires a land survey.  Yet, in addition to the land surveying required to build a cell tower, land surveyors play a key role in the verification of cell tower heights.

 

It is important that this service be performed by licensed, professional surveyors so that the results can be trusted.  If the results are other that what is expected, having land surveyors that are in good standing with their respective state boards and carry professional liability insurance goes even further in protecting the client.

 

The question may arise as to why cell tower height verifications would be necessary.  Just after construction, it is necessary to verify that the tower has been built according to the engineer’s design and specifications.  Before building ever takes place, careful measurements must be made to ensure the tower is built tall enough to be at an effective height to cover a cell phone service area. Once completed, having a licensed land surveyor verify the cell tower height acts as a sort of checks and balances. This type of “vertical” survey is vital in ensuring maximum signal performance as well as in determining what might be needed in terms of top lighting to make any aircrafts aware of the tower’s presence.

 

How would cell tower height verification ensure maximum signal performance? If a cell tower is not picking up signals properly, a cell tower height verification can be used to determine if the cell phone company’s antennas have been properly installed.  If the issue is with height, it may be necessary to make vertical adjustments to the antennas to get the cell phone service up to the optimum level.

 

At Point to Point Land Surveyors, Inc., we are using state-of-the-art 3D laser scanning technology to ensure that our cell tower height verifications are as accurate as possible. This amazing technology not only is considerably more accurate it is also much safer, avoiding the need of tower climbers (The death rate for tower climbers is about 10 times that of construction workers*).

 

For more information on how Point to Point can assist you with your next cell tower height verification please visit our Contact Us page.