Any Idea What This Is?
 

I've seen several of these devices attached to the street light poles
in Irvine, CA. Clearly there is some kind of radio inside the box, but
what is their purpose?

http://tinypic.com/6okknl.jpg

Scott en Aztlán wrote:
I've seen several of these devices attached to the street light poles
in Irvine, CA. Clearly there is some kind of radio inside the box, but
what is their purpose?

http://tinypic.com/6okknl.jpg

Are they attached to random street light poles, or are they at/near
intersections? And what streets are these on - which street was that one on?

According to the City of Irvine's website, the city's Traffic Research
and Control Center has various mobile, wireless cameras set up around
Irvine to monitor flow on major arterials and some other side streets.
Might that device in the image be related to that?

--
Robert I. Cruickshank
roadgeek, historian, progressive

"Scott en Aztlán" wrote in message
...
I've seen several of these devices attached to the street light poles
in Irvine, CA. Clearly there is some kind of radio inside the box, but
what is their purpose?

http://tinypic.com/6okknl.jpg


Could also be a microcell for cellphones. Ours are usually mounted about
halfway up the pole.
I can't make out the blak dome above. It may be a photocell to turn lighting
on at dusk, or perhaps a GPS antenna. If GPS, then the unit may be a DGPS
transmitter.

Brad.

In article ,
Scott en Aztl?n wrote:

I've seen several of these devices attached to the street light poles
in Irvine, CA. Clearly there is some kind of radio inside the box, but
what is their purpose?

http://tinypic.com/6okknl.jpg

SCADA controllers for the lights would be my guess.

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8Bit


Scott en Aztlán wrote:

I've seen several of these devices attached to the street light poles
in Irvine, CA. Clearly there is some kind of radio inside the box, but
what is their purpose?

http://tinypic.com/6okknl.jpg

I am guessing that they are close to the 16000 block of Von
Karman Avenue - the IPMobileNet HQ. Am I right?

IPMobileNet makes the XpressNet 802.11 Mesh System, which is
often set up using SmartCell access points on light poles.

That box looks like a standard NEMA enclosure that anyone can
use. The antenna looks like a WiFi (zoom in, it's longer than
it looks at first).

On Sun, 03 Jul 2005 02:50:50 +0000, Guy Macon
http://www.guymacon.com/ wrote:

http://tinypic.com/6okknl.jpg

I am guessing that they are close to the 16000 block of Von
Karman Avenue - the IPMobileNet HQ. Am I right?

While there may be one of them at that location, the one in the
picture is near the 5 freeway and Culver Drive. The other one I saw
was on Alton Parkway near Jeronimo.

IPMobileNet makes the XpressNet 802.11 Mesh System, which is
often set up using SmartCell access points on light poles.

That box looks like a standard NEMA enclosure that anyone can
use. The antenna looks like a WiFi (zoom in, it's longer than
it looks at first).

Hmm... Any idea which SSID(s) they use? I can use NetStumbler to see
if that SSID shows up. Also, there is a cable leading from the NEMA
enclosure to a cylindrical device on top of the pole; any idea what
that is? Is it some sort of sensor that is being remotely monitored
via the radio in the NEMA enclosure?

That cylindrical device on the top is nothing more than a simple photo
cell to turn the street light on at dusk and off at dawn.
It looks as though they are merely getting power through the exposed cord.
Still don't know what the unit is though.
We have them here in Denver too.

GB

Scott en Aztlán wrote:
On Sun, 03 Jul 2005 02:50:50 +0000, Guy Macon
http://www.guymacon.com/ wrote:


http://tinypic.com/6okknl.jpg

I am guessing that they are close to the 16000 block of Von
Karman Avenue - the IPMobileNet HQ. Am I right?


While there may be one of them at that location, the one in the
picture is near the 5 freeway and Culver Drive. The other one I saw
was on Alton Parkway near Jeronimo.


IPMobileNet makes the XpressNet 802.11 Mesh System, which is
often set up using SmartCell access points on light poles.

That box looks like a standard NEMA enclosure that anyone can
use. The antenna looks like a WiFi (zoom in, it's longer than
it looks at first).


Hmm... Any idea which SSID(s) they use? I can use NetStumbler to see
if that SSID shows up. Also, there is a cable leading from the NEMA
enclosure to a cylindrical device on top of the pole; any idea what
that is? Is it some sort of sensor that is being remotely monitored
via the radio in the NEMA enclosure?


--
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government
has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't
enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a
crime that it becomes impossible to live without breaking laws."

-- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

I'll accept something like that. What frequency range does the
terrestrial signal occupy?

I would have figured something smaller and several of them in a city,
not just one multi-kilowatt transmitter.




Mike wrote:
In My area we have cell phone extenders that look about like this.
XM terrestrial repeaters are usually on large buildings or hills and
they use a several KW Klystron amplifier, which takes a 6ft rack for the
redundant pair. Don't think that is stuffed inside the lamp pole....

I am going to guess its a mind control transmitter to make drivers come
to a complete stop rather than a rolling one. Or it might keep vagrants
from washing windshields at intersections by making them consider
getting real jobs. :-). Mike Burch K8MB

Scott en Aztlán wrote:
I've seen several of these devices attached to the street light poles
in Irvine, CA. Clearly there is some kind of radio inside the box, but
what is their purpose?

http://tinypic.com/6okknl.jpg

"Scott en Aztlán" wrote in message
...
I've seen several of these devices attached to the street light poles
in Irvine, CA. Clearly there is some kind of radio inside the box, but
what is their purpose?

http://tinypic.com/6okknl.jpg

I've seen these on some poles in upstate NY also.
Think they are used to signal the electric utility when
the streetlight goes out. You will note the round
power adapter that is sandwiched in-between the
125 VAC photocell which switches on the lamp.
These are a 3-conductor / pole twistlock connector.