I've got this cellphone propagating tower going up on a commercial building next door to me - where we choose to live for closeness to shops and transport.
We have little choice but to put up with a tower.
Now I've read of "stealth towers" disguised as trees but that wouldn't work here for various reasons; so I intend to suggest this idea to the company:
Build a hoarding around your units here and elsewhere where "trees' won't serve, and sell the space to outdoor advertising specialists.
I'd rather be confronted daily with colourful [changing occasionally] ads than a large grey box and a phallic pole.-- rayfo, May 18 2001 Church on the Hill http://maps.google....9,0.005407&t=h&z=18The large cross has a cell tower as part of the cross. I would assume they earn a little bit of tithing from the phone company. [Klaatu, Jun 12 2008] Alternatively you could make them more appealing by having a model of a giant monster climbing it - complete with airplanes flying around it's head and a heroine in need of saving in it's paw.-- Aristotle, May 18 2001 We may mutter about the towers but listen to the swearing if the network fails for a few hours.-- rayfo, May 22 2001 Ask the company who owns the tower to offer the space to local artists. No revenue, but they will get public goodwill, and the art would probably be better than having to look at ads.-- ejs, May 22 2001 And, of course, there's have to be criteria as to what kinds of ads are posted. I can name at least 10 adverts off the top of my head that would make me reach for the gas & matches.
With a cap and a spiral staircase, you might be able to disguise it as a screw. Not very attractive, but comparable to one of those buildings with the rear half of a car sticking out of the side.-- nick_n_uit, May 22 2001 Seems like you're willing to trade just about anything for advertising space rayfo...what's up with that?
...I may not mind advertising as long as it's clever, but I do have my limits...-- iuvare, May 22 2001 Why not a fiberglass fairing that makes it look like a V2 rocket? The Tower of Pisa? A giant Bob's Big Boy (or better, Diner Doggie)? The Battersea power station? The monolith from 2001? A giant ice cream cone? The [insert phallic monument here]?-- rmutt, May 23 2001 Honest - I was trailing my coat about the ads, having no better idea, but I like the proposal of urging telcoms to offer the sides of the concealing box to artists.
What, by the way, do 'bakers think of towers pretending to be trees?-- rayfo, May 24 2001 It's hilarious. But at least they're trying.-- ejs, May 24 2001 <grin> It is silly...When I was in California I saw two of them, within a couple blocks of each other. One looked fairly good, the other looked like a cell-tower with some plastic leaves on top...My friend called them 'Cellus Treeiffic Plasticus'...-- StarChaser, May 26 2001 I heard some trees are going undercover as cellphone masts in a bid to avoid being chopped down to make way for advertising hoardings.-- -alx, May 26 2001 Shhh! I've got three of them hiding under my bed at home. Don't give them away!
StarChaser 'Large Foliage Relocation Program' Tyger-- StarChaser, May 27 2001 Do you live in a large treehouse?-- -alx, May 27 2001 I like the idea. Of course the material used to mask the cell tower could be tricky. I suspect the cell phone company would not like sheet steel surrounding their transmitter/receivers as it would surely cripple the system's ability to receive and transmit. Maybe plywood or particle board? I was going to go with heavy duty canvas that could be rolled up. This way, the artist or advertizer could have the canvasas laid out flat on the warehouse floor for painting; then rolled up and transported. Later sold as murals, tents, etc.-- gorath, Oct 08 2003 My class and I were talking about the lame looking fake tree cell towers when one of my students suggested a cell tower clock tower.
Instead of trying to hide the cell tower, make it look nice. Make a clock tower and incorporate the cell transmitters into the architecture, perhaps on its corners.-- talldave, Jun 12 2008 If you are ever cruising I-5, south of Salem Oregon, take a careful look at the Church on the Hill. You will be hard-pressed to see the cell tower. <link>-- Klaatu, Jun 12 2008 Why not build a six-octave carillon tower and put the cell-phone equipment in that?-- supercat, Jun 12 2008 // I'd rather be confronted daily with colourful [changing occasionally] ads than a large grey box and a phallic pole. // I wouldn't, ads are annoying and ugly. Now, art or a clock tower, those are good ideas.-- Bukkakinator, Jun 12 2008 They could make it a totem pole.-- phundug, Jun 12 2008 random, halfbakery