Lake Waseosa Ratepayers' Association

MCN has hired Core to erect the towers and related infrastructure for high speed wireless service in our area. The system is described as a "hub and spoke" arraingement -- there will be a central main tower in Huntsville to serve smaller regional towers for areas like ours. Core is now awaiting final approval from Huntsville Town Council for the main tower. That location must be finalized before they can finalize the height and locations of the regional towers.

Core has expressed an interest in working with the LWRA in establishing those tower sites. The site we were told about earlier was just one proposal -- nothing is set as of yet. They will likely be erecting their own tower(s) as the lease rates to co-locate on the existing CBC tower are prohibitively exorbitant.

Assuming their preferred site in Huntsville (on Tower Hill) is approved, there are two possibilities for service. The first is a single tower, 200' (60m) tall, to serve all 4 lakes. (this is considerably shorter than the CBC tower.) While the tower base is measured in inches, it would require 3 guy wires, each 180' from the base (ie: a 360' footprint). Such towers are short enough that most do not require lighting and they are left unpainted.

The second option would be to erect two or three 100' (30m) tall towers at various locations. These towers do not have the same range but if they can be suitably located, may actually provide better overall coverage by filling in each others dead areas. Apparently the cost of 3 shorter towers is often competitive with the cost of a single 200' tower. The shorter towers would be unlit and unpainted.

They are open to suggestions from the LWRA for suitable sites. Such sites might include un-opened road allowances for example. Obviously higher is better and I presume they would need ready access to hydro. Rather than have everyone deluging them with suggestions, we ask that you reply to us at secretary@lwra.net and we will compile them to forward on to Core.

If you care to discuss and debate the issues, we invite you to register on our website. Please note that only registered users who have been verified as a member or a freind can post on our website due to past problems with spammers. If you register under an alias, you will have to send a note to secretary@lwra.net with your real name and the public alias you are using so you can be verified. Sorry for that inconvenience.

One final note: wireless high speed service through MCN/Core cannot be offered in areas served by DSL. As outlined in our previous notice, it is our understanding that Bell will be offering DSL service on South Waseosa Lake Road from Ravenscliffe to Mineral Springs Road. So if you live on that stretch, you will not be eligible for wireless service -- but then, you won't need it either!