TECH BRIEF

Tower Light Monitoring

Are you prepared for your next tower light failure? If you dont have
adequate monitoring equipment deployed at your remote tower sites,
the answer is probably an unfortunate No.

FCC Regulations for Tower Light Monitoring

Sec. 17.47 Inspection of antenna structure
lights
"The owner of any antenna structure which is
registered with the Commission...Shall make an
observation of the antenna structure's lights
at least once each 24 hours either visually...or, alternatively...maintain an automatic
alarm system designed to detect any failure of
such lights and to provide indication of such
failure to the owner..."

Dont Get Fined for Inadequate Monitoring

The FCC has very strict rules for tower lights, and its not afraid to
levy huge fines for infractions. If you can't monitor your tower
lights 24 hours a day - and if you can't correct or give notice of light
failures within a few minutes - youre setting yourself up for trouble.

High-Quality Monitoring Pays for Itself

Nowhere in your network is alarm monitoring more critical than at
your antenna towers. At those sites, youre facing two threats. Not
only do outages impede your daily operations, they also increase
your risk of hefty fines and liability.
Monitoring equipment that prevents outages at your tower sites
quickly pays for itself. Advanced remote site monitoring equipment
can notify you automatically with a detailed alert when your tower
lights go out.

Sec. 17.48 Notification of extinguished lights

"The owner of any antenna structure which is
registered with the Commission...Shall report
immediately...any observed or otherwise known
extinguishment or improper functioning of any
top steady burning light or any flashing
obstruction light...not corrected within 30
minutes..."

DPS Telecom 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, California 93727 (800) 622-3314 Fax (559) 454-1688 www.dpstelecom.com

Find the Right Remote

The right monitoring tool for your tower lights is a
small, cost-effective, and ultrareliable remote that
will notify you when tower light outages and other
problems occur. This kind of remote can be inexpensively placed at
all your remote tower sites and give you guaranteed results for years
to come.
But you have to be careful. If you dont know what to look for
when talking to vendors, you could easily end up stuck with an indequate remote, or one with more capacity than youll ever use.

5 Key Features of High-Quality Tower Light

Monitoring Solutions
1) Automatic Paging Alerts
You cant always be in front of your PC. A good remote will
send an alert to your pager or cell phone when youre out in the
field (or after hours), giving you detailed information about your
tower status.
2) Dial-up and LAN connectivity
A remote that is well suited for tower light monitoring will support dial-up and LAN communication. Dial-up is an inexpensive
way to collect alarms, and LAN allows for monitoring in a convenient web browser interface.
3) UPS backup power
When the power fails at your site, thats when you need monitoring the most. Remotes with an uninterruptible power source
(UPS) will remain online when the power is out.
4) Web browser interface
A web browser interface provides a convenient way to monitor
your towers from any LAN-connected workstation.

Monitor Your Tower Lights with AlphaMax

The AlphaMax is an ideal remote tower monitoring solution.
DPS Telecom's AlphaMax
unit can monitor your
tower lights and report outages to up to 4 paging
devices. Additionally, the
AlphaMax can send alarm
reports to DPS master stations, giving you even
more visibility.
With the AlphaMax, you
can turn on site devices
(such as a back up power )
remotely by dialing into the unit and entering a password code.
You can also setup the AlphaMax to automatically turn on
devices for you.
If power goes out at your remote tower site, you can relax
because the AlphaMax can be equipped with a backup battery
supply that lasts up to two day

To learn more about AlphaMax, visit:

www.DpsTelecom.com/AlphaMax
NetDog G2 Provides Big Monitoring Power
in a Wall-Mountable Package

5) Text messages that tell your staff exactly how to

respond
When a tower light fails, the FCC requires that you notify the
FAA within 30 minutes (or risk being fined). With a monitoring
system that supports detailed text messages, your notification
times can be closer to 30 seconds.

Can You Afford Not to Invest in Monitoring for

Your Tower Sites?
Alarm monitoring for your tower sites is an investment that will help
you to avoid unneccessary expense. The risk of FCC fines for tower
light outages dwarfs the cost of a quality monitoring system.
If youre not monitoring your tower lights adequately, youre putting
your companys revenue (and possibly your personal career future)
at risk. Invest in critical alarm monitoring equipment before your
next major outage.

The NetDog G2 is a perfect match for smaller remote sites that

still need robust monitoring. The NetDog provides 8 alarm
inputs, 2 analog inputs (for monitoring temperatures, battery
levels, and more), and 2 control relays (for controlling site
equipment remotely). Wiring is easy with screw-down connectors on the front panel.
In addition to providing dial-up alarm reporting, the NetDog
features LAN connectivity and a convenient web browser
interface. Now you can monitor your sites from any workstation on your network.

To learn more about the NetDog G2, visit:

www.DpsTelecom.com/NetDog

To learn more about your tower light monitoring options, contact

DPS at 1-800-622-3314.
DPS Telecom 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, California 93727 (800) 622-3314 Fax (559) 454-1688 www.dpstelecom.com