Vodafone cellsite shut down by health and safety

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bbman

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#11044 28-Dec-2006 10:39

I heard through the rumor mill that the Voda site @ Tekapo was shut down by health and safety for being over powered or beyond the legal out put. I have heard that they are reducing the power considerably to meet standards which will cut the foot print considerably. There is a bit of an investigation because some other Voda sites in the South Island may also be in the same boat.

Any one able to confirm this?

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sbiddle

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#56465 28-Dec-2006 10:50

I have no idea if it's true or not but if it is the case it would have nothing to do with OSH (Dept of Labour) but would be part of the MED.

Radio licences are issed by RSM (part of the Ministry of Economic Development) and every radio radio transmitter in the country has to be lodged with them and the details are available in the PRISM or SMART databases. Part of the application involves stating the antenna polarity and power output of a radio site. If Vodafone got these wrong or purposely falsified the details then the MED are within their rights to make the licence holder comply with the terms of their licence.

bbman

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#56470 28-Dec-2006 11:37

yeah thats what i thought, i heard the rumour through local installers so it is quite possible that MED have stepped in. I would almost put money on the fact that it's not the only one in the area as well.

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sbiddle

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#56471 28-Dec-2006 11:45

If memory serves me right Tekapo was one of the first sites installed by BellSouth that used a method developed by Telstra that doubled the range of a GSM site by increasing transmission power but halving the capacity by reducing the number of timeslots available. There was talk of a number of these sites being rolled out around the country and I believe Nelson also had the same equipment installed to increase the coverage into Golden Bay. I wonder if this has anything to do with it at all? This gear was installing 8+ years ago however so if it was related it seems strage it's taken so long for any issues to arise.

bbman

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#56475 28-Dec-2006 12:44

Now that sounds right, i would say that most of their sites in Mackenzie district seem extremely power ful i.e handset can pick up that site from a considerable distance with good strength.

I know that TNZ have a lot of issues with their sites when Voda goes on near by and seem to have better site foot print. I would imagine that Voda will have some issues to contend with if this is true and the out puts are reduced. TNZ are investigating also.

will be keen to know where this goes.

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johnr

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#56483 28-Dec-2006 15:09

sbiddle: If memory serves me right Tekapo was one of the first sites installed by BellSouth that used a method developed by Telstra that doubled the range of a GSM site by increasing transmission power but halving the capacity by reducing the number of timeslots available. There was talk of a number of these sites being rolled out around the country and I believe Nelson also had the same equipment installed to increase the coverage into Golden Bay. I wonder if this has anything to do with it at all? This gear was installing 8+ years ago however so if it was related it seems strage it's taken so long for any issues to arise.

This was done by ericsson and Vodafone OZ back about 1998 or 1999 if remember correct for GSM coverage along some highways in the sticks

sbiddle

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#56496 28-Dec-2006 21:44

johnr:
sbiddle: If memory serves me right Tekapo was one of the first sites installed by BellSouth that used a method developed by Telstra that doubled the range of a GSM site by increasing transmission power but halving the capacity by reducing the number of timeslots available. There was talk of a number of these sites being rolled out around the country and I believe Nelson also had the same equipment installed to increase the coverage into Golden Bay. I wonder if this has anything to do with it at all? This gear was installing 8+ years ago however so if it was related it seems strage it's taken so long for any issues to arise.

This was done by ericsson and Vodafone OZ back about 1998 or 1999 if remember correct for GSM coverage along some highways in the sticks

I was just reading a little bit about it now. Telstra trialled it first and talked it up a lot but only every deployed it on around 20 sites. Vodafone then used the same technology when they won a government tender for GSM coverage along the major highways and they have around the same number of sites deployed. The downside was the reduced capacity and no GPRS. Obviously Aussie is a perfect country to have such sites with the flat terrain and nobody seems to really know why more sites weren't rolled out.

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#56520 29-Dec-2006 09:22

mjsit&t: I heard through the rumor mill that the Voda site @ Tekapo was shut down by health and safety for being over powered or beyond the legal out put.

Can you find the source for this rumour? I am told by someone that this just a rumour and techies don't know about it...

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bbman

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#56526 29-Dec-2006 10:23

I was hoping some one on here would know for sure. The rumour or info was mentioned at a christmas party by an tech and was stated well before every one was too liquored, it was totally plausable and i would not be surprised considering the range VNZ sites have in the area but i wanted to know for sure hence posting on here.

Since no one knows about it i would imagine it was bollocks or possibly an exaguration.

Thanks

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VFNZPaulBrislen

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#56685 1-Jan-2007 10:34

Hi guys,

Sorry for the delay - I'm new in the job and have yet to figure out who to ask about such things.

Right - the Tekapo cellsite. It was downgraded briefly towards the end of November while a fence was built around the tower and the antenna itself moved up the tower. It seems since the site was built the area around the hill has become more populated lately and the techs realised people were walking on the hill and wandering around the tower itself.... so a fence was deemed necessary. The site is back up and running and has been since late November.

So yes, a health and safety thing, but not quite in that league.

Regards,

Paul Brislen
Vodafone External Communications Manager

edited for tenses. Sorry, New Year's Day. Synapses... feeling the worse for wear.

[Moderator edit (MF): removed email address for spam protection]

bbman

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#56698 1-Jan-2007 21:15

Thanks for that reply. Appreciate the quick response.

Seems the story was added to slightly before i got it. Always good to get to the bottom of things.

Makes sense.

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