AT&T Long Lines "Oak Hill Tower", San Jose, CA, 2021.
All the pixels, none of the RF exposure, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/51261791084
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this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2025
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With a few exceptions (mostly towers atop downtown switching offices in populated areas), no one was trying to make any of this utilitarian communications infrastructure beautiful. It was form strictly following function, built to be reliable and rugged.
But there was, I think, quite a bit of beauty to find in it. I wonder if we'll look at our current neighborhood cellular towers, now often regarded as a visual blight, the same way decades after they're (inevitably) also gone.
@[email protected] Before BT (in the UK) went to fibre, they had a wide variety of towers for MW backbone/trunk data/voice comms. Many were utilitarian extended metal tetrahedra or trihedra, but some were quite unique - perhaps the most obvious being the former Post Office Tower in London.
Many of them are now shadow of their former selves, with very few antennae attached.
@[email protected] I was sad when they removed the antennas from the Post Office Tower (which I understand is being refurbished into a hotel).
@[email protected] Apparently so.
It's a difficult building to get rid of, because the foundation for the tower itself are intertwined with the former telephone exchange beneath it - which is now an incredibly important fibre interchange point.
I was lucky enough to go up there in 2004 (or 2005) for a presentation lunch from Cisco. It's fascinating inside.