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Re: [TowerTalk] Chicago Tribune news: Ham radio tower has the OKsignal

To: <kelly@thejohnsons.ws>, "Jim Lux" <jimlux@earthlink.net>,<k8do@mailblocks.com>, <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Chicago Tribune news: Ham radio tower has the OKsignal
From: "Michael Tope" <W4EF@dellroy.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 19:33:00 -0700
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
If your hobbies don't include outdoor things like ham radio, living
in an HOA controlled community is probably not a big
encumberence. If your passions are listening to music (well not
loud anyway), computers, the theather, movies, sports, reading,
travel, etc, etc then  living in an HOA probably won't cramp your
lifestyle much if at all. People with those sorts of interests, I
suspect are a pretty large demographic. If the majority of people
were ham radio HF operators, then HOA's with antenna restrictions
wouldn't be as prevelant.

Personally, I prefer the junk cars on cement blocks set, but that
is the way I grew up. Most of my friends lived on farms and had
their own mini junk yards. When your neighbors can't see your
house, they really don't care too much what color it is or what
kind of wreath is on the door. Heck my best friend in high school
had his own junk yard, garbage dump (which doubled as a
gun range), and pond stocked with bass, catfish, and northern
pike. His house was probably 500' off the gravel township road
and at least another 1/4 mile from the nearest paved road. Now
my neighbors house is 12 feet away from mine. Back then
I had the freedom to put up antennas, but no money to pay
for them. Now I have the money, but no freedom :):)

73 de Mike, W4EF/6...........................................


----- Original Message -----
From: <kelly@thejohnsons.ws>
To: "Jim Lux" <jimlux@earthlink.net>; <k8do@mailblocks.com>;
<towertalk@contesting.com>
Cc: <k8do@mailblocks.com>
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 1:10 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Chicago Tribune news: Ham radio tower has the
OKsignal


> Hams deserve to be protected, not because of their emergency
communications, but
> because our neighbors should not be able to tell us what to do with our
property
> except for health and safety issues.  They should be allowed to require
"reasonable"
> safety standards, but prohibiting towers...no.  If this is allowed, why
not allow my
> neighbor to dictate what color paint I can use, what type of architecture
I can use,
> what color draperies, etc.  It sounds like a planned development.  There
are lots
> of people that willingly move into planned developments with all of their
ridiculous
> rules.  Leave the rest to those of us that prefer freedom to neighborhood
control!!!
> If my neighbor wants to live in a cookie cutter neighborhood and wants to
dictate
> every aspect of his neighbors existence, then there are numerous planned
developments
> in which he can do so.  In fact, in this area it's nearly impossible to
find
> a home built in the last 30 years that doesn't have an anti-antenna CC&R
and/or
> an HOA.  For every "free" neighborhood, there are probably half a dozen
> HOA controlled neighborhoods.  Trust me, people like that have a lot more
places
> (and nicer ones in most cases) to choose from.  Leave my neighborhood to
> those that prefer "personal property rights" to HOA control!!!!
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Lux" <jimlux@earthlink.net>
> Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 07:49:30 -0700
> To: <k8do@mailblocks.com>, <towertalk@contesting.com>
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Chicago Tribune news: Ham radio tower has the
OKsignal
>
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "dennis o'connor" <k8do@mailblocks.com>
> > To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
> > Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 6:09 AM
> > Subject: [TowerTalk] Chicago Tribune news: Ham radio tower has the
OKsignal
> >
> >
> > > Jim Lux: Certainly you make valid points about not hanging our hat on
> > > just one hook - emergency services - when we do many other things...
> > > But, your premise that state and local emergency communications are
> > > eclipsing ham efforts does not hold for major disasters, such as the
> > > recent hurricane devastated areas in the south... For days VHF and HF
> > > ham stations were/are the back bone of emergency communications in
> > > those areas...
> >
> > Today... but in 20 years?  Disasters such as these, particularly in
modern
> > times when people have gotten used to having portable comm in the form
of
> > cellphones, point up the need for better official comm channels.
> >
> > Certainly, adhoc amateur comm will always be there, but justifying a
tower
> > on that basis?
> >
> > >
> > > Another arena where ham radio is the only dependable link is maritime
> > > mobile... Recent attacks by a  pirate boat (same boat description each
> > > time)  upon private boats in the area south east of the Panama Canal
> > > depended upon the Maritime Mobile Service Net for reporting and
> > > disseminating the information to the boating community, which was done
> > > in minutes, not the weeks to months that the formal governmental
> > > services would take for such information to slowly grind it's way from
> > > desk to desk, so that each bureaucrat could add his signature and get
> > > his portion of the public credit...
> >
> > >
> > > Another arena where we did good was the shuttle disaster, where
> > > recovery teams had to depend upon ham repeaters out in the boonies and
> > > down in the canyons, for communication...
> >
> > A need that has been recognized, and for which official comm designers
are
> > working on remedies (which will, in the usual fashion take forever).
Hams
> > serve as a pathfinder and (free) demonstration of usefulness, just as
for
> > other advances in communications.
> > Perhaps this is better as a demonstration of the "Advance of the radio
art"?
> >
> > And, of course, I doubt any of those shuttle recovery comms were on HF
with
> > tall towers?  We're back to the quid pro quo reason for allowing towers,
and
> > that's a slippery foundation to rest on.
> >
> > >
> > > Local emergency communication networks do function when we have minor
> > > problems, snow storm, single river flooding, forest fire, etc., but
> > > when the utility poles are tossed around like match sticks, the roads
> > > impassable, bridges over on their side, houses collapsed, High tension
> > > lines on the ground, municipal water plants dark and silent, sewage
> > > treatment plants flooded, Ma Bell silent, and the brown stuff has hit
> > > the fan, even in the 21st century Joe Ham with a portable radio is
> > > still the first responder... Don't sell it short...
> >
> > This, to me, says that rather than agitating for special treatment for a
> > minority (us), we should be agitating for better comms for the masses
(i.e.
> > public service).
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> > 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
>



_______________________________________________

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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