Tower takes a long look at Lynn

LYNN – Looming 340 feet above Lynn, the Wayne Alarm tower is slated to be equipped with a high-powered camera that will give Internet users a view currently reserved for workers who scale a narrow ladder to repair communications equipment.?The goal is to open it up to the world for anyone who wants to see it,” said Wayne Alarm Systems President Ralph Sevinor.Sevinor said the camera, a dome-shaped machine roughly the size of a microwave, will be installed in about 60 days at the tower?s 175-foot level. The almost 20-year-old steel structure sways slightly in the wind and installing the camera at a lower level minimizes camera movement.At that height, Sevinor said the camera will need its own temperature control system to heat it during winter and keep it cool on hot days.The camera will provide real-time panoramic views and Sevinor said the camera?s technology allows views to be programmed to show a specific view while blocking images like windows or other views that might represent privacy infringements.?We?re always looking for new technology and ways to push the envelope,” Sevinor said.With bundles of thick, black cables snaking up its flanks and complicated-looking antennas mounted on its heights, the tower serves business and public sector customers. Medical helicopters operating north of Boston relay communications through the tower. All Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority communications north of Boston are also routed through the structure.Cellular transmission bounces off the tower?s antennas and logistics information logged by delivery drivers gets uploaded and transferred through the tower. With 91 workers on the job in Wayne Alarm?s Essex Street building, the company?s communications operation runs around the clock.The company?s nerve center is a ceiling-high equipment bank backed up on a similar system based in Texas. Monitoring center workers sit in front of computer screens fielding calls ranging from alarm restoration requests to elevator emergencies and burglar alarm alerts.Made from 180,000 pounds of “triple-dipped” hot galvanized steel, the tower took three months to build and Sevinor said rapidly changing technology means antenna panels and other equipment is regularly dismantled and replaced.Workers scale the tower on a weekly basis using ladders mounted on the outside of each of the tower?s three legs. The rungs are about a foot-wide and climbers buckle safety equipment to a wire roughly the diameter of an adult?s finger.?The climb takes about 20 minutes,” Sevinor said.The Wayne Alarm tower is on the small side compared to large-scale television towers, but Sevinor promised the camera?s online view will be on a grand scale.?It has a range of miles and miles,” he said.