I am soliciting the collective wisdom of the group. This is medium long,
but please read and respond because I really need some experienced points of
view:
Situation: As many of you know I purchased a 50 acre farm on which to
gradually build my "world class" contesting and dx station. The farm is a
nice farm and I am, for better or worse, emotionally attached to it. I have
the hardware to install (3) Big Berthas carrying the 10-40m main stacks plus
the 10-40m second azimuth stacks, an 80 meter 9-circle array, and a 160m
tower 4-square array. My plan is to install that stuff after installing the
tallest antenna first, notably two (2) 300ft towers suspending stacked 7/7
80 meter wire yagis fixed EU/ZL. Finally, if needed, I could upgrade the
160m 4-square to a 9-circle array. Such a station installation would be an
un-recoverable expenditure (and one I would prefer to only do once), that
is, it is unlikely that one could ever sell the installation "as is" and
recover the investment. The farm is approx 1500ft x 1500ft nearly square.
There is a nice garage I am renovating into a radio room/vacation home, and
there are two nice barns for building antennas indoors. The location is
exceptionally convenient to me from work and home (3 minute drive from
either), has high speed internet available to allow for simple remote
control, is in a very safe neighborhood (a definite consideration when one
plans to be there alone for an entire weekend operating a contest with a
headset on or installing antennas), and the farm land is rented for farming
which partially offsets the property taxes. The farmer whom sold me the
land lives next door, and to complete the transaction we had to creatively
agree not to install any antennas except short lowband receive antennas on
the front 500 x 1500ft for a period of the next several years. The land
contour is _NOT_ optimal...the frontage is very flat, however the back 300ft
on 1/2 of the property on the north end has a "bowl" effect, and the back
700ft on the south end of the property has a "bowl" effect...these bowl
contours are in the direction of EU and AF. Zoning of the farm is
residential, and it is in a (currently) low density residential area with
several homes across the street and within 1 mile of a hospital, a few
plastic/tool and die/casting plants, and additional commercial zoned land
nearby that will probably go light industrial use in the long run. The
township zoning includes an Airport Ordinance due to an airport
approximately 5 miles away. This Airport Ordinance gives the township wide
latitude to restrict tower height even if it is cleared by Nav-Air. The new
building code gives the township and it's building inspectors wide latitude
to control building projects. I have an existing Nav-Air determination for
up to 200ft. I am imminently submitting a Nav-Air application for the two
(2) 300ft towers for the 80m wire yagis. My vibes on discussions with the
township indicate that they are keenly aware of the benefits of having a ham
station for emergency needs. They are known to be a conservative township
when it comes to community issues. The school board has become aggressive
with property tax increases since we bought the farm, and it appears that
they will remain aggressive tax-wise...
To put it briefly I have concerns that between the Airport Ordinance, new
building code, possible neighbor complaints when the first two 300ft towers
arise like the Phoenix, and an aggressive taxing body, it may become
challenging to complete installation of all the antenna systems over a
number of years without encountering energy draining red tape. It would
certainly be frustrating to put up some of the antenna system, and despite
having 50 acres, be told that there would be no more permits to put up the
rest of the antenna system. Can they limit the _number_ of antenna support
structures on an open farm?? The location is electrically "quiet" now, but
I have concerns that the encroaching commercial zoned areas could result in
QRN/M on receive (in the long run)
The farm has a home on it, on a front corner, that we do not plan to use. We
put it up for sale with 1.5 acres. The remaining acreage would be used for
the antenna system including lowband receive antennas.
Yesterday came an inquiry to buy either A). the home with much more land
than 1.5 acres, or B). to buy a large piece of the land without the home
(i.e.. I would then be able to sell the home to some-one else) . Agreeing
to either A or B would (because of lost acreage) eliminate the possibility
of ever building a "world class" station there. On the other hand, selling
out the farm would yield enough profit to buy a new (cheap) farm way out in
the boonies (where there is no zoning), but in a much less convenient area
to visit, and it would pay for the entire antenna installation to boot.
Options are great, but this is mind boggling...
What do you think???
My best 73, a very confused W3TX
_______________________________________________
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.
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