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View Full Version : Is this an antenna on Disneyland's fence?



simnia
03-13-2007, 11:03 PM
This device has me really mystified. It's not a video camera. There is a metal plate tilted at 45 degrees with a barely discernable circle on its surface, and what appears to be a power unit behind it. The device sits above the barbed wire near the northeast corner of Disneyland's chain link fence and the plate doesn't point at anything in particular, just points between Howard Johnson's and the Harbor Boulevard Overcrossing of Interstate 5.

Some labels on back of the plate part read "DANGER", "POLARIZATION" (with an arrow), "MADE IN ISRAEL" and I think I can make out the word "ANTENNA". Is this maybe an antenna for in-park walkie-talkies, or maybe some broadcast from Disneyland to motorists? Maybe radar for detecting traffic flow? Maybe a security device that senses fence vibrations? (I hope I don't stir up any controversy with this question: I'm just curious.)

http://www.simnia.com/dl/dl-periphery/harbor/A_HBE_fence_device_032.jpg
http://www.simnia.com/dl/dl-periphery/harbor/070308_A_HMJ_DL_fence_device_032.jpg

Another Dimension
03-13-2007, 11:21 PM
Motion detector?

someimagination
03-13-2007, 11:50 PM
*is mystified* I want to touch it... :|

simnia
03-13-2007, 11:52 PM
Motion detector?

Hmmm. Maybe. I didn't think of that possibility. Maybe a radar-generating motion detector, although most motion detectors have curved reception surfaces for detecting wider areas. The radar generator would explain why it could be dangerous. Here's the closest-looking commercial version of an outdoor motion detector I found under Google images:

http://www.argus-spectr.ru/index.php?act=tovar&l=_eng&id%5B%5D=124&id%5B%5D=125&id%5B%5D=129&clickId=129&tovar=6

geoffa
03-14-2007, 12:15 AM
Microwave radio transmitter?

DisneyDustin22
03-14-2007, 06:41 AM
its a device used to send out radio signals to keep out those we dont speak of

retlawfan
03-14-2007, 06:56 AM
It's a receiver for microwave internet. It is pointed in a specific direction to get a signal from a transmitter from some peak nearby.

Don't know why Disney would use that instead of a T1 or something, but maybe there was a loacation needing hook up that they could not reach with burried cable in the park.

Maybe it has something to do with the Mobile Muppet Labs?

simnia
03-14-2007, 07:04 AM
It's a receiver for microwave internet. It is pointed in a specific direction to get a signal from a transmitter from some peak nearby.

Awesome, thanks. I figured somebody in the computer-Internet-radio-CB-radar-microwave-satellite-security world should know, and they did. My guess is its pointed at Saddleback Mountain, but I'll have to check it out next time to be sure.

Vegitabeta
03-14-2007, 09:26 AM
its a device used to send out radio signals to keep out those we dont speak of
Warner Bros. fans?

Klutch
03-14-2007, 09:46 AM
It's most certainly a digital antenna. It may or may not be used for wireless Internet. I have an antenna which looks very similar. Mine is for HDTV broadcasts. It could be used for anything; digital security radios, for example. Most likely, the real use use is something very boring, but it could be for something fun, like the Muppet Mobile Labs.

doubleA
03-14-2007, 10:42 AM
This looks like an Alvarion WiMAX antenna. That would seem to be confirmed by the fact that it said made in Israel (which is where Alvarion is).

simnia
03-14-2007, 02:09 PM
This looks like an Alvarion WiMAX antenna. That would seem to be confirmed by the fact that it said made in Israel (which is where Alvarion is).

Awesome expertise in this forum. Thanks!

Here's a follow-up... More text on the back looks like it reads:

"DANGER / WATCH FOR WIRES / You can be KILLED if this product comes near electric power lines."

And I tried to see where it was pointing, but the smog was so bad today that I couldn't see the mountains!

danyoung
03-14-2007, 02:19 PM
That warning was for the boobs who put an antenna like that up on a mast, not looking above them and seeing that they're about to come in contact with 10,000 volts!

mickeyxminnie
03-15-2007, 08:03 AM
maybe they use it for the fireworks? they use computers for all that sort of stuff now days.

tod
03-15-2007, 11:43 AM
This looks like an Alvarion WiMAX antenna. That would seem to be confirmed by the fact that it said made in Israel (which is where Alvarion is).

What kind of signals does it receive? Or does it transmit?

simnia
03-15-2007, 01:05 PM
Follow up...

I made yet another visit today, mysteriously drawn to The Device. This time I could make out the name on the power unit as:

Axxcelera / BROADBAND WIRELESS

and next to the barcodes it reads:

00:c0:69:0b:6d:96
S/W REV 5.3 6LR
S/W# 10003070

and elsewhere on the power unit I could make out the word "TRANSCEIVER" (= transmitter/receiver). My guess is "S/W" means "software" in this case, and "REV" is revision. The colon numbers are probably the hexadecimal equivalent of the barcode. Sure enough, it's definitely a wireless digital device. I didn't see this device listed on their website, though I haven't had time to do much of a search. (I'm at work now, and I often make these excursions on my lunch hour.)

http://www.axxcelera.com/

geoffa
03-15-2007, 01:06 PM
Warner Bros. fans?
And there was me thinking folk who go to Universal.

Andrew
03-15-2007, 01:15 PM
00:c0:69:0b:6d:96
...
The colon numbers are probably the hexadecimal equivalent of the barcode.
That's a MAC address (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_address) (a [theoretically] unique physical identifier for a network device) which basically confirms this being a network antenna. Scanning for WiFi access points near this device might be illuminating, but it could very well be a licensed-band (i.e. not WiFi) device.

tod
03-15-2007, 01:18 PM
That's a MAC address (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_address) (a [theoretically] unique physical identifier for a network device) which basically confirms this being a network antenna. Scanning for WiFi access points near this device would be illuminating.

Where, specifically, is it? I have this laptop...

--t

Andrew
03-15-2007, 01:39 PM
Where, specifically, is it? I have this laptop...


The device sits above the barbed wire near the northeast corner of Disneyland's chain link fence and the plate doesn't point at anything in particular, just points between Howard Johnson's and the Harbor Boulevard Overcrossing of Interstate 5.

That would place it roughly in the center of this aerial photo (http://www.google.com/maps?q=1313+S+Harbor+Blvd,+Anaheim,+CA+92802&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=19&ll=33.814129,-117.915595&spn=0.001662,0.002789&t=h), where the fence turns northwest. (But I haven't seen it in person yet)

Klutch
03-15-2007, 05:48 PM
Where, specifically, is it? I have this laptop...

--t

If it's not encrypted, someone in IT should be fired.

simnia
03-16-2007, 12:08 AM
Where, specifically, is it? I have this laptop...

--t

Heh heh heh. So do I... ;)

It's about 30 feet beyond and around the corner of the fence, toward the Roundhouse, just north of Howard Johnson's, alongside the Harbor Boulevard offramp from southbound I-5. You can barely see it on the right side of the road sign in this first photo, in the fence part without bushes.

http://www.simnia.com/dl/dl-periphery/harbor/A_HBE_DL_ABW_fence_corner_032.jpg
http://www.simnia.com/dl/dl-periphery/harbor/070315_A_HBE_DL_ABW_underneath_power_unit_032.jpg

simnia
03-16-2007, 03:11 PM
Scanning for WiFi access points near this device might be illuminating, but it could very well be a licensed-band (i.e. not WiFi) device.

If I interpret you correctly, you mean testing via laptop which WiFi connection services are available in that vicinity. I checked on that today. With my HP laptop at four different points in that vicinity, here were the results...

Taco Bell, 1st floor, inside

1. hpsetup
Unsecured computer-to-computer network.
signal strength = 5/5
2. 2WIRE690
Security-enabled wireless network.
signal strength = 1/5

Hotel Menage, 5th floor, outside

1. hpsetup
Unsecured computer-to-computer network.
signal strength = 5/5
2. FeatherByEarthlink
Unsecured wireless network.
signal strength = 4/5
logon webpage options:
1-Hour Pass, $3.95
1-Day Pass, $7.95
3-Day Pass, $15.95
Redeem Prepaid Card
3. FeatherSecure
Security-enabled wireless network.
signal stength = 4/5
4. STSN
Unsecured wireless network.
signal strength = 1/5
iBAHN logon webpage options:
1 day, Free
Roming Service (T-Mobile)
5. GoldenTree
Unsecured wireless network.
signal strength = 1/5
Golden Tree Communications logon webpage info needed:
Guest Room No.: _____
Password: _____

Disneyland's NE corner, near Axxcelera Broadband Wireless antenna, outside

1. STSN
Unsecured wireless network.
signal strength = 1/5
2. hpsetup
Unsecured computer-to-computer network.
signal strength = 5/5

Howard Johnson, 4th floor, inside

1. hpsetup
Unsecured computer-to-computer network.
signal strength = 5/5

I'm not very familiar with networks and WiFi but this evidence suggests that the Axxcelera antenna is not WiFi, and/or may have been turned off.

nightdesigns
03-18-2007, 01:09 PM
In my experience antennas like that are used to as a point-to-point system to expand a computer network (IE. Connect a remote site to the main site).

If I'm reading the description of the direction right and the locations, I'd say that possibly it is a link to the cast member lot hut.

It could also be a receiver to track locations of the shuttles/buses in relation to the resort or even a link for off-site traffic cameras.

Really it could be a million things. It is definitely network related from the mac address.