Figure 1-2: Omni/Sector (NC)
| Licensee | Call Sign | Block | SID(s) | Market | MTSO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio State Cellular Phone Co., Inc. | KNKA447 | A | 0309 | CMA157 * Roanoke | Roanoke, VA |
| KNKA812 | A | 0309 | CMA203 * Lynchburg | Lynchburg, VA | |
| Charlottesville Cellular Partnership | KNKA805 | A | 0309 | CMA256 * Charlottesville | |
| USCOC of Virginia RSA #2, Inc. | KNKN715 | A | 0309 | CMA682 * Virginia 2 - Tazewell | |
| USCOC of Virginia RSA #3, Inc. | KNKN670 | A | 1753 | CMA683 * Virginia 3 - Giles | |
| Virginia RSA #4, Inc. | KNKN776 | A | 0309 | CMA684 * Virginia 4 - Bedford | |
| KNKN747 | A | 0309 | CMA685 * Virginia 5 - Bath | ||
| Virginia RSA #7, Inc. | KNKN675 | A | 1993 | CMA687 * Virginia 7 - Buckingham | |
| North Carolina RSA #9, Inc. | KNKN663 | A | 1541 | CMA573 * North Carolina 9 - Camden | Greenville, NC |
| KNKN884 | A | 0348, 1930 | CMA578 * North Carolina 14 - Pitt |
In North Carolina and Virginia U.S. Cellular operates three different networks; traditional AMSP coverage, the current CDMA service as well as a bare bones TDMA network setup for roamers (but also a legacy network for other U.S. Cellular systems elswhere). Since 2003 or so U.S. Cellular has been extremely agressive in CDMA service over their AMPS/TDMA footprint while at the same time sectorizing all of their existing omnidirectional sites.
Misc:
Rural or upgraded sites in North Carolina have sectorized antenna mounted below the prexisting omnidirectional antenna; exceptions do exist. These CDMA sectors are normally flush mounted in a 1 x 3 configuration to the antenna structure (Fig. 1-1). The vendor for the sectorized antenna in North Carolina is unknown but is suspected to be Andrew Corp. and the antenna from the Decibel DB846 family (Fig. 1-2). A similar antenna conversion scheme is used in Virginia but is harder to find as U.S. Cellular has many more pre-existing sectorized sites in Virginia than in North Carolina. In Virginia between 2001 and May of 2002 almost all of the sectorized sites had their antenna replaced by antenna from Antel (susepcted to be from the ADA-636 model line). More details on this configuration to follow.
Figure 1-2: Omni/Sector (NC)
The brunt of U.S. Cellular's Nortel base station electronics are housed in medium sized shelters covered with a brown exposed aggregate surface. These shelters come in two varieties, the most common having the door placed at one end of the shelter (Fig. 2-1). The second, less common variation features the shelter door located on the side of the building, which is the normal door location for other carriers (Fig. 2-2). A notable exception are very old sites in the Charlottesville area in which the site electronics are housed in an all white metal shelter. (Fig. 2-3). These shelters are thought to date back to the Blue Ridge Cellular days and are slowly being replaced by one of the two shelter varieties described above. Nortel Univity CDMA Metro Cell cabinets are used to house the electronics for CDMA only sites (Fig. 2-4). The use of these cabinets is rare and has only been seen once in rural North Carolina.
Figure 2-1: Shelter, door at end
Figure 2-2: Shelter, door on side
Figure 2-4: Nortel Univity CDMA Metro Cell
U.S. Cellular is very good about marking their sites. Almost all sites sport a large rectangular sign in red (Fig. 3-1) or white (Fig. 3-2). The white version is rare has been observed in North Carolina. In North Carolina both types of signs may have various pieces of site id information which consists of something called an MTX (?) number and a BTS number. Sometimes the MTX number matches the BTS number and sometimes the MTX number is followed by the cell name. The MTX/BTS numbers can sometimes be found near a sites door knob as well.
In addition to the standard no trespassing/emergency contact signage touched on above many sites, where applicable, feature an FCC antenna structure registration number sign. The original version of this notice is a medium sized black on white sign with the U.S. Cellular logo (Fig. 3-1). Newer versions of this sign are much larger and just have the antenna registration number and the text "FCC Antenna Registration Number" (Fig. 3-3). Many sites in Virginia have another black text on white background sign with the cell sites name and a cell site number (Fig. 3-4). Additionally, Virginia sites have a large amount of boiler plate RF warning/climbing hazard signs either drilled onto the shelter or attached to the sites fence.
Figure 3-1: Site signage (common)
Figure 3-2: Site signage (rare)
Figure 3-3: FCC ASRN Sign (old)