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Vanishing Mobile Phone Masts
babycakes writes "The BBC has an article about the concealment of mobile phone antennae in the UK, where the masts have been disguised as clock face hands, chimneys and so on. The company behind them, The Undetectables (flash site) aim to 'eradicate this architectural acne' - pics available."
How am I supposed to know to be pissed off when I'm standing right under one and still not getting any reception?
paintball
We have these horribly fake looking metal palm trees all around my house. The first time you look at it you have to do a double take. They're so strange looking that the birds will fly around them. I'd rather look at the triangle antenna.
(B) + (D) + (B) + (D) = (K) + (&)
There must be some appropriate gesture....
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
They're making them look like big ass trees. The best one is on the PA Turnpike near Willow Grove. It's in the middle of a wooded area. It looks good except, it's easily three times the size of normal trees, oh, and in the winter, it's the only one with leaves on it!!!!
This antenna cannot be seen. Unfortunately, it has chosen a rather obvious piece of cover...
BOOM!
This sort of thing is more useful in the UK, as there are numerous historical preservation zones where you can't even have a visible satellite dish. In the middle of a town, it's much easier to get permission if the mast is invisible. That, and the local schools won't start bitching about the unreasonably high rate of student's brain tumors if the masts are invisible.
After all, in this post 9-11 time, who would object to a big flag flying atop a big flag pole?
I mean, I never thought attennas were that much of an eyesore. While I'm all for making them smaller and whatnot, I sure as hell wouldn't make them all cute and crap if I lose performance.
Chicago2600.net more than a lifestyle, its a survival trait.
No, really.
--
The internet is the greatest source of biased information in the history of mankind.
But that hasn't stopped Microsoft from trying.
"All art is quite useless." -- Oscar Wilde
Down in Cape Cod in Wellfleet, there is a cell phone antennae inside of a church steeple (I forget which one). The church gets paid something like 50,000-100,000$ a year to hold the antennae. The church doesn't do anything with the antennae, they just rent out the space to hold it.
I wish some phone company put an antennae in my chimney. I could quit working.
Outdoor digital photography, mostly in New Engl
.. they decided to throw some fake looking tree branches on a HUGE tower just outside of NYC.
Here is the article, but unfortunately I can't find a picture. Article
I guess it would have slightly blended in if it wasn't 100' taller than the tallest tree.
Live web cams
They use them in residential areas and national parks. If I find a link, I'll post it.
Ok, flash site is one thing. Has so many useless little files that it throws the browser into spasms where the stop button and mozilla logo blink at around 1 Hz site is a little more annoying. Perhaps their precious little flash animations don't do so well against a friday afternoon slashdotting....
I found one that is similar here
Live web cams
There are many options and it is great NOT to see these ugly antennas everywhere.
Here is some examples, fake tress, a fake window, or a cross on a church tower.
my sig
Sure, it's functionally useless. Like the top of a car, a GUI, or the handle of a knife.
Making it pretty isn't about utility. It's about ergonomics and aesthetics. I mean, there's a cell tower I drive by and it has a horrific sign by the mayor bitching and moaning about it. Hiding the cell tower makes it easier to palette and helps prevent this form of complaint.
Reception problems, thought, are entirely another matter.
I used to be someone else. Now I'm someone better.
Real life is underrated.
That would be Glass Reinforced Plastic. I believe its like, if not actually is, fiberglass. The news article defined the acronym, but I am not entirely sure of the material itself.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
A couple years ago, the city I grew up in (Pipestone, MN) repainted (or otherwise maintained) their water tower. While the guys were up there, they took down some antenna, because neither they, nor anyone at city hall, could figure out why they were there.
Turned out to be a repeater installed twenty years ago by the local radio station, with city permission.
So now I'm imagining some roofer coming down off the roof and telling the homeowner "Uh, listen, you have a chimney up there which doesn't connect to anything. I think it might be causing your leak, do you want me to get rid of it?"
I think a giant penis might be what you are looking for.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
Better yet:
If a cellular tower disguised as a tree falls in the middle of a deserted forest, does it still provide service?
-Zipwow
I don't know which is more depressing, that 2/3 didn't care enough to vote, or that 1/2 of those that did are crazy.
seems to be putting more, small recievers on top of utility poles. Reaps several benefits, increased revenue for an already cash straped goverment, and better reception for Portland wireheads.
Here's a quote from the Willamette Weekly, a local paper, "Health skeptics may protest, but cell-phone users may be headed toward better reception. New cell-phone towers may sprout on utility poles all over the city under a new proposal, spearheaded by Commissioner Sten's office, in which cell-phone companies would pay the city for the privilege."
josh
A company named Signal Tower sells cells towers disguised as a tree. You can see pictures of this at the web site.
P.s. sorry if this was mentioned on the site in the original story. I could not get to that site due to crap flash.
man
No manual entry for
I'm just waiting for a tree-hugging environmentalist to come along and chain herself to a cell tower... :-P
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
They bungled the meta refresh HTML... instant reloading.
Ibelca
__
Sig: Marine Stock Photos
Depends on the antenna design. You may get unwanted stray lobes of radiation if they've installed it improperly though. I'd rather put my faith in the inverse-square law.
I have read stories of amatuer radio operators playing games with their antennas so they would be harder to see. If QST a few years back they showed a picture of an antenna painted brown to blend in with the trees, no leaves on it however. This also reminds me of the person who used their clothesline as an antenna until the neighbor accidentally touched it while the guy was transmiting....
I have a nervous disposition to clocks (usually because I get up late). I like mobile phone masts, but hate clocks. they are an eyesore, and raise my stress levels and body temperature. As I am a member of this minority group I feel that our needs are not being met. This blatent discrimination will be taken up with the european court of human rights very shortly.
Undetectables website is now undetectable.
If you are on I-95 in the NYC Yonkers area you'll see a cell phone tower rigged on top of a yellow brick chimney like that. I saw it a while ago and it was a wierd technology meets old-school type of feeling.
...is the media-fed hysteria going around in some countries, arguing some (never proven) effects in human health. Where I live (Spain), some parents took their children away from school because there were cell masts nearby. Even after the mobile operator disconnected that base station, there were some diehards who did not allow their children go back to school -well, then it must have been antenna aestetics.
Of course, media have never realised that there are much powerful transmitters of electromagnetic signals everywhere... starting with their very own broadcast signals.
I've seen plenty of antannae on the sides of existing buildings, water towers, silos, and other tall structures that were already there. Great idea. Why litter the landscape with poor camoflauge when you can just tack some gear inconspicuously on the side of something that's been there 50 years?
Helps the the local economy too - if I were a farmer I'd take $500/month to rent the top edges of my silo. Found money, basically. And it's gotta be cheaper than construction, zoning changes, etc. that the phone company would have to shell out.
We get palm trees and pine trees. But no, they never look out of place -- they're just as fake as the tits on a B-list starlet...
Dog is my co-pilot.
Ever wonder where those growth rings in the cross section of a tree trunk come from ?
yes. If you nail a sign to the side of a tree it will rise higher. If it dosn't seam to that just because that tree is growing realy slow.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
could be worse, you could have a mayor that decides to put fake trees in the center boulevard for no apparent reason.
butt fucking ugly, and completely non-functional metal trees.
Yeah, Singtel-Optus has some in Queensland, Australia, too. They actually look quite good.
--quirky
I don't want big ugly towers every 35km, if they can make them invisible it is worth the cost.
Fair enough. Personally, I think that they should use something other than fake trees! Like water towers, buildings, and so on.
Although you only have to put the towers up every 70 km if you want to cover a distance (35 km radius == 70 km diameter).
Michael
There is no cryptographic solution to the problem where the intended receiver and the attacker are the same entity.
Which is what I've seen at the cellular 'flagpoles' in our neighborhood. Three side by side by the way...
Sounds like you are just pretending to be an expert - they are just images you googled for.
The "clock tower" for example is from the "Back-to-the-future" film set. The last one is from a landscape site.
The "tree" is the main page image for http://danr.ucop.edu/devserv/ .
no sig.
Nope, it's just an uncanny coincidence both in physical attributes and URL/file naming irony. Go figure! I'm going back downstairs into my secret lab, be back in a few weeks *peace*
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
"mysteriously develops a perfect blind-spot to whatever they're doing."
Sounds like a genuine SEP-field (Somebody Else's Problem). Cloaking for the regular people...
--- Hindsight is 20/20, but walking backwards is not the answer.
Personally, I'd like to see the _mayor_ done up as a giant palm tree... ;)
I think the sign is just an excuse for additional name exposure for the guy, since he's essentially a cipher even in his own town.
(Nice to meet a local slashdotter.)
I used to be someone else. Now I'm someone better.
Real life is underrated.