ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, October 6, 1996 TAG: 9610040077
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Cellular
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON
Five years ago, United States Cellular Corp.'s Roanoke office put a tower on the ridge below 12 O'Clock Knob with a couple of thin antenna rods to relay cellular calls.
Recently, to upgrade its wireless phone system, the company added three antennae shaped like drums and measuring 8, 10 and 12 feet across. On a clear day, they are visible from many parts of the Roanoke Valley.
It was all perfectly legal.
But Charles Phillips, network operations manager at the company, late last month took another look at the tower southwest of Salem, one of five the company uses in this area and one of three with various owners on or near the knob. What he saw, he didn't like completely. When he set his eyes on the new drums, the effect was almost blinding. He decided something needed to be done.
"In the morning, say, before 10 o'clock, when the sun is at a certain angle, it appears the [white] front cover of that antenna is acting as a reflector, such as a big mirror, and you can see it from a long distance away."
To take care of that problem, Phillips said, he will tone down the color of the devices by replacing their white fabric covers with brown or green ones. It will cost the company $900.
"We're trying to pick something that blends in with the surroundings," Phillips said.
His willingness to act appears to be good news, because communities and cellular phone companies will be forced to come terms on the placement of future cellular towers and how they look against the landscape. Nobody can say how many towers will be needed.
But consider that the U.S. cellular industry serves only 15 percent of the population today. It is growing rapidly. The industry, born in 1983, had 10 million subscribers last year, according to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association in Washington, D.C.
Industry sales, at $20 billion a year, were growing at a 31 percent rate, according to statistics reported at midsummer. Fueling the trend is a drop in what it costs to own and use a cell phone. The average monthly bill has dropped from $97 in 1987 to $49 and you'll pay only $25 for a phone to carry in your car or purse and use in emergencies.
In the future, the antennae will get smaller and may be adapted to fit on buildings, utility poles and water tanks, industry experts believe - in response to community opposition to new towers. But that may not happen soon enough to prevent more ridges from becoming visual pin cushions. The rods and drums work in tandem, with the rods maintaining a link with the cell phones and the drums a link with the regular phone system.
The 12 O'Clock Knob case provides some insight into one company's sensitivity to the issue. Phillips of United States Cellular, legally speaking, doesn't have to do anything to disguise the drum-shaped antennae which were added to the existing tower. He volunteered.
Roanoke County gave permission for the tower in 1991, without ruling on what could be attached to it, even though it had some say-so on that issue. The county set a height limit of 114 feet and made sure the tower wouldn't interfere with air travel before giving the go-ahead. Why stricter rules weren't set is not clear, but it could have been that the staff was unfamiliar with the specifics of tower technology. The 1991 zoning ordinance did not even mention cellular towers.
Planning Director Terry Harrington said he doesn't know if officials would have handled that case differently today. Officials know to look beyond the height of cellular towers in deciding which applications to approve, he said. But current laws make it "very, very, very difficult for localities to regulate aesthetics," he said.
Where citizen sentiment lies is also unclear, but some are willing to accommodate the industry's need for access to the highest peaks. That's part of the reason Sherrill Smith of Salem said he leases the tower site near 12 O'Clock Knob to United States Cellular. He said he also does it for the money, though he would not disclose how much the company pays him.
Another who thinks he can put up with towers, so far anyway, is Bill Weisgerber of Salem. He looks at 12 O'Clock Knob and its latest adornment from his deck.
The new antenna cluster is "not something that just jumps out," he said. "It maybe went from a 64th of an inch to a 32nd of an inch in perception from where we live."
It's a sort of trade-off anyhow. He said he is comforted to know his two grown daughters, who drive a lot, have cell phones in their cars to use in case of an accident or trouble.
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Roger Hart. United States Cellular's tower on 12 O'Clockby CNBKnob. color.