Cell tower camouflage artists just want to blend in

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He says he enjoys building cell towers into churches, which in the Northeast were often built on hills because they represented the center of town hundreds of years ago. He has done 30 such projects and each has involved their own challenges, such as maintaining architectural integrity, especially of older buildings. Performing that type of masonry reconstruction and structure restoration helps him tap his architectural interests.

"It ranges from gothic to Romanesque to modern, and I try to find as many original drawings as I can to work from" he says.

For The Larson Co.'s Meyer, the disguises include rocks and cacti to mask cell antennas and switches. He says simulating the deserts, palm trees and more barren landscapes of the Southwest differs from locating a site in the Northeast.

"We can't put as many branches on a palm tree, as say a pine tree, so we have to get more creative in how we hide the technology," Meyer says.

Of course, not all the towers are well-hidden, a real sore point for camouflage experts.

Towers need to top between 80 or even 100 feet to clear tree line in many parts of the country, but carriers looking to keep costs down will limit the number of palm fronds or pine branches on a fake tree.

"When your lowest branch is at 60 feet, it looks pretty obvious and it just isn't aesthetically pleasing," Meyer says.

"My favorite question, is 'What type of tree can we use to put in a 170-foot tower?' " Sturdivant says. "Look around; do you see any 170-foot trees? Something like that will grab attention and not in a good way."

Sturdivant cites one cell tower masquerading as a phony tree along Route 90 in Massachusetts near the Charlton Plaza.

"It's one of the ugliest towers I've ever seen. It looks like an upside-down Christmas tree or a massive bottle brush," Sturdivant says. "It's not one of ours. I'm not going to be involved with anything ugly or cheap.

"There really isn't a telltale sign to spot a good stealth tower," he says.

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