On this same subject:
My old friend Bill K2OWR has a hilltop property that was advantageous to a
local commercial 2-way firm, so they approached him about it.
He ended up with a 140' self-supporting tower on his lot (in addition to all
the amateur towers he already had), complete with 240V 200A service and
panel and about a 20 yard concrete pad, and a new utility shed at the base
of the tower, and Heliax runs up the tower, and use of any part of the tower
he wanted to use except for the very top where they placed the commercial
antennas; they paid for everything, and they pay rent for the site.
The only downside I can think of would be if an airplane crashed into the
tower and came down on his property! However, there may be some other
downside I didn't think of...you might contact Bill outside this forum and
see if he tells you of any.
WB2WIK/6
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." - Ken
Olson, Chairman & Founder, Digital Equipment Corporation (1977)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rob Atkinson, K5UJ [SMTP:k5uj@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Friday, September 10, 2004 2:47 PM
> To: towertalk@contesting.com
> Subject: [BULK] - [TowerTalk] FCC Tower Registration
>
> Warning: **This is not an expert reply**
>
> A few years ago a ham wrote an article in QST about how he got a cell
> phone
> company to locate a cell site on his property (actually they approached
> him
> like the radio station has done with you) and they put up a tower (maybe a
>
> monopole big fat mast) and put his beam up on top so he got a nice solid
> commercial free tower + rent money out of the deal. he gave a good list
> of
> pros and cons.
>
>
> from what I can recall, pros:
>
> Rent money coming in every month or quarter or year depending on contract.
>
> Don't know how much to expect though. I would have the contract they will
>
> probably produce looked over by a communications atty. You will want that
>
> done anyway for other reasons besides getting an idea of what a reasonable
>
> rent payment would be.
>
> They may beef up your tower (better guying) to handle the additional wind
> loading and do a professional grounding job.
>
> They should pay for the electric bill. They will probably have a separate
>
> service circuit run to the transmitter and have the power co. bill them
> directly. They may build an equipment vault at the base of the tower on a
>
> slab.
>
> Cons:
>
> Depending on ur QTH there may be some iffy zoning since this is
> "commercial."
>
> You will have a transmitter on all the time. depending on the ERP this
> may
> or may not be a problem. your own consumer stuff may get rfi.
>
> I'd make sure the contract says they have to fix all your ham station rfi
> (because it is licensed), if there is any, whether they are causing it or
> you or you are causing it to them. It should also say you cannot be
> expected to perform any emergency maint. on their gear. in other words,
> if
> they go off the air at 2 am in a blizzard they have to send their guys
> out.
> It's their baby.
>
> You will no longer be able to easily dismantle, move, or do stuff to the
> tower with their antenna, i.e. you have a bit of a committment. The
> contract will probably say something to that effect.
>
> Selling your property if you ever want to move will be more complicated if
>
> they are still a tenant.
>
> If you think you are going to stay at ur QTH for a long time and the tower
>
> they want to use is pretty permanent, it might be something worth pursuing
>
> to the extent of at least finding out what their deal is and thinking
> about
> it & running it by a lawyer & how much you need the money and how much it
> is.
>
> There are obvious variables e.g. if you are HF op & they want to run 100
> w.
> FM on 95 MHz then prob. okay. OTOH, if u a weak sig. EME guy & they want
> to
> run 10 kw, run! (first ask if they have any extra heliax you can have)
> :
> )
>
> my 2c.
> Rob/K5UJ
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> On the road to retirement? Check out MSN Life Events for advice on how to
> get there! http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=Retirement
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
> Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with
> any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|