[TowerTalk] Do you tell them?

[Tom Anderson]

Alan, Jeff, et.al.:

When I put up mu first tower -- 40 ft. ft of Rohn 25 --  my neighbors 
already knew I was a ham because I had had a vertical and an invertted 
vee on the chimney at one time or another.

For a while all I had was the tower and the Ham IV in the top section 
up,  several neighbors commented how nice the "bell tower" I was putting 
up looked (honest) and how the "music" would add to the neighborhood. 
This is a true story and I could hardly keep a straight face when they 
were telling me this.

Tom, WW5L

.



Jeff Chambers wrote:
> Hi Alan,
> 
> About two years ago I was in a very similar situation. Just bought a new 
> house with no CC&R's about antennas, and a City that was indifferent 
> about non-commercial towers. I didn't know any of my neighbors at the 
> time and had the same thoughts as you are having now.
> 
> I decided to pay the $22 for a building permit after the suggestions 
> that if I have the unfortunate experience of making an claim with my 
> insurance company if some loss occurred because of the tower. I can't 
> imagine it falling down, but it has happened to others.
> 
> If you don't go the route of a building permit, I would strongly suggest 
> that you document that your installation complies with the 'Prime 
> Directive', just in case.
> 
> I didn't tell any of my neighbors before I put it up (Tri-Ex W-51), save 
> the one that helped me move the tower from my driveway to the back yard. 
> Afterwards, the comments were, "Wow! I bet you get ALL the T.V. 
> stations..", "I don't think that it's ugly or obnoxious...", and "Hey! 
> Have you ever seen the movie 'Contact'? Could you do that with that?"
> 
> 73,
> Jeff  KK7MQ
> 
> PS... I'm sure that the fact that I park a police car in front of the 
> house doesn't have any influence on what the neighbors say about it (to 
> me)... But I guess it might :)