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Home>Guide to Find Mobile Phone Towers>Step 4. Using Google Earth

Index

Step 1. Google Earth

Step 2. Check the Coverage Map

Step 3. How to Search the ACMA / RADCOM Website

Search the ACMA Website

Step 4. Using Google Earth

Step 5. More Accurate Calculations

Find Mobile Phone Towers Near Your Location

Step 4.  Using Google Earth
Locate the EXACT position of the cell tower that you found using the ACMA/RADCOM site
Draw a path from your location to the cell tower tower of interest
Do a rough check of the terrain and any obstacles that lie in the path. 
 

Assess the terrain between your location and the cell tower

4.1  Locate tower in Google Earth.
   

A. Click on the little blue dot
B. Click the [KLM] link. 

 C. Select "Open with" and press OK.    
D. A new Google Earth Placemarker is dropped at the location of the tower.
       Click the to view site summary & links to site details.
 
Fly to tower location

Street View - ACTUAL tower location.

 If the location of the tower is not obvious from the first Sky View, you may need to use Street view to visually locate the tower.
 1. With the mouse, click-n-drag the Street View icon to a position where it appears you'll get a good view of the tower.
 2. Scanning around look for the tower. It may help to draw a line to where you expect the tower to be.
 3. Drop a Placemarker Pin at the exact Tower location and name it.  

Fly to tower location
 

4.2 Draw the Path from your location to the tower.  
 Draw Path

A. Zoom out so that you can see both your placemarker and the tower marker.

B. Click the ADD PATH icon select the [Style, Color] tab.
 - Set the Color to RED or BLUE, something that stands out.
 - Set the Width to about 2.0

C. Zoom out so that you can see both your placemarker and the tower marker.

4.2  Show the Elevation Profile

Draw Path

A. Right-mouse-click on the Line you've just drawn and select Show Elevation Path.

TIP. The profile becomes more accurate as you zoom in on parts of the path line. Double click on sections of the elevation profile to zoom in and load that section of the contour.

Things to note about the above example:

A. Note the position highlighted red above, at the position of the first hill (obstacle) closest to your location.
    This hill is about 14m higher than your location and may obstruct the Line-of-Sight (LOS) to the tower.

B. The distance is only 7.2km which is quite a short distance and will give stronger signal to counter act the effect of obstacles in the path.
    This also means that the effect of the earths curvature will be negligible.
    Distances of 26km must take into account the curvature of the earth.
    Google Earth does not account of this curvature, so we need to use a more sophisticated calculator .

C. This example Cell Tower is quite elevated in altitude. This will also help with getting signal over obstacles. 
 

 

 

 

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<h2 style="padding-left: 8px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small; color: #000000;"><strong><a title="Find your GPS location on the Google Earth" href="https://onwireless.com.au/step-1-find-my-location-google-earth.html" target="_blank">Step 1.  Google Earth</a></strong></span></h2>
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<h2 style="padding-left: 8px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small; color: #000000;"><strong><a title="Get a rough idea of the services available in your area" href="https://onwireless.com.au/step-2-check-the-coverage-map.html" target="_blank">Step 2.  Check the Coverage Map</a></strong></span></h2>
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<h2 style="padding-left: 8px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small; color: #000000;"><strong><a title="Find Towers around your location " href="https://onwireless.com.au/step-3a-search-the-acma-radcom-website.html" target="_blank">Step 3A.  Search the ACMA / RADCOM Website</a></strong></span></h2>
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<h2 style="padding-left: 8px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small; color: #000000;"><strong><a title="Get Site Details of Cell Towers near you" href="https://onwireless.com.au/step-3b-search-the-acma-website.html" target="_blank">Step 3B  Search the ACMA Website</a></strong></span></h2>
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<h2 style="padding-left: 8px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small; color: #000000;"><strong><a title="Draw a path between the tower and your location" href="https://onwireless.com.au/step-4-using-google-earth.html" target="_blank">Step 4.  Using Google Earth</a></strong></span></h2>
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<h2 style="padding-left: 8px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small; color: #000000;"><strong><a title="Calculate the Signal Strength" href="https://onwireless.com.au/step-5-more-accurate-calculations.html" target="_blank">Step 5.  More Accurate Calculations</a></strong></span></h2>
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