[TowerTalk] Tower/mast/antenna height -- a clarification

[Lou Laderman]

The ordinance says that "This article shall not govern any tower, or the
installation of any antenna:
(i)     That is under seventy (70) feet in height; and (ii) Is owned and
operated by a federally-licensed amateur radio Station..."

I don't read it that nothing may be over 70', rather, that the ordinance
"shall not govern" or address any amateur radio structure under 70'.  I
do not have the rest of the ordinance to look at so I'm not certain what
the rest of the ordinance provides, but I do not see a 70' limitation.
Perhaps this is the "reasonable accommodation": anything under 70' is by
ordinance OK, anything over requires compliance with the ordinance.

And I am a lawyer, formerly an ARRL VC and a former city attorney, but
no longer in private practice.  

Lou, KB0CJ

-----Original Message-----
From: Alan AB2OS [mailto:ab2os at att.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 11:21 PM
To: towertalk reflector
Cc: smeuse at mara.org; jimjarvis at ieee.org
Subject: [TowerTalk] Tower/mast/antenna height -- a clarification


The wording in my original message was my own. The relevant section of 
the ordinance is:

"Sec. 3A.04 Applicability.
A.     New towers and antennas. All new towers and new antennas in the 
township shall be subject to this article, except as otherwise provided 
in this section.
B.     Amateur radio station operators/receive only antennas; television

antennas. This article shall not govern any tower, or the installation 
of any antenna:
(i)     That is under seventy (70) feet in height; and
(ii)     Is owned and operated by a federally-licensed amateur radio 
station or is used exclusively for receive only antennas for voice or 
television reception."

I take this to mean that no part of the installation may be more than 
70' above grade.

Alan AB2OS


On 07/21/04 11:48 pm Jim Jarvis put fingers to keyboard and launched the

following message into cyberspace:

> I obviously missed the central point of this post,
> and responded to mast vs. tower cost/weight discussion.
> 
> There MAY be a subtlety in the ordinance language, regarding 'antenna 
> support' or 'tower' as distinct from antenna.  This may give you 
> wiggle room.  Worth careful investigation.
> 
> As a practical matter, I'd suggest putting up the 70 foot tower, with 
> the steppIR on it.  You can EITHER let it grow a bit, for 2m yagi 
> spacing, or co-locate the 2m yagi on the steppir boom.... or not much 
> above it.  You don't need 10' spacing.  You DO need to get the yagi 
> 20m above ground, for it to be effective for long distance work on 
> 20m.
> 
> Again, practically speaking, if you're an experimenter, the zoning 
> folks don't want to regulate "antennas"...merely the support 
> structure.  What goes on top is both irrelevant, and may change with 
> some frequency.  If you have decent relations with the professional 
> staff, (city planner, zoning administrator) they may be able to give 
> you useful guidance here.