Town officials working toward improving cell service here say there may be an opportunity at the same time to boost VHF coverage for New Canaan’s emergency responders.
The Colorado-based company that New Canaan hired to gather data on current cell coverage has done one “drive test” through town and will do another after a set of new cell towers—at Silver Hill Hospital and the Armory just over the Norwalk line on Route 123—are up and functioning, Tom Tesluk of the Utilities Commission said at the group’s most recent meeting.
The idea is to identify town-wide cell signal strength on a granular, street-by-street basis—and an amalgamated map from carriers shows that New Canaan is closer to 75 percent covered (far better than prior estimates of about 25 percent). The Utilities Commission for years had worked to improve cell service in town, both for residents’ convenience and also to improve public safety—recently the effort had been led by town resident Geoff Pickard.
If improving cell service after the second “drive test” involves putting up new towers, it may be prudent to add VHF antennas for use by police, fire, paramedics and public works officials, Tesluk said.
“If this whole process that we are engaged in right now ultimately leads to new sites and new installations, then there are opportunities to collocate VHF antennas together with new cell sites, and improve not only cell coverage but improve emergency services in town at the same time,” Tesluk said at the meeting, held July 7 in the Brooks Room at the New Canaan Nature Center.
Meanwhile, it isn’t clear just when the cell towers will be up and functioning at Silver Hill and the Armory (which has been approved by the Connecticut Siting Council to get two separate towers about 110 to 120 feet high, Tesluk said).