It's Been a Minute (Like, Ten Years): 3D Printing a Broadcast Tower for Kids

Well. Hi. It has been nearly a decade since I last posted here, which is a little embarrassing given that the premise of this blog — that STEM is for everyone, and we should be actively working to make that true — feels more relevant than ever. Life happened: career changes, a move, a toddler, a whole pandemic. But here we are.

I'm coming back with something a little different from the policy-and-culture pieces I used to write. This one is hands-on.

What I built

I designed and 3D printed a scale model of a broadcast communication tower as an educational kit for kids. The model snaps together from five segments, alternating aviation orange and white — the actual FAA-mandated color scheme used on real towers — with an open lattice structure that matches how real towers are built. Snap-on accessories include a microwave dish and cell phone panel antennas, so kids can explore the different types of equipment you'd find on an actual tower.

The model was originally made for a kids' day event at work. I've cleaned it up and posted it publicly on MakerWorld and Printables, where you can download it and print your own. [MakerWorld] [printables]

Why a broadcast tower?

Broadcasting is one of those infrastructure fields that most people interact with every day without thinking about. Your local news, your favorite radio station, the emergency alert that comes through during a storm — a lot of that still moves through tall metal structures standing in fields and on rooftops. And the engineering behind those structures is genuinely interesting: the lattice shape isn't decorative, it's structural. Triangles are the strongest geometric shape, and the open criss-cross design lets wind pass through rather than acting like a sail. The orange and white paint exists because the FAA requires towers above a certain height to be visible to aircraft. There's real physics and real policy baked into every tower you drive past on the highway.

What's on the tower

A real broadcast tower typically carries several different kinds of antennas, each doing a different job:

Broadcast antennas sit near the top and send signals outward in all directions simultaneously — like a flashlight that shines in a full circle. A single well-placed broadcast antenna can reach every radio or TV in an entire city.

Cell phone panels are the flat rectangular slabs you've seen in groups of three on towers near you. Each panel covers a 120-degree arc, so three together provide full 360-degree coverage. Multiply that by thousands of towers and you get a cell network.

Microwave dishes are the bowl-shaped reflectors that aim a tight beam directly at a distant receiving dish — more like a laser pointer than a flashlight. TV stations use these to send live footage from a remote truck back to the studio.

The engineering angle

One of the things I like about this project as an educational tool is that it lets you touch the concepts rather than just read about them. The lattice structure is visible and tangible. You can count the segments. You can snap the accessories on and talk about what each one does. For younger kids it's just a cool orange tower. For older kids or adults, it's an entry point into structural engineering, RF propagation, and communications infrastructure policy.

If you're a teacher, a parent, a maker, or someone who just thinks infrastructure is underappreciated (it is), the files are free on MakerWorld. Print it in two colors — aviation orange and white — and you'll have something that looks like the real thing.

More soon. Probably.