SkylineHorizons
Active Member
Not likely to happen. There's only a limited number of broadcasters in any city and the CN tower and FCP likely already provide ample space for their equipment already.
You won't ever see cellular antenna on top of One Bloor West.
AM/FM/TV frequencies are such that they travel far, bend over the horizon, and diffract around obstacles. That's why to maximize coverage they build very tall towers or place them on tall structures/high land where that the signal can reach as much territory as possible. Cellular networks however use much higher frequencies (hundreds of MHz to many GHz). These don’t bend or penetrate well and are absorbed by trees, buildings or even the rain. Their effective range is much, much, shorter which is why the system is designed as a patchwork of small “cells” - hence the naming convention of "cell" phone and "cellular" network. Having many shorter towers closer to users allows the same frequencies to be reused across neighborhoods without interference and the network is built for capacity as much as coverage.
With 4G, 5G, and 6G, the trend continues higher still into millimeter waves around 24 GHz+, which travel only a few hundred meters at best. That’s why you now see antennas proliferating lower to the ground on rooftops, utility towers & poles, and even streetlights. Placing them on the tall buildings would be counterintuitive.
