AI exposure: Radio, Cellular, and Tower Equipment Installers and Repairers
Repair, install, or maintain mobile or stationary radio transmitting, broadcasting, and receiving equipment, and two-way radio communications systems used in cellular telecommunications, mobile broadband, ship-to-shore, aircraft-to-ground communications, and radio equipment in service and emergency vehicles. May test and analyze network coverage.
Reading this score
computedAt 11.9% of weighted task load, Radio, Cellular, and Tower Equipment Installers and Repairers sits at the 18th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 80.5% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 30 tasks it averages 2.80 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Complete reports related to project status, progress, or other work details, at 73.3%. The least is Turn setscrews to adjust receivers for maximum sensitivity and transmitters for maximum output, at 0.0%. A gap of 73.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within installation, maintenance and repair occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 13.8% across the group's 50 roles, with 29 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 30 tasks, 3 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 27 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 0.64 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.80 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.52 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.96 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.18 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.42 | 0-3 |
Task by task
30 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Complete reports related to project status, progress, or other work details, using computer software. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.95 | exposed |
| Read work orders, blueprints, plans, datasheets or site drawings to determine work to be done. | 37.5% | 25.0% | 37.5% | 4.17 | exposed |
| Locate tower sites where work is to be performed, using mapping software. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 3.98 | exposed |
| Test operation of tower transmission components, using sweep testing tools or software. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.23 | untouched |
| Take site survey photos or photos of work performed, using digital cameras. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 3.63 | untouched |
| Test equipment functions such as signal strength and quality, transmission capacity, interference, and signal delay, using equipment such as oscilloscopes, circuit analyzers, frequency meters, and wattmeters. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Check antenna positioning to ensure specified azimuths or mechanical tilts and adjust as necessary. | 14.2% | 10.8% | 75.0% | 3.89 | untouched |
| Monitor radio range stations to detect transmission flaws and adjust controls to eliminate flaws. | 14.2% | 10.8% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Examine malfunctioning radio equipment to locate defects such as loose connections, broken wires, or burned-out components, using schematic diagrams and test equipment. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Calibrate and align components, using scales, gauges, and other measuring instruments. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Inspect completed work to ensure all hardware is tight, antennas are level, hangers are properly fastened, proper support is in place, or adequate weather proofing has been installed. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.48 | untouched |
| Test emergency transmitters to ensure their readiness for immediate use. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Install, adjust, and repair stationary and mobile radio transmitting and receiving equipment and two-way radio communication systems. | 7.5% | 5.0% | 87.5% | – | untouched |
| Insert plugs into receptacles and bolt or screw leads to terminals to connect equipment to power sources, using hand tools. | 6.2% | 6.2% | 87.5% | – | untouched |
| Test batteries, using hydrometers and ammeters, and charge batteries as necessary. | 5.4% | 7.1% | 87.5% | – | untouched |
| Install, connect, or test underground or aboveground grounding systems. | 4.3% | 4.1% | 91.7% | 4.04 | untouched |
| Run appropriate power, ground, or coaxial cables. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.26 | untouched |
| Install all necessary transmission equipment components, including antennas or antenna mounts, surge arrestors, transmission lines, connectors, or tower-mounted amplifiers (TMAs). | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.18 | untouched |
| Replace existing antennas with new antennas as directed. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.08 | untouched |
| Bolt equipment into place, using hand or power tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.05 | untouched |
| Transport equipment to work sites, using utility trucks and equipment trailers. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.70 | untouched |
| Climb towers to access components, using safety equipment, such as full-body harnesses. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.46 | untouched |
| Climb communication towers to install, replace, or repair antennas or auxiliary equipment used to transmit and receive radio waves. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.16 | untouched |
| Lift equipment into position, using cranes and rigging tools or equipment, such as gin poles. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.07 | untouched |
| Perform maintenance or repair work on existing tower equipment, using hand or power tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.04 | untouched |
| Install or repair tower lighting components, including strobes, beacons, or lighting controllers. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.74 | untouched |
| Mount equipment on transmission towers and in vehicles such as ships or ambulances. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | – | untouched |
| Remove and replace defective components and parts such as conductors, resistors, semiconductors, and integrated circuits, using soldering irons, wire cutters, and hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | – | untouched |
| Repair circuits, wiring, and soldering, using soldering irons and hand tools to install parts and adjust connections. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | – | untouched |
| Turn setscrews to adjust receivers for maximum sensitivity and transmitters for maximum output. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | – | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean. 12 task(s) lacked a usable O*NET weight and are shown but excluded from the weighting.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.