BOCA RATON, FLA. — Broadcast and cellular services tower administrator Vertical Bridge and Drake Services, the company behind a light monitoring system. have been granted a FCC waiver of lighting inspection requirements for antenna structures that use a state-of-the-art continuous monitoring system.
Details came on Tuesday in a Memorandum Opinion and Order from the Deputy Bureau Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
While Section 17.47(b) of the Commission’s rules requires antenna structure owners to conduct quarterly inspections of certain lighting systems; section 17.47(c) exempts from that requirement systems that the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau has found to include self-diagnostic features sufficient to make the quarterly inspections unnecessary.
This led Vertical Bridge and Drake in August 2022 to file a petition for exemption. Additionally, Drake requested that “other tower owners using the Drake System be allowed to obtain the same relief as Vertical Bridge, on an expedited basis, by submitting a signed certification that they are using the Drake System on their towers.”
As the FCC sees it, the Drake Tower Light Monitoring System (DMS) satisfies the criteria of section 17.47(c) and that Vertical Bridge’s antenna structures using that system are therefore exempt from the quarterly inspection requirement.
Further, the Commission established an expedited process by which other users of the DMS may apply for an exemption under 17.47(c).
“Our actions today should encourage other tower owners to invest in state-of-the-art technologies so that they, too, will become capable of continuous monitoring of both their lighting systems and control devices,” said Kari Hicks, the Deputy Bureau Chief.
