[TowerTalk] Sacramento CA ?

[Jim Lux]

At 11:10 PM 7/22/2004 +0000, Jim Jarvis wrote:

>OK, gang....
>
>I just booked a new gig, requiring that we move to
>Sacramento County CA.   Anyone onboard who can comment
>on the antenna/zoning issues in the 5 municipalities in
>the county?
>
>How are things further toward Tahoe?  Other direction...
>nearer SF?
>
>Just about to begin a regional housing search, and would like
>to get my yagi up.  Last I heard, there were no trees in the
>desert....so wires won't work.
>
>N2EA
>
>jimjarvis at ieee.org


How far up towards Tahoe?  My in-laws live in Nevada County, which is by 
and large quite rural and things are moderately unrestricted, but changing 
rapidly, as people move to the foothills from the Bay Area.

 From a CC&R standpoint, the newer areas on the outskirts of Sacramento 
might be worse than actually in the city, because the development activity 
is newer and more regulated.

Rick Karlquist has a very nice 7 element phased array on some acreage in 
Galt, roughly half way between Sacramento and Stockton (which are 45 miles 
apart).

Sacramento is, as you are no doubt aware, on a huge flat floodplain 
(flatter than Kansas) with a fairly high water table (and topsoil that 
extends dozens of feet down).  You have to go 10-20 miles east to start 
hitting the foothills, and probably 50 miles west to get into the coast 
ranges.  You can go 100 miles north or south without changing elevation 
more than 10-20 feet.

If you are really unconstrained in your location, and you want to choose 
for optimum radio, you might consider the San Joaquin delta area... pretty 
darn close to the "antenna over a salt water marsh" kind of situation...

However, I suspect that your choice of living areas may be more determined 
by driving and commuting time.   Check into this very carefully.  The area 
has expanded (population wise) a lot in the last 10 years, and the road 
capacity has not kept up.