Antenna Products Corp. (APC), the leading supplier of Remote Receive/Transmit (RTR) Towers for airports announces that it has received additional orders to construct four next generation RTR Towers. These units represent additional orders in which the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the end user for APC’s new Remote Communications Air/Ground (RCAG) Towers. The RCAG Towers are dramatically different structures than traditional RTR Towers. The RCAG Towers covered by these additional orders range in height from 30 to 80 feet demonstrating the benefits of APC’s design which can accommodate a large range of height options. The RCAG Towers have tower faces of up to 20 feet as compared to an 8 foot face for the traditional RTR Tower, platform sizes as large as 24 feet per side and the integration of an internal stair column with the option of an externally wrapping stair structure. The RCAG Towers that are being constructed under these new orders will be deployed at Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) facilities in Catawba, Ohio, Goshen, Indiana, Lometa, Texas and Lubbock, Texas.
APC’s RCAG Towers are custom engineered for the newest requirements for the FAA’s communications needs. APC’s RCAG Towers deliver significant advantages over traditional RTRs including:
Safety: By providing an internal stair column, all access to the top platform is provided by merely walking up several flights of stairs. Stair access is greatly superior to the climbing ladders on current RTR Towers in that it is significantly safer, does not require the use of fall arrestor protection (climbing harness) and certified climbers and allows for easier and more regular maintenance and inspection.
Cost: Since the RCAG Towers have much larger platforms than traditional RTR Towers, each RCAG Tower can support a significantly larger number of communications antennas so the number of RCAG Towers required at a facility can be significantly less than traditional RTR Towers.
Ease of Use: Being able to check on the status of tower top equipment just by walking up a few flights of stairs dramatically reduces the physical burden and total costs of ownership as compare to a RTR Tower that is only accessible by utilizing a ladder and climbing system.
Robert Fitzgerald, President of APC explains “We are honored to be receiving follow-on orders for more of our RCAG Towers! We see the clear safety benefit of replacing climbing ladders with stairs. Interestingly, these new units will ship with as many 23 antenna mounts for a single tower so it is beginning to look like the RCAG Towers are also cost competitive with traditional RTR Towers that typically host about 8 antennas each.”