The explosion of cell phones threatens to change the look of Virginia’s lovely Blue Ridge Mountains forever. Cell phones need transmission towers, but so many are being erected on mountaintops that they are making the curvy ridgelines look like the prickly backs of porcupines.

Crown Communications/Triton PCS Inc., for example, wants a special-use permit for a 199-foot tower for mobile phones on the outskirts of Blacksburg. Montgomery County is taking a look at the potential tower problem. And it’s really taking a look at it.

Wanting to determine the visual impact towers would have on the local mountains, the Mont-gomery County Board of Supervisors re-quested that Crown fly balloons over potential sites. The test flights of the helium-filled balloons, each some 15-feet in diameter, were to have been completed in mid- May, but windy conditions forced a postponement.

According to Harold Timmons of Roanoke’s TEA Group, a Crown subsidiary and a company that owns and manages communications towers, flying the balloons is a common practice now in tower site selection. Costs for the simulations range from $1,000 to $3,000 for a few hours a day, he says. Timmons, who is overseeing the Montgomery County tests, says the balloons must be manned from the ground at all times so they don’t drift into power lines or cause other problems in urban areas.

"It’s the best way [to measure visual impact] because you get to see something at the proposed height," he says. "It adds some reality to the request. Most people hear 100 feet or 150, and they can’t visualize it."

Montgomery County’s Plan-ning Commission recommended ap-proval of Crown’s request but has also advised restricting the tower’s height to 100 feet. The county Board of Supervisors has since called in wireless experts from Virginia Tech to consult on tower site issues. As requests from a growing number of wireless cellular companies pour in, they’ve cast an eye to the future, not just the skyline.

"What we’d really like to do is identify some land-use characteristics and even some zones that the board feels are appropriate for this type of use and go ahead put that in a formal plan," says Mont-gomery County spokesman Robert Parker.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," says Mary Biggs, board chairwoman. "As more and more companies come through with more and more available technology, we’re going to have to deal with it."

And it’s a call all of Virginia’s localities are going to have to take.