Towers are the name of the game at Hemphill, a manufacturer in the heart of Oklahoma. With one foot in telecommunications, another in the oil & gas industry, and even solar based power solutions, all their years of experience and expertise taught them something huge: there was a very real need for something new in the tower industry, and they were just the company to make it happen.

Whether a project site is compromised to due shrinking shorelines, raging wildfires, dangerous mining operations, or even natural disasters like the devastating east coast hurricanes of 2024, time is of the essence. Remote access remains a significant challenge as industries prioritize expanding service to hard-to-reach locations, such as mountains and rural areas. What if there were a reliable, portable, modular, and rapid-deploy tower that could match—or even surpass—the performance of conventional permanent towers while reaching places they can't? That question sparked the idea.

Almost serendipitously, a large telecom company presented the perfect opportunity for this innovation. Hemphill teamed up with B&T Engineering, also based in Tulsa, to bring this dream to fruition. “At the concept stage, there was debate between a concrete design and a steel design, so after much evaluation about cost and the inspiration to make it modular with interchangeable interlocking pieces, galvanized steel was the clear choice,” says John Hemphill, owner of Hempill Towers.

Close collaboration with the galvanizer was essential during the R&D phase of this project. The unique challenge was ensuring the pieces could fit together as required while also providing the galvanizer with correctly sized and positioned holes for proper venting and draining during the galvanizing process. Consistent and constructive communication was key to overcoming these challenges.

It is standard practice to hot-dip galvanize towers and their components for all the reasons we know and love. Corrosion resistance being at the forefront of this effort, these modular tower bases will travel around the world, into all different climates and environments. No matter the conditions—hot, cold, wet, dry, or rainy—these structures have a critical job to perform and must remain resilient against anything they face. The way a firefighter is galvanized with courage before running into a wildfire, these bases are coated with zinc to protect them from the harshest of elements.

Anyone remotely close with the disaster response communications efforts that are the current standard would also be familiar with the term “COW” or “Cellular on Wheels.” These miniaturized mobile towers are most often pulled on a trailer, and max out around 75 feet due to their size and weight, which also greatly limits their ability to receive and transmit over distance.

Hemphill has taken to calling their more robust system a “BULL” since it is much larger, and therefore heavier. About 15 tons of steel go into building these modular, on-grade tower bases. They are designed in such a way that the need can specifically dictate how much tower is needed (from 60’ up to the full 160’ of a permanent tower) and therefore how many modular pieces are required to support it. No matter what the requirement is, this system offers “one design, one time”, regardless of configuration.

Typically, constructing a permanent tower like this would take one to two months. However, a Hemphill Modular BULL Tower can be deployed and assembled in just 2–3 days. Factors like elevation, weather conditions, and tower height determine the required base strength. To address this, 2,400-pound interlocking concrete weights can be added to the base, one at a time, to ensure the necessary stability.

The groundbreaking tower design offers numerous benefits: the elimination of guy wires for simpler setup; portability for easy relocation or temporary rental; no need to penetrate the ground or disturb the environment; the ability to convert from temporary to permanent use; support for heavy antenna loads; and rapid deployment. This rental fleet of modular, on-grade BULL Towers not only disrupts an entire industry but also enhances a critical solution that people depend on every day!