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Welcome to the Poletop Radio Photos Page
I hope you enjoy the poletop radio photos that I've assembled. If you have any interesting photos you'd like to add, please email them to me at retiringyoung@ragingbull.com and I'd be glad to post them.
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What the heck is this?
Here's a streetlight at 1200 East Hillsdale Blvd in Foster City, Ca. Pigeons flock to this particular streetlight each day.
Do they prefer this pole because the photocell is higher than on a non-Ricochet pole?
Do they enjoy the small amount of heat that is generated by the radio? Either way, I smile each day when I drive by. |
New Type of Radio
There are several of these new types of radios in the area surrounding the Metricom Headquarters in San Jose. Notice the additional cable which leads to a square directional antenna made by Breezecom. The whip antenna is also very different than a typical R2 antenna, and is also made by Breezecom. Could it be a glimpse of R3? Did Metricom partner with Breezecom? Or did Metricom just purchase Breezecom equipment as part of this project? |
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R1 and R2 on the Same Streetlight
This strange setup can be found on Winchester Blvd, near Valley Fair Mall in San Jose.
One poster on the Yahoo Metricom Message Board had this to say.."this is what happens when radio installers smoke crack." |
Interesting Mounting Bracket
Many cities have distinct types of streetlights. This obviously creates some obstacles for Metricom, but in this particular case in Foster City, Ca. they had the solution.
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3 out of 4 Streetlights with Radios
It's a little tough to see, but if you blow up this photo, you'll find that 3 out of the 4 streetlights on this street have R2 radios. One of those radios is one of those strange directional antenna radios that is aimed at the WAP on the roof of the Metricom Headquarters. You can see the Compaq Center in the right corner of the pic. |
Installing a Poletop Radio
This gentleman is attaching an antenna to a newly installed R2 radio. It only takes 5-10 minutes to install one of these radios. Entire neighborhoods can be covered in an afternoon. No digging, no mess, no waiting, no problem. Thanks to Deedee for the pic.
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Utilinet Radio
This particular radio is located at 26662 Agoura Rd, in Agoura Hills near Los Angeles. Since posting the photo of this interesting radio, a few nice people have stepped forward with the scoop.
1. It is a Utilinet radio.
2. These are the 9600 baud radios that Metricom made for So. California Edison, starting in the early 90's.
3. Schlumberger took over mfg about a year ago.
4. Presently there are over 25,000 of them installed in Edison territory.
5. They can also be found in PG&E territory in the Bay Area, but nowhere near the concentration as Edison.
6. Utilinet does not inferfere with Ricochet, or the other way around.
7. The particular one in the picture, is battery backed (that's why there are so many cables, and two boxes).
8. It is also an older radio (series I), newer ones(series II) have the battery in the same case as the radio.
9. It is capable of running internal programs that can cause messages to be initiated when certain conditions are met (loss of power for one, to report a power outage).
10. Programs can be loaded remotely.
11. They are programmed like the Ricochet radio for a specific latitude and longitude.
12. Antennas are quarter wave, that's why they are only 3".
13. Radios are 100mw and are used for meter reading, circuit, switch, and circuit breaker monitoring / control as well as some specialized projects.
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