B 2.0
Antenna and line systems
Mount steel, antenna and line installation, hoisting and grounding, and the sweep and PIM testing that proves the system before the crew leaves the site.
AGL60–300′
This is the highest-volume scope in the trade and the one where the difference between crews shows up months later rather than on the day.
An antenna that is bolted on and pointed roughly right will work. It will also, if the connectors were not torqued properly or the jumper was bent inside its minimum radius, develop passive intermodulation that degrades the sector under load and is nearly impossible to diagnose from the ground. PIM faults are a workmanship problem, and they are found by testing for them before the crew comes down.
So the deliverable here is not “installed”. It is a mapping and photo record of what went where, at what azimuth and downtilt, plus sweep and PIM results against the acceptance threshold, submitted in the format the carrier’s QA process expects.
Adding or changing appurtenances changes what the structure below is carrying. Where the configuration is changing, a structural analysis is a hold point before the crew mobilises — see structural modification.
Define these before a proposal
- Configuration
- Sectors, antennas per sector, azimuths, downtilts and mounting heights, as the RF design specifies them.
- Loading check
- Whether the structure has been analysed for this configuration. Adding appurtenances changes the loading and that is a structural question, not an RF one.
- Line type and route
- Coax or hybrid fiber, diameter, route, and hoisting arrangement.
- Grounding
- Grounding kit positions and bonding to the tower and to the ground ring.
- Test regime
- Sweep, PIM, or both, with the acceptance thresholds and submission format your QA process requires.
What you receive
Mapping and photo record, sweep and PIM test results
Submitted in the format your QA process expects, agreed at proposal stage rather than discovered at submission. See the close-out package.
B 2.1 The work
What the scope contains
Planning durations for one structure or one site, with the crew type each line assumes. Crew types are priced on the rates page.
| Work | Crew | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Antenna swap, one sectorLike-for-like, existing mounts | C2 | 0.5–1 day |
| Full three-sector buildAntennas, radios, jumpers, lines | C4 | 2–4 days |
| Mount steel installationNew or replacement sector frames | C4 | 1–3 days |
| Line replacementCoax or hybrid, full run | C4 | 2–4 days |
| Sweep testingReturn loss and DTF per line, documented | C2 | 0.5–1 day |
| PIM testingPer sector, against threshold, documented | C2 | 0.5–1 day |
| Grounding remediationKits, bonding, ground ring | C2 or GP | 1–2 days |
Rates are USD, exclude engineering, permitting, materials, crane and specialist equipment hire, travel outside the base market and any applicable tax, and are planning ranges for scoping a project rather than an offer or a quotation. Reviewed September 2026. Durations are per structure or per site and exclude mobilisation, weather days and any engineering or permitting lead time. A figure for your site list comes from a written proposal against a defined scope of work. See the disclaimer.
Questions Antenna and line systems
Questions about this scope
Specific to this scope. The general ones — proposals, insurance, weather, close-out, billing — are on the FAQ page.
What is PIM and why does it matter?
Passive intermodulation: unwanted signals generated at a poor metal-to-metal junction under transmit power. It degrades receive sensitivity, which shows up as poor coverage under load rather than as an obvious fault, and it is very hard to chase from the ground. The common causes are workmanship — a loose or contaminated connector, a jumper bent inside its minimum radius, corroded hardware. Testing for it before demobilisation is how it stops being somebody else’s problem in three months.
What is the difference between sweep and PIM testing?
A sweep measures return loss and distance-to-fault along a line: it finds a damaged run, a bad connector or water ingress, and it tells you roughly where. PIM tests for intermodulation products generated under power. A line can sweep perfectly and still fail PIM, which is exactly why carriers ask for both.
Can you work to a carrier close-out format?
Yes. Photo naming conventions, mapping sheets, test file formats and the submission portal all vary, and getting them wrong means rework rather than a technical failure. Tell us the format at proposal stage and the crew shoots to it in the field rather than reconstructing it afterwards. See the close-out package.
Do you do the RF design?
No. RF design — azimuths, downtilts, antenna selection, sector planning — comes from your RF engineering group or your vendor. We install to the design and document what was installed, including where field conditions made the design impossible and what was done instead. That last part is the thing most worth having in writing.
B 0.0 The other scopes
The rest of the elevation
- AGL0–300′
Inspection & Maintenance
Scheduled structural and lighting inspection, guy tension and plumb, and the photo-documented report with a punch list that a site owner can act on.
- AGL0–300′
Structural Modification
Leg, diagonal and foundation reinforcement carried out to a structural engineer's drawings, so a structure can carry a loading it was not built for.
- AGL0–300′
Tower Construction
New self-support, monopole and guyed structures, erected to an engineered rigging plan and handed over plumb, tensioned and documented.
- AGLGrade
Site Power & HVAC
Standby generators, automatic transfer switches, fuel systems and shelter HVAC — the systems at the base that decide whether the site stays on air.
Send the site list
Telephone with the structures, what has to happen at each one, and the date it has to be finished. We will tell you the crew, the days, what has to be engineered first, and what the close-out package will contain.
Atlantic Tower Services, Inc. · 5301 Pen Ave, Suite 1001, Sanford, FL 32773