The Soldier Field DSA

[Chicagosiren-hunters]

I am not sure of how many people have heard of or seen the DSA 6X3 array outside of Soldier Field in Chicago, but we went downtown yesterday, and it appears to have gotten an upgrade...
Sometime between May of 2014( I know the watermark says 2013, but I was down there since) and yesterday, the old tower which supported the DSA's along with some lighting/sound equipment was dismantled and they put up a newer steel mast for the equipment. The DSA's appear to just be a reinstall, as they seem to look similar to the older photo, but I could not see well as we were just going by it. I do apologize for the bad photo quality, all I had on both occasions was an iPhone...

[4J25]

Yep, I saw this a while back. If you go to the streetview, you can see them putting up the tower, or at least working on it.

[Brendan Ahern]

Wow that's pretty cool. That lattice tower was pretty old. The new mast is a better install, they are pretty popular. The dsa looks like the same one, I can't imagine it being a new one. Never understood why they did this though. Would have been better off with a modulator.

[Chicagosiren-hunters]

They may have thought a Modulator would be an eyesore, so a DSA may just look like sound equipment to passerby's.

[Brendan Ahern]

I don't think that's why. There is a mod right in the line of sight at Wrigley field along with one right in the middle of grant park. It looks like maybe they just wanted it going in specific directions. I only know of 3 dsa units in the city and all of them point a couple directions but not all 4.

[Notre.Dame1003]

It's the same siren, I passed it last week on LSD but traffic was heavy and didn't stop for a picture. They moved the controller to the side of the little building and "split" it, so the battery cabinet is mounted directly next to the radio/amp, instead of below it. First time I've seen that done on an install anywhere, since they are shipped from the factory "stacked".

[Brendan Ahern]

This was an upgrade done by Boingo Wireless. They provide WIFI to Soldier Field for fans on gameday. They upgraded their system which included replacing the lattice tower with a monopole. According to this document, the DSA was moved, not replaced.


http://www.checkpermits.com/contractor/Boingo-Wireless