1 Comments

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  fredfinley1 3/6/2010 12:17:20 PM

  Loouisiana and the rest of the Gulf coast are a special case because of the possibility of hurricanes. Survivability of communications becomes very important. What if we put the equipment in an aerodynamic enclosure up on the tower or monopole to reduce the wind lowding while providing protection from the wind and flooding. This is part of the thinking behind the Tower Mounted Communications Pod (TMCP, U. S. Patent Pending). Our experiments have shown that a coeffecient of drag on the order of .2 is readily doable. Now, instead of antennas installed in rings at different levels, they are all placed in a larger ring at the top. Thus, the overall wind loading might become half. This may be interpreted as a greater safety factor or as a higher wind rating. Because of the square in the formula, a wind rating of 100mph would now become 140mph. More details are available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAz7ZBVmHEU.
  This is essentially a Faraday cage that is surrounded by a radome and the streamlining gives it the shape of a flying saucer. The cage confers immunity to lightning while openings are large enough to pass the wavelengths of RF. Thank you.