Mobile towers of operators beeline mts megaphone. Search for base stations, how to find out the location and coordinates. Where there are people, there is communication

Sometimes our smart phone cannot connect to lTE networks or the reception level is weak. Much depends on how far from us the tower is cellular communication... They are everywhere in the city, but few people know exactly where the tower to which the smartphone is currently connected. The Cell Towers application can acquaint you with this useful information.

The application principle is very simple. You open it, give the application all the permissions it needs to work, after which the tower to which you are currently connected is shown on the map. In addition, you can see the signal strength and understand how normal the current state of affairs and the quality of the connection are at the moment.

There are settings in the application that can help you. For example, you can customize the visual display of the signal strength, choose between two card modes, and most useful, the application can show information for each of your SIM cards. This can be really helpful.

Application: Cell Towers, Locator Developer: Vitaly V Category: Tools Price: Is free Download: Google play Already interested in the application: 2579 man

In order to choose the best kit for reliable Internet operation, you need to know the answers to several questions.

1. Where and at what distance is the nearest base station with Internet access?
2. Is there a line of sight to the base station from the site of the proposed antenna installation?
3. How long is the RF drop cable required to connect the antenna?

There are two options to answer the first question.

First option:

The easiest way is to use coverage maps that are published by cellular operators on their websites.

Below is a list of links to coverage maps of major cellular operators.

Let's set ourselves the task of determining the possibility of receiving 3G Internet in the village of Nagishi, Ryazan Region. According to the coverage map of the MTS operator, we determine that the nearest base station is located in Gorlovo, Ryazan region.

We find a more or less exact location of the base station. As a rule, the directional pattern of the base station antennas is similar to a trefoil, because three sector antennas with a directional pattern of 120 ° are used at the base, and the base will be located in the center of this figure.

Next, using the Yandex map, we find the distance between the client and the base station. This is necessary in order not to do unnecessary work, because if the distance turns out to be more than 30 km, then most likely it will be impossible to establish a 3G connection

Using the "Get Information" tool, we determine the coordinates of the 3G base station and the location of the proposed antenna installation.

We got the following coordinates:

Base 53 ° 49′37.35 ″ N 39 ° 2′30.3 ″ E

Customer 53 ° 50'20.41 ″ N 38 ° 55'7.82 ″ E

The first service is very simple and straightforward, you just need to enter the coordinates of the base and the client indicate the height from the ground for the base, it is usually from 50 to 120m, for the client 10-15m.

If the coverage is unsatisfactory, and there are uncovered areas ("white spots"), then the connection is unstable and may be interrupted. Our resource was created to solve these problems.

Here you can see the layout of the base stations on the interactive

Locating communication towers is not a criminal activity, but a fairly common task in remote regions and villages where the quality of coverage is poor. How to understand why it takes better from this post than from that gate? The following tools and sites can help you navigate.

Of the English-language services, perhaps opensignal.com is the best, where you can choose the operator and the desired location. The map does not display towers, but shows coverage areas. Of the Russians, I can recommend netmonitor.ru - its database contains a lot of information about operator towers.

Some applications for Android are also interesting. For example, OpenSignal displays a map of cell towers and Wi-Fi points (places with poor connectivity are also marked on the map), has a built-in compass and a speed checker.

Another interesting utility is Netmonitor. She knows how to monitor gSM networks and CDMA, shows signal level information, contains a database cell towers, supports devices with multiple SIM-cards, and can also keep a log in CLF or KLM format.

Please note that Netmonitor has limitations when working on devices from some manufacturers. On Motorola, LG, Samsung, Acer and Huawei smartphones, the neighbor list may be empty, and on Samsung devices, the signal strength may not be displayed.

And again, a little general educational material. This time we will talk about base stations. Let us consider various technical aspects of their placement, design and range, as well as look inside the antenna unit itself.

Base stations. General information

This is how the cellular antennas installed on the roofs of buildings look like. These antennas are an element of a base station (BS), specifically, a device for receiving and transmitting a radio signal from one subscriber to another, and then through an amplifier to a base station controller and other devices. Being the most visible part of the BS, they are installed on antenna masts, roofs of residential and industrial buildings, and even chimneys. Today you can find more exotic versions of their installation, in Russia they are already installed on lighting poles, and in Egypt they are even "disguised" as palm trees.

The base station can be connected to the operator's network via radio relay communication, therefore, next to the "rectangular" antennas of the BS units, you can see a radio relay dish:

With the transition to more modern standards of the fourth and fifth generations, to meet their requirements, stations will need to be connected exclusively via fiber optics. In modern BS designs, optical fiber becomes an integral medium for transmitting information even between nodes and blocks of the BS itself. For example, the figure below shows the design of a modern base station, where a fiber optic cable is used to transfer data from the RRU (Remote Controlled Units) antenna to the base station itself (shown by the orange line).

The base station equipment is located in non-residential premises of the building, or is installed in specialized containers (fixed on walls or poles), because modern equipment is quite compact and can easily fit into system unit server computer... Often the radio module is installed next to the antenna unit, this allows to reduce losses and dissipation of the power transmitted to the antenna. This is what the three installed radio modules of the Flexi Multiradio base station equipment look like, fixed directly to the mast:

Base station service area

To begin with, it should be noted that there are different types base stations: macro, micro, pico and femtocells. Let's start small. And, in short, the femtocell is not a base station. Rather, it is an Access Point. This equipment is initially aimed at home or office users and the owner of such equipment is a private or legal entity. a person not related to the operator. The main difference between such equipment is that it has a fully automatic configuration, from the assessment of radio parameters and ending with the connection to the operator's network. Femtocell has the dimensions of a home router:

Picocell is a low power BS, operator-owned and using IP / Ethernet as a transport network. Usually installed in places of possible local concentration of users. The device is comparable in size to a small laptop:

Microcell is an approximate implementation of a base station in a compact form, very common in operators' networks. It differs from the "big" base station by the reduced capacity of those supported by the subscriber and lower radiating power. The mass, as a rule, is up to 50 kg and the radius of the radio coverage is up to 5 km. Such a solution is used where high capacities and network capacities are not needed, or it is not possible to install a large station:

And finally, a macrocell is a standard base station on the basis of which mobile networks... It is characterized by a power of about 50 W and a coverage radius of up to 100 km (in the limit). The rack weight can be up to 300 kg.

The coverage area of \u200b\u200beach BS depends on the height of the antenna section, the terrain and the number of obstacles on the way to the subscriber. When installing a base station, the coverage radius is not always brought to the fore. As the subscriber base grows, the maximum bandwidth BS, in this case the message "network busy" appears on the phone screen. Then the operator, over time, in this area can deliberately reduce the range of the base station and install several additional stations in places of greatest load.

When you need to increase the network capacity and reduce the load on individual base stations, then microcells come to the rescue. In a megalopolis, the radio coverage area of \u200b\u200bone microcell can be only 500 meters.

In urban conditions, oddly enough, there are places where the operator needs to locally connect a section with a large amount of traffic (metro station areas, large central streets, etc.). In this case, low-power microcells and picocells are used, the antenna units of which can be located on low buildings and on street lighting poles. When the question of organizing high-quality radio coverage inside closed buildings (shopping and business centers, hypermarkets, etc.) arises, then pico-cell base stations come to the rescue.

Outside cities, the range of operation of individual base stations comes to the fore, so the installation of each base station at a distance from the city is becoming an increasingly expensive enterprise due to the need to build power lines, roads and towers in difficult climatic and technological conditions... To increase the coverage area, it is desirable to install the BS on higher masts, use directional sector emitters, and lower frequencies that are less susceptible to attenuation.

For example, in the 1800 MHz range, the BS operating range does not exceed 6-7 kilometers, and in the case of using the 900 MHz range, the coverage area can reach 32 kilometers, all other things being equal.

Base station antennas. Let's look inside

In cellular communications, sector-based panel antennas are most often used, which have a radiation pattern of 120, 90, 60 and 30 degrees. Accordingly, to organize communication in all directions (from 0 to 360), 3 (DN width of 120 degrees) or 6 (DN width of 60 degrees) antenna units may be required. An example of organizing a uniform coverage in all directions is shown in the figure below:

And below is a view of typical radiation patterns in a logarithmic scale.

Most base station antennas are broadband, allowing operation in one, two or three frequency bands. Starting from UMTS networks, unlike GSM, base station antennas are able to change the radio coverage area depending on the network load. One of the most effective methods to control the radiated power is to control the tilt angle of the antenna, which changes the irradiated area of \u200b\u200bthe radiation pattern.

Antennas can have a fixed angle of inclination, or can be remotely adjusted using a special softwarelocated in the BS control unit, and built-in phase shifters. There are also solutions that allow you to change the service area, from the general data network control system. Thus, the coverage area of \u200b\u200bthe entire sector of the base station can be adjusted.

Base station antennas use both mechanical and electrical pattern control. Mechanical control is easier to implement, but often leads to distortion of the radiation pattern due to the influence of structural parts. Most BS antennas have an electrical tilt adjustment system.

The modern antenna unit is a group of radiating elements of the antenna array. The distance between the array elements is chosen in such a way as to obtain the smallest level of side lobes of the radiation pattern. The most common lengths of panel antennas are from 0.7 to 2.6 meters (for multi-band antenna panels). The gain ranges from 12 to 20 dBi.

The figure below (left) shows the design of one of the most common (but outdated) antenna panels.

Here, the radiators of the antenna panel are half-wave symmetrical electric vibrators above a conductive screen, located at an angle of 45 degrees. This design allows you to form a diagram with a main lobe width of 65 or 90 degrees. In such a design, two- and even three-band antenna units are produced (albeit rather large-sized). For example, a tri-band antenna panel of this design (900, 1800, 2100 MHz) differs from a single-band one, approximately twice in size and weight, which, of course, complicates its maintenance.

An alternative technology for the manufacture of such antennas involves the implementation of strip antenna emitters (square metal plates), in the figure above on the right.

And here is another option, when half-wave slot magnetic vibrators are used as the emitter. The power line, slots and screen are made on a single printed circuit board with double-sided foil glass fiber laminate:

Taking into account the modern realities of the development of wireless technologies, base stations must support the operation of 2G, 3G and LTE networks. And if the control units of base stations of networks of different generations can be accommodated in one wiring closet without increasing the overall size, then significant difficulties arise with the antenna part.

For example, in multi-band antenna panels, the number of coaxial trunks reaches 100 meters! Such a significant cable length and the number of soldered joints inevitably leads to line losses and a decrease in the gain:

In order to reduce electrical losses and reduce soldering points, microstrip lines are often made, this allows dipoles and a powering system for the entire antenna to be made using a single printed technology. This technology is easy to manufacture and provides high repeatability of the antenna characteristics during its serial production.

Multiband antennas

With the development of communication networks of the third and fourth generation modernization of the antenna part of both base stations and cell phones is required. Antennas are required to operate on new additional bands exceeding 2.2 GHz. Moreover, work in two and even three bands must be done simultaneously. As a result, the antenna part includes quite complex electromechanical circuits that must ensure proper functioning in difficult climatic conditions.

As an example, consider the design of the emitters of a dual-band antenna for a Powerwave cellular base station operating in the 824-960 MHz and 1710-2170 MHz ranges. Her appearance shown in the figure below:

This dual band feed consists of two metal plates. The larger one works in the lower 900 MHz band, above it is a plate with a smaller slot radiator. Both antennas are driven by slot emitters and thus have single line feeding.

If dipole antennas are used as emitters, then it is necessary to set a separate dipole for each waveband. Individual dipoles must have their own feed line, which, of course, reduces overall system reliability and increases power consumption. An example of such a design is a Kathrein antenna for the same frequency range as discussed above:

Thus, the dipoles for the lower frequency range are, as it were, inside the dipoles of the upper range.

For the implementation of three- (and more) band modes of operation, printed multilayer antennas have the greatest manufacturability. In such antennas, each new layer operates in a rather narrow frequency range. This "multi-storey" design is made of printed antennas with individual radiators, each antenna tuned to a separate frequency of the operating range. The design is illustrated by the figure below:

As in any other multi-element antennas in this design, there is an interaction of elements operating in different frequency ranges. Of course, this interaction affects the directivity and matching of the antennas, but this interaction can be eliminated by the methods used in phased array antennas. For example, one of the most effective methods is to change the design parameters of the elements by displacing the exciting device, as well as changing the dimensions of the feed itself and the thickness of the separating dielectric layer.

An important point is that all modern wireless technologies broadband, and the operating frequency bandwidth is at least 0.2 GHz. Antennas based on complementary structures have a wide operating frequency band. typical example which are bow-tie antennas. Matching of such an antenna with the transmission line is carried out by selecting the excitation point and optimizing its configuration. To expand the operating frequency band by agreement, the "butterfly" is supplemented with a capacitive input impedance.

Modeling and calculation of such antennas is performed in specialized CAD software packages. Modern programs allow you to simulate an antenna in a semitransparent housing in the presence of the influence of various structural elements of the antenna system and thereby allow a sufficiently accurate engineering analysis.

The design of a multi-band antenna is done in stages. First, a wide bandwidth microstrip printed antenna is calculated and designed for each operating frequency range separately. Next, printed antennas of different ranges are combined (superimposed on each other) and considered joint work, eliminating, if possible, the causes of mutual influence.

A wideband butterfly antenna can be advantageously used as the basis for a tri-band printed antenna. The figure below shows four different configuration options.

The above antenna designs differ in the shape of the reactive element, which is used to expand the operating frequency band by agreement. Each layer of such a three-band antenna is a microstrip emitter of predetermined geometric dimensions. The lower the frequencies, the larger the relative size of such a radiator. Each layer of the PCB is separated from the other by a dielectric. The above design can work in the GSM 1900 range (1850-1990 MHz) - it accepts the bottom layer; WiMAX (2.5 - 2.69 GHz) - accepts the middle layer; WiMAX (3.3 - 3.5 GHz) - Takes over the top layer. Such a design of the antenna system will allow receiving and transmitting a radio signal without the use of additional active equipment, thereby not increasing overall dimensions antenna unit.

And in conclusion, a little about the dangers of BS

Sometimes, base stations of cellular operators are installed right on the roofs of residential buildings, which specifically demoralize some of their inhabitants. The owners of apartments cease to "give birth to cats", and on the head of the grandmother, gray hair begins to appear faster. In the meantime, the inhabitants of this house hardly receive an electromagnetic field from the installed base station, because the base station does not radiate "down". And, by the way, the norms of SaNPiN for electromagnetic radiation in the Russian Federation are an order of magnitude lower than in the "developed" countries of the West, and therefore, within the city, base stations are never full power does not work. Thus, there is no harm from the BS, unless you arrange to sunbathe on the roof a couple of meters away. Often, a dozen access points installed in residents' apartments, as well as microwave ovens and cell Phones (pressed to your head) has a much greater effect on you than a base station set up 100 meters outside a building.

Despite rapid development modern technologies, high quality mobile connection is not present everywhere. That is why subscribers need to know the coverage area of \u200b\u200bMTS.

The named concept indicates the territory where the owners of SIM cards are able to receive a high-quality signal and use cellular communications. This area depends on the location of the towers and base stations. But users should take into account that the quality of reception is affected by:

• relief of the surrounding area;
• weather (in a thunderstorm and a squally wind, the quality decreases);
• technical condition of the phone and the phone's ability to maintain modern technologiesincluding 4g.

Users should consider each of these factors, but remember that the main influence on the connection to the network is provided by the radio towers.

As such, the map of radio towers and stations is not of great importance to subscribers. This is due to the fact that the coverage radius of each tower depends on the frequencies used by the operator and its location:

1. points using 450 MHz are capable of covering up to 20 km;
2. coverage of points at 800 MHz - up to 13.5 km;
3. 1800 MHz - up to 7 km;
4. 2600 – 3,2.

It is important to emphasize that most Russian operators, including MTS, use universal radio towers operating in several bands at once. This avoids the complexities of connecting to 3g and 4g and provides a reliable, stable connection for customers.

Another factor affecting the location of towers is the number of subscribers in a settlement. The larger the city and the greater the number of connected users, the more often the radio towers are located. In this case, their number directly affects the operator's ability to maintain the network.

MTS 3G and 4G network coverage map

At the moment, the coverage map of MTS covers almost the entire territory of Russia. Mobile operator available in every locality. However, it has not yet been possible to get rid of the white spots. And the higher the quality of the connection, the more places where users cannot use it.

The best coverage situation is in Moscow, the Moscow region, St. Petersburg and Krasnodar Territory... There will be no difficulties for residents of regional, regional, republican centers and large cities.

For more information, you should visit the official website of the company and open the corresponding section. The link to it is on start page... At the same time, the operator offers a separate map for each region of the country.

Yota coverage map is developed using a computer model. Users should study it carefully. It is worth recalling that each region of Russia has its own coverage map. But the common feature for all coverage areas is the same - the computer map cannot reflect the real indicators of the power level and signal speed.

Yota base stations are, of course, indicated on the map, but without taking into account the relief characteristics of the terrain and the situation of radio exchange at the point of connection of the subscriber's equipment.

Yota signal quality measurements are made constantly. Accordingly, the Yota map on the site, displaying the operator's coverage of a particular region, will change all the time (according to the expansion of coverage).

Colors matter

For the Yota coverage map in the Moscow region, special tables are presented with the indication of settlements, the signal power level in dB and the speed of the Internet stream.

The original solution was proposed by the branch in Sochi, where Yota towers are marked on the map with multi-colored marks:

The Yota tower map provides a variety of information. Thanks to it, you can get data on the conversion of stations for the transmission of LTE Internet. The option to search for your base station for subscribers is extremely simple: press CTRL + F and type the final 4 digits of the BSID number in the search window.

Wider step

The Yota repeater map suggests that the operator's coverage area is steadily growing. This year, the number of LTE network stations increased by more than half (60%). The main indicators for the operator were made by representative offices in Irkutsk and Khabarovsk (where there were more than 2 times 4G repeaters). Good results recorded in the North-West of the country: Leningrad and Vologda regions - a total of 50%.

The launch of new base stations of the LTE network significantly increased the Yota 4G coverage area and reduced the load on the towers already in operation. The operator is steadily increasing its presence in the high-speed Internet market.

Some details

Operator Yota, whose tower map was drawn up without regard to external realities, warns its subscribers that:

Maximum fluctuations

Changes in Yota power, maximum db signal measured by test programs or instruments, may lead to disconnection. According to the information http://www.yota77.ru/map.htm, the signal level in the Moscow region fluctuates in the range of 18-22 dB. The maximum value is marked at 29 dB.

In areas with a low level of signal power (0-2 dB), for its qualitative increase (up to 20 dB), you can purchase a gain antenna with the corresponding indicators and a built-in Yota modem.