Best of the ISP-Lists

Wireless by the Windsock

Members of the ISP-Wireless list discuss using the poles and towers at airports and airfields to provide Wi-Fi service to the business that congregate nearby.

[October 9, 2001]

On the ISP-Wireless list in September, EB queried,

"Does anyone have any experience with 802.11 equipment operating near airports? I want to locate on a tower overlooking a small airfield to cover a business park nearby."

A number of respondents suggested there shouldn't be any interference issues:

[AM noted] "Our POP is within three miles of a private airport, within eight miles of a commercial airport, and within five miles of an Air Force base. We've had no problems in over a year of wireless operation. Many large airports host 802.11 networks for high-speed access in terminals; you should have no problems operating within FCC rules."

[RB agreed] "Numerous 802.11 networks operate in and around airports with no problem. Burbank, Calif. and Savannah, Ga. are two that come to mind, but there are many others. They're even sticking 802.11 stuff all around airport terminals and selling premium-priced wireless Internet service to business travelers."

Others observed, though, that tower height limitations will come into play near an airport:

[RY warned] "To put a wireless network near any airport governed by the FAA, you need their approval. Antenna heights are governed by distance from runways. It took six weeks for us to get approval for one antenna on airport-governed property. You give them the exact distances from runways, then they tell you the height allowed at that location. We're about 400 feet from the side of a runway, and our maximum allowed height is 35 feet—and not one inch more."

[MK agreed] "We aren't even on airport property; we're over two miles away—and we just got approval from the FAA to go only to 160 feet when we applied for 200 feet. We were told no higher, no way, no how."

[MJ added] "The way I understand it, you need to be three miles from the end of the nearest runway, or you have to restrict your height."

—End