maximus otter
Recovering policeman
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2001
- Messages
- 13,980
Strange antennas have appeared in the foothills around Salt Lake City and authorities have no idea what they are or who put them up.
People first began noticing the antennas a year ago. They’re simple machines made up of a LoRa fiberglass antenna, a locked battery pack, and a solar panel to power it. The Salt Lake City public lands department has been pulling them down as they find them, and [said] that there have been as many as a dozen.
It’s illegal to place structures on public lands without permission and some of the antennas have appeared on steep peaks. In one instance, the removal of an antenna required a team of five people. Other antennas were found on land managed by the University of Utah and the Forest Service.
Tyler Fonarow, Salt Lake City’s recreational trails manager, told Motherboard that when the antennas were first noticed a year ago, “We didn’t really have the bandwidth to look into it or remove them,” he said.
Fonarow said that there were no identifying marks on the antennas and that they’d been bolted into the stone and required special tools to remove. “We honestly didn’t even open the box,” he said. “We just wanted it off the hill.”
“One person could do it,” he said. “But it would take two trips unless they’re really strong. The three main components are a suitcase sized…plastic, weatherproof case for their electric equipment for the battery and router. It was about 50 or 60 pounds. And then there’s two antennas, four to six feet, and the solar panel which is about three by four feet. It would be a pretty tough thing to do by yourself.”
The router made Fonarow initially think the thing was a cell phone booster, he said. Another leading theory online is that the antennas are part of a cryptocurrency mining operation.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/epz...ring-in-utahs-hills-and-officials-are-stumped
maximus otter
People first began noticing the antennas a year ago. They’re simple machines made up of a LoRa fiberglass antenna, a locked battery pack, and a solar panel to power it. The Salt Lake City public lands department has been pulling them down as they find them, and [said] that there have been as many as a dozen.
It’s illegal to place structures on public lands without permission and some of the antennas have appeared on steep peaks. In one instance, the removal of an antenna required a team of five people. Other antennas were found on land managed by the University of Utah and the Forest Service.
Tyler Fonarow, Salt Lake City’s recreational trails manager, told Motherboard that when the antennas were first noticed a year ago, “We didn’t really have the bandwidth to look into it or remove them,” he said.
Fonarow said that there were no identifying marks on the antennas and that they’d been bolted into the stone and required special tools to remove. “We honestly didn’t even open the box,” he said. “We just wanted it off the hill.”
“One person could do it,” he said. “But it would take two trips unless they’re really strong. The three main components are a suitcase sized…plastic, weatherproof case for their electric equipment for the battery and router. It was about 50 or 60 pounds. And then there’s two antennas, four to six feet, and the solar panel which is about three by four feet. It would be a pretty tough thing to do by yourself.”
The router made Fonarow initially think the thing was a cell phone booster, he said. Another leading theory online is that the antennas are part of a cryptocurrency mining operation.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/epz...ring-in-utahs-hills-and-officials-are-stumped
maximus otter
