| Magnus on Tue, 10 Jun 2003 21:58:06 -0400 |
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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 So tonight I got up on top of two of the tallest structures in Swarthmore (off campus). The disappointing bit was that the trees in Swarthmore, as old and impressive as they are, are awfully big. In fact, beyond about a half mile there was not much that was visible above the tree line at all. Building Name: "Greylock" Roof GPS: 30:53.984N, 75:21.051W Roof elevation: 63 feet above sea level (standing on the elevator shaft) Notes: The roof is pretty bare & unused. No sign of vandalism. There is a ladder going up on top of the elevator shaft. The shaft extends about 12-ish feet from the roof itself, and has a steady surface to stand on top of. This would be a good place to mount a mast. View of downtown Swarthmore is limited though due to two other tall buildings in the way. Did not notice Center City on the skyline but this was not the clearest day and I almost missed it on the other building... Building Name: "Swarthmore" (yeah, real imaginative) Roof GPS: 39:54.005N, 75:21.031W Roof elevation: 56 feet above sea level (at roof line) Notes: Better view of downtown Swarthmore (much of it still blocked by yet another tall building though) and taller buildings in Center City. I almost didn't notice it on the skyline except for a blimp broke free from the horizon to catch my attention, and then the taller buildings were more evident. It wasn't a very clear day so the view was hazy but unobstructed. This roof was littered with beer cans & bottles, had some lawn chairs on it, and is probably a frequent hangout of drinking kids. Vandalism potential. There is an existing cell phone site affixed to the elevator shaft. I was not able to get on top of this structure due to lack of ladder but I'm pretty sure there is enough of a roof there to allow working on top of the elevator shaft for extra height. I think with a tall mast on top of this building, a greater unobstructed view of downtown Swarthmore is likely. This building had coverage of far more rooftops in the nearby area and IMHO would make a much better repeater site *despite* the evidence of drinking parties on the roof (the cell phone base station hardware was easily accessible and yet untouched). I tried posting pictures to my gallery but my web hosting provider is SNAFU. When I get on a better server I'll post the pics. Swarthmore as a whole appears to be pretty low. This is probably not a good place to act as a backhaul site to other towns, because you can't really see anything above the trees for miles and miles. I think we'll be lucky if we can get a back haul link to Center City. We have a clear LOS to Center City but the distance is nothing to sneeze at (guessing 15 or 16 miles). What really amazed me was that my GPS reported my front door at Prospect Park (about a mile or two from the Delaware River) as 195 feet above sea level. I would have expected Swarthmore to be a little higher, or Prospect Park to be a little lower. It's starting to look like a Center City repeater is going to be a necessity to get DelCo linked up. I think the alternative is to see about using a different freq for back haul links (might 5GHz cut through the trees?) Anyone here have a connection with the property management of one of the taller buildings in Center City? - --Magnus -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.3.2 (Darwin) iEYEARECAAYFAj7mjIMACgkQYPuF4Zq9lvafZQCg2ysTj9pUpYJfEXRYNfZlzpX5 43EAn1yD4VrcN2zinNKgrsjAstGQ5v4r =WAlA -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _________________________________________________________________________ Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org Announcements - http://lists.netisland.net/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce General Discussion -- http://lists.netisland.net/mailman/listinfo/plug
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