T-Mobile Will Perform a Visual "Crane Test"

will perform a “crane test” on March 21 at the site in Short Hills where it wants to put up a with an additional 3-foot antenna.

It will park a crane on the site on Morris Turnpike near , raise the boom 130 feet and attach an antenna on top of that and leave it there for seven hours (from noon to 7 p.m.) so people can see if they see it from various parts of the neighborhood and the township and when they get home from work.

The test is part of the mobile phone service company’s application process for constructing a tower there.

The case has been through the zoning board with continuation of testimony on Monday night that .

Ben Shidfar, the radio frequency engineer who testified on T-Mobile’s behalf, showed the zoning board a map with the coverage gap in Short Hills that the company is trying to cover with the cell tower. On the map, the unreliable coverage area stood out in white, from the fuller coverage areas of green and orange.

One of the most important reasons company officials say they need the complete cell coverage is for the new enhanced-911 system that they are mandated by the FCC to provide.

The e-911, as it’s also called, can pinpoint an emergency cell phone caller’s location within 50 feet, he said.

“If someone is unable to speak or give the location, police or emergency crews can still find him,” Shidfar said.

Shidfar said the people expect to use their phones in their homes and offices and in their cars and in order to have that kind of coverage the company needs to have more towers.

He said a growing number of people don’t have landline or tethered phones anymore. Teenagers and young people don’t even know what those are, he half-joked.

Board members asked T-Mobile Lawyer Frank Ferraro why T-Mobile can’t just co-locate their service on other carriers’ poles, since others don’t seem to have service disruptions in the area, the bulk of which is bounded by Morris Turnpike on the south, Cambridge on the north, Forest on the east and the area just west of Hobart Gap Road.

He said Verizon and ATT have stronger signals, and the pole location T-Mobile has chosen is what works to meet the needs of the customers in that area.

Residents of the area who oppose the building of the tower questioned whether a 133-foot tower and antenna is needed or if it is “over-coverge.”

Elaine Becker, who lives in the area, showed the board and Shidfar her old Nokia cell phone, which has T-Mobile service and works perfectly well in the area that is supposed to have unreliable and disrupted service.

“During the storm, I lost my landline for 18 days,” she said. “And I used my trusty little cell phone the entire time. My phone worked, and I’m in the ‘white area.’ “

Gail Fraser, the board’s attorney, asked the board would like to bring in its own radio frequency expert at the next hearing to listen to Shidfar’s testimony and to go over T-Mobile’s plans.

Board members said they have approved other cell phone towers without having to hire a expert, but Fraser said most of those were on a building or inside a steeple or something.

“You are well within your rights to do so if you choose,” she said. “It may be something you’ll want to consider.”

Residents said afterward they would like to see the township hire an expert to review T-Mobile’s coverage area claims because they don’t see the problem on their own phones when they are in the area.

The next meeting hearing, where Shidfar may continue testimony and T-Mobile plans to bring in a couple of other witnesses, will be on May 7 at 7 p.m.