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Tower May Interfere
With TV Reception
MCI Telecommunications has applied in Culpeper County as well as in Rappahannock for approval to erect a 250 foot microwave relay tower. The proposed towers will be links in MCI’s Richmond to Winchester route; the company’s long distance telephone service will not be available to either Rappahannock or Culpeper customers.
In a telephone interview last Thursday, Charlie Carter, Culpeper’s professional planner, confirmed that the relay towers may interfere with television reception by satellite dish. “The closer you get into the mountains, the more you’ve got to consider that because you’re never going to get cable. You people are going to have to rely on satellite dishes,” he said. “Rappahannock is very mountainous. You have a lot of potential sites (for microwave relay towers).”
According to Carter, satellite communication uses a very high frequency on the microwave band. “These repeater towers are on a frequency wave that is contained within the larger band you could use to communicate with satellites,” he explained. He added that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) grants licenses for microwave communication on a first-come, first-served basis. “Once a band is filled up, the FCC won’t issue any more licenses for that band,” Carter said.
“The aspect we’re looking at here (in Culpeper) is the potential for interference and for tying up the frequency bands. The air here is very clean, microwavewise,” he said. “We don’t want a telecommunications system not to be able to locate here because the air waves are full!”
The proposed site for MCI’s Culpeper tower lies in an agricultural and forestal district. Accordingly, the planning commission there asked the AFD advisory committee for its recommendation. The committee concluded that MCI’s proposed land use is incompatible in an ag district, Carter reported, adding that the telecommunications company has requested its application be tabled for 30 days while alternative tower locations outside of an agricultural and forestal district are investigated.
Reportedly, MCI’s field representative Bob McGinnis has stated that the company needs both links— the towers in Culpeper and Rappahannock—for its Richmond to Winchester route.
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