Howdy, TowerTalkians --
There is a House Resolution that affects all of us who want to put up a
tower and I strongly recommend you send your Congressperson a letter urging
their support. Here's one from K2ASP that I took off of the ham-law reflector.
Cheers,
Steve K7LXC
TOWER TECH
On Fri, 24 May 2002 14:32:14 -0700 (PDT), Phil Kane wrote:
> At that time I intend to hand him [my Congressrep] a letter of
> support for HR4720.
This is the letter:
==============
May 30, 2002
Representative David Wu
United States House of Representatives
620 SW Main Street - Suite 606
Portland, OR 97205
Attn: Ms. Ramona Perrault
Re: H,R. 4720
Dear Representative Wu:
I urge you to co-sponsor H.R. 4720, the "Amateur Radio Emergency
Communications Consistency Act," sponsored by Rep. Steve Israel. The
bill would alleviate a problem facing many federally licensed Amateur
Radio operators living within development communities who are subject
to unreasonable restrictions or outright prohibitions regarding the
installation of external antennas.
Under current law, the Federal Communications Commission applies a
policy that instructs states and localities that they must reasonably
accommodate Amateur Radio antenna. The policy, however, fails to
address situations affecting private land-use groups. Rep. Israel's
bill would ensure consistent application of these regulations.
This legislation seeks to ensure that Amateur Radio operators are
available for emergency communications in all sections of the country,
regardless of whether they live in a development, such as a retirement
community, or townhouse subdivision. Restrictions against antennas
render Amateur Radio operators unable to utilize their licenses, which
in turn may ultimately hinder their emergency communication role
during times of disaster or national crisis.
As you will remember from previous correspondence, I have spent my
professional career as a communications regulatory engineer and
attorney with the F.C.C. and in private practice, and in the latter
have had hands-on experience representing individuals in their
difficult attempts to secure permission to erect reasonable radio
antennas at their residences in the face of solid and often arbitrary
opposition on the part of private land-use groups. This legislation
will alleviate this inequity to a great extent.
Amateur radio provides a vital public safety communications service to
the public at no cost to taxpayers. I fulfil this obligation an
active volunteer member of the Washington County Amateur Radio
Emergency Services - Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services Team,
providing vital backup of local emergency communications.
I hope that you will join Rep. Israel in co-sponsoring his bill and I
look forward to hearing from you as you consider this important
legislation.
With warmest regards,
Philip M. Kane
6595 SW Elm Avenue
Beaverton, OR
97005 - 4232
|