Ice Bridge
Q. Do you have knowledge of an "Ice Bridge" within a cell site? Or, "Ice Trays"? What and where are they, and what purpose are they for, please?
A. From Mark van der Hoek:
Ice bridges are sections of metal that are installed above cables to protect them from falling ice. They generally run between the tower and the building in which the equipment is housed. In some climates, tower icing is a big problem. Chunks of ice can fall from towers do a surprising amount of damage. It's not unheard of for a 20 or 30 pound chunk of ice to fall a few hundred feet and punch right through a metal roof. If such a missile strikes a bunch of coaxial cables, the damage can be severe.
For a picture, see these pages, be warned, these URLs (all external links) will go away quickly:
http://www.copper.org/applications/elect
rical/pq/casestudy/kgbi_station_A6082.html
Scroll down to Figure 2. Notice the metal bridge between the tower and the building? That's an ice bridge. It's protecting the coaxial cables which are run beneath it. You can see a close up in Figure 11.
More pictures are at:
http://www.internationaltowersupply.com/
Scroll down and click on the "Ice Bridge" link.
See also: http://www.bettermetal.com/l/index.html
And if you want to see what's left of one after a tower collapse, take a look at:
http://monsterfm.com/engineering/fall3.htm
I hope that answers your questions.
Regards,
Mark