Author Background
I got into the wireless business late in 1979 after selling long-distance telephone service for MCI Communications in downtown Chicago and just before half of the salesforce was laid off because the company emphasis switched from B2B sales (that filled up the daytime network capacity) to consumer sales (due to excess nighttime network capacity.) One highlight of my 6-month stint selling MCI service was making Second City a customer and being an extra on Daly Plaza in the Blues Brothers movie (instead of taking the opportunity I had to enlist in the Air Force that Labor Day weekend.)
My wireless site acquisition training consisted of a solo day trip down I-55 to take notice of the existing communications towers along the highway. I was further provided with some sample leases, photos, and sketches of existing MCI antenna sites. The bulk of my training however would be OJT (on the job). My base would be D.C.
My first wireless site acquisition assignment was given to me in the first week of 1980. During the next ten weeks, I traveled to ten rural areas in New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Ohio and brought home 10 property owner-signed land leases for communications towers that were acceptable and counter-signed by MCI.
At this point, my superiors asked me to start processing local building and zoning permits for these ten sites and another 10 in the system that I was further assigned to acquire for a 20-site system that would route telephone and data traffic from New York City to Cleveland completing a figure 8 in the network between New York City and Chicago.
For me, learning this business came from a high degree of communication between myself and a seasoned RF (radio frequency) Engineer, Hal. Being heavily dependent on traveling around the countryside, meeting new people, doing research, and working with maps, this work suited me very well.
I remember getting the only high score in my class on the only geography quiz I took during six years of elementary school. I also remember planning a bicycle trip in junior high from Illinois to Wisconsin and back using maps.
On the job in Upstate New York, I remember spending time during evenings spreading out topography maps on the bed or a table in my hotel room and circling areas with the highest ground elevation that were close to roads, many of them backroads. During daylight hours on the road, I would travel the roads in each search area looking for power lines and telephone company pedestals. Before each trip, I researched and bought the topo maps I would need at the USGS (United States Geological Survey) map store in Arlington, Virginia.
My first stop when arriving in the area of a search ring would always be to go to either the search area or the county courthouse. My first task at the county courthouse was to get tax maps relevant to the search area so I could discover the character of its property ownership like parcel sizes, quantity, and owners.
Next, I’d visit the planning, zoning, or building department, either of the county or the relevant city or township with jurisdiction where I’d obtain info such as the building and or zoning regulations, application forms, and maps.
As I narrowed down the site search options, I’d spend more time at the courthouse researching current deeds for properties that looked promising so I would have them later for all of the best options and back-up alternate sites.
Early in my career in wireless site acquisition, I developed a comfortable pattern of travel 3 days a week for short trips and 10 days every two weeks on long trips. I’d typically head out Monday night or Tuesday morning and return home on Thursday night or Friday morning, depending on the length of the trip.
Well, that’s how I got started in wireless, through site acquisition and development.
In my second year, my acquisition work took me to New England, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. I started traveling to recruit, hire, train, and supervise others and received MCI’s Excellence in Service Award given to 2% of the company’s employees for outstanding customer contributions.
In my third year, we expanded the site acquisition department to 32 employees in 4 offices across the US, I started taking evening master’s degree classes in Telecom at George Washington University, and I was promoted to manager.
My fourth year was highlighted by monthly travel from DC to Seattle to secure property for a switching center in Kent, WA, and sites for a microwave route from Portland to Seattle, stopping over in Boulder for long weekends to submit draft portions of my Master’s Thesis (A Handbook for Land Agents: The Process of Developing Specialized Common Carrier Telecommunications Routes) to my thesis advisor at Colorado University, and celebrating my graduation.
After the fourth year, I moved to Colorado in 1984 and started a career as a freelance
site acquisition consultant for the telecommunications industry at large.
My site acquisition/development consultancy, Communications Real Estate, Inc., was formed in 1993.
My wireless publishing, education, and training company, Telecom Birddogs, LLC, was formed in 2001.
2023 represented 40 years since earning my Master’s Degree in Telecommunications.
2023 also represented 40 years of developing antenna sites for cellular/commercial mobile radio services (CMRS).
2024 represented 50 years since starting to work in the telecom industry as a factory rep for Belden Cable in NY/NJ.
2024 also represented 40 years since relocating back to Colorado to work as a independent wireless contractor.
2026 will represent 50 years since the first commercial application of fiber-optics in cable television in New York City.
I’ve provided these types of services
in the telecom industry:
A&E Coordination/Redlines
BLM Right-of-Way Applications/Permits
Building Permits
Building Right of Entry (ROE) Agreements
Communication Site Tower Surveys
Collocation Applications
Collocation Modification Applications
Communication Site Market Appraisals
Conditional Use Permits
Data Collection
Driveway Permits
E-911 Addressing
Entry and Test (E&T) Agreements
Environmental Consultant Orders
Existing Structures Inventory Development
FAA Form 7460-1 Preparation
Factory Sales Rep
Height Variances
Highway Approach Permits
Lease Negotiation
Lease Packages for Legal Review
Marketing and Sales
Multi-Story Building Surveys
Preliminary Search Area/Route Scouting, Research and Analysis
Pre-Zoning
Process/Procedure Consulting
Product Sales and Marketing
Project Management
Property Owner Relations
Public Meeting/Hearing Representation
RF (Radio Frequency) Coordination
Recruiting/Hiring
Site Acquisition
Site Photos (Initial and As-built)
Site Plan Approvals
Search Area Reports
Site Candidate Information Packages
Site Lease and Permit Audits
Site Walk Scheduling and Route Directions
Special Use Permits
Subdivision Approvals
Surveyor Guidance
Template Development
Temporary Use Permits
Text Amendments
Title Commitment Curation
Title Report Orders
Team Management
Telemarketing
Training
US Forest Service Electronic Use Application/Permits
Wireless Site Search/Due Diligence
Wireless Site Acquisition
Wireless Site Development
Zoning Permits
I’ve worked on behalf of these
companies (among others):
AT&T
American Tower
Bechtel
Belden Cable
Black & Veatch
Crown Castle
Fedex
Fluor Daniel
Hughes Communications Satellite Services Inc./IBM
MCI Communications
Nextel
PacTel Mobile Systems
Ram Mobile Data
Shaffer Communications Group
Skytel/Destineer
T-Mobile
Teleport Denver
US Cellular
US West
Verizon Wireless
I’ve worked with these types of
telecom applications:
3G
4G/LTE
5G
Broadcast
Cable Television
Cellular Communications
ESMR (Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio)
Electronic Cable
FTTCS/ETTCS (Fiber/Ethernet to the Cell Site)
Microwave Communications
900 MHz Mobile Data Communications
Optical Fiber Communications
PCS (Personal Communications Services)
Paging
RF (Radio Frequency) Planning/Coordination
Satellite Communications
WISPs (Wireless Internet Service Providers)
Wireless Microphones
I’ve applied the above telecom applications
to these types of property in 45 States:
Communications Towers (Broadcast, Cellular, Public Safety, Utility)
Denver Bronco NFL Football Club Venue
Federal Land (BLM Right of Way & Forest Service Electronic Use Permits)
Private Land (Right of Way, Other Easements, Leases and Purchases)
Single/Multi-Story Buildings (through Rooftop and Right of Entry Agreements)
Teleports
Water Towers (Public and Private)
Publications and Group Presentations
“Closing the Gap: The Baton Pass from Site Acquisition to Construction” Tower Times Magazine (11/2021)
Colorado Wireless Association Regulatory Chairman Blogs (12/2016 – 12/2018)
State of the Art Wireless Applications for Buildings, Denver University Burns Society (9/2018)
“Tower Siting Regulations,” DISH Corporation Regulatory Lunch Group (8/2018)
“Wireless Site Acquisition & Permitting (12 hours),” EUCI Classroom Speaker/Trainer (8/2018)
“Firmly Anchored in Midair: The Handbook of Wireless Site Acquisition and Permitting” (10/2017)
“Seven Ways to Overcome Obstacles and Obtain Zoning Permits”, AGL Magazine (5/2016)
“Wireless Ordinances: Friend or Foe” Panel/ Speaker, AGL- Denver Regional Conference (6/9/2011)
“Wireless Site Revenues for Historic Churches”, Historic Denver/ Faith Action Seminar (3/2004)
“Collocation, Collocation, Collocation”, NACORE Spring Management Seminar (4/1999)
“Setting Your Sites- Successful Wireless Development”, Radio Resource Magazine (3/1996)
“Civil Engineering Issues and Facilities Aspects Involved with Implementation of Telecommunications
Networks”, Intelsat Small Earth Station Symposium and Exposition Proceedings (5/1987)
“State and Local Permitting for Microwave Sites”, Communications Technology Magazine (4/1987)
“Federal Permitting for Microwave Sites”, Communications Technology Magazine (1/1987)
“MCI: The Other Telephone Company”, International Right of Way Assoc. Seminar (9/1983)
“The Process of Developing Specialized Common Carrier Telecommunications Routes:
A Handbook for Land Agents”, Masters’ Thesis for Colorado University (6/1983)
Numerous Local Permit Hearings with City Councils, County Commissioners, Planning
Commissions, Town Boards, Zoning Boards of Adjustment, and Neighborhood
Groups throughout the United States (1980-2014)
Relevant Education/Certificate Training:
Wilson Connectivity/Wilson Pro/Zinwave In-building Installer Training (10/03/2024)
PMP Test Prep (02/5-7/205)
Train the Trainer Intensive Workshop (6/2015)
FCC Environmental Compliance Training (6/21/2011), (06/2012)
CCIM Candidate Course Completion (2007)
AWEA Project Siting Workshop (2009)
Colorado Real Estate Broker Continuing Education (1991-2019)
Colorado Real Estate Broker Training (1990)
SMPTE Project Management Training (2015)
Master of Science Degree, Telecommunications, Colorado University (1983)
Bachelor of Science Degree, Industrial Administration, Iowa State University (1974)