Guides
The data pages on this site answer "what is here". These answer "what does that mean" — written rather than generated, and mostly concerned with the gap between what the federal registers record and what people assume they record.
Towers and coverage
9 guidesWhat the structures are, how far they reach, and why coverage fails for reasons that have nothing to do with distance.
- US mobile frequency bands and what they mean for coverage
Low-band, mid-band, C-band and millimetre wave — the physics of why some signals travel miles and others stop at a window, and why a tower's height matters less than the frequency it carries.
28 Aug 2026
- Checking for towers and power lines before you buy a house
What the public records will and will not tell you about infrastructure near a property, in what order to check, and which concerns are worth acting on.
28 Aug 2026
- How far does a cell tower actually reach?
The radio horizon formula, where it comes from, and why the real answer is always smaller. Every structure page on this site shows a distance estimate — this explains exactly what it does and does not mean.
28 Aug 2026
- Why towers blink — FAA lighting and marking rules
The obstruction lighting rules that decide whether a tower is painted orange, lit red at night, or flashes white during the day, and what the pattern tells you about its height.
28 Aug 2026
- Cell towers and RF exposure — what the FCC rules actually say
The federal exposure limits, where they come from, how they are enforced, and what measurements near real towers show. A factual account of the regulations, with links to the primary sources.
28 Aug 2026
- The tallest structures in America are television masts in farmland
The tallest things in the United States are not skyscrapers. They are guyed broadcast masts on flat cheap land in the Dakotas and the Central Valley, and the reason is a combination of physics, economics and one 1970s accident.
28 Aug 2026
- Tower structure types explained
Monopole, lattice, guyed, and the two dozen odder categories in the federal register — what each one is, why it was chosen, and what you can infer about a site from its type alone.
28 Aug 2026
- Who owns America's cell towers
More than half of registered structures belong to tower companies, not carriers. How the tower REIT model works, why the ownership names in federal data are so confusing, and what it means when you look up a structure near you.
28 Aug 2026
- Why your signal is bad — seven reasons that have nothing to do with the nearest tower
Distance to the nearest mast is a small part of why mobile coverage fails. Here is what actually determines whether you get bars, and why the tower two streets away may not be helping you.
28 Aug 2026
EV charging
4 guidesCharging speeds, connectors, and what public charging actually costs.
- Where American charging is thin, and how to tell from the data
DC fast share matters more than station count. How to read charging density figures, why per-capita numbers mislead in states with lots of driveways, and what a genuine charging gap looks like.
28 Aug 2026
- EV connector types — J1772, CCS, NACS and CHAdeMO
Which plug fits which car, what the industry-wide move to NACS actually changes, and why a connector shape alone does not tell you the charging speed.
28 Aug 2026
- EV charging levels 1, 2 and 3 — what the numbers actually mean
The three charging tiers, realistic charging times for each, and why the fastest number on a charger's label is almost never the speed you get. Practical rather than promotional.
28 Aug 2026
- What DC fast charging actually costs
Per-kWh rates, idle fees, session fees and subscriptions — how public fast charging is priced in the US, how it compares with home charging and with petrol, and where the register can and cannot help.
28 Aug 2026
Reading the data
5 guidesWhat the federal registers contain, what they leave out, and how to avoid drawing the wrong conclusion.
- Can you tell which towers carry 5G? Not from this data
A direct answer to a question we get asked constantly, an explanation of why the public record cannot answer it, and what the data can tell you instead.
28 Aug 2026
- How to read AFDC charging station data
Every field in the federal charging station register, which ones are reliable, which are stale, and the specific ways the data misleads if you read it literally.
28 Aug 2026
- How to read an FCC antenna structure registration
Every field in an ASR record, what it actually means, and the three that are most often misread. A guide to the raw federal data behind every structure page on this site.
28 Aug 2026
- What the tower database misses, and why your neighbourhood looks empty
The FCC register covers structures needing registration — roughly those over 200 feet. Small cells, rooftops and indoor systems are absent. If you searched your address and found nothing, this explains why.
28 Aug 2026
- Where America built its towers — what the density figures show
Texas has the most registered structures, but Alaska has four times as many per resident. What structure density by state reveals about geography, and how to read our per-capita figures without drawing the wrong conclusion.
28 Aug 2026