UTAH'S MYSTERY ANTENNAE
Officials in Salt Lake City, Utah, have been baffled by a series of mysterious antennae that have appeared in the foothills around the city over the past year. The devices are not complex, consisting of a LoRa fiberglass antenna connected to a locked battery pack, with a solar panel to keep it charged. At least a dozen have been found and removed by the Salt Lake City Public Lands Department as it is illegal to install structures on public land without permission; others have appeared on land belonging to the University of Utah and the Forest Service. Some of the devices have been installed high up on steep peaks in the area, including 7,000ft (2,134m) up on Mount Wire, with one requiring a team of five people to remove it. The antennae are usually bolted to the underlying rock and have no identifying marks on them that would give a clue to their origin. Tyler Fonarow, Salt Lake City’s recreational trails manager, said he thought it would take at least two people to install them: “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 60lb (23-27kg). 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.”
There has been much speculation as to who has been installing the devices and why, with some people thinking they might be signal boosters for mobile phones. Others have suggested gangs using them for private communications, and, inevitably, aliens; but the most likely suspects are cryptocurrency miners. Most cryptocurrencies are generated by either proof-of-work, which involves solving equations, or proof-of-stake, which relates to how much digital storage capacity the miners have. One cryptocurrency, though, known as Helium, works through proofof-coverage. This means that the larger area covered by the network you build, the more Helium you are mining. Helium mining also uses exactly the kind of antennae being found around Salt Lake City, although a flaw seems to be that the cost of deploying these would not be a worthwhile investment considering the value of the currency. Fonarow says that the devices haven’t caused any damage and it is unlikely anyone will be criminally charged if the owners are found. “As long as it’s not dangerous, we really don’t care,” he said. “We just want people to stop doing it so we can get back to taking care of our lands… we want to stop it now before it becomes a dumping ground for dozens and dozens more antennas. If someone wanted to put an antenna in the exact same location for scientific purposes, we’d probably allow it.” he says. Vice.com, 6 Jan 2023.