[TowerTalk] Crank Up towers

Tue Dec 27 01:00:53 EST 2005

Hi Steve,
Glad to see your sense of humor has not been blunted by age!

I gave up worrying too much about all these senselessly intrusive regulatory
items that unduly annoy Hams in order to give power and prestige to
bureaucrats and a hobby to silly and ignorant neighbors.  I put up a 45ft
Rohn 25 on the side of my house and then shortly afterward, a 45ft Alumna
crankup in the back.
When the town inspector sent me a note about the first tower back in 1990
(actually December 26th!), I responded with the engineering information
under a cover letter from my lawyer.
Never heard from them again!  
In fact, I have done lots of work around here with appropriate permits (an
addition, deck, steps, hot tub, electrical replacement, HVAC, etc.) and
gotten compliments on the quality of the work whether it was done by me or a
contractor.

BTW: my lot is 40 x 100 :-)

73,
J. Gordon Beattie, Jr., W2TTT, ex-N2DSY, ex-WB2CAM
201.314.6964
w2ttt at arrl.net
w2ttt at att.net
w2ttt at att.com

-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Steve Katz
Sent: Thursday, 22 December, 2005 18:54
To: 'Kelly Johnson'; towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Crank Up towers

Might be able to hit them with the old, "But tomorrow my tower will be
extended again, and you'll still be ugly."

That usually wins 'em over.

-WB2WIK/6

-----Original Message-----
From: Kelly Johnson [mailto:n6kj.kelly at gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2005 3:48 PM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Crank Up towers

Lot's of cities require crankups for any tower over, let's say, 35 feet or
whatever.  They do this because *think* it is less visible.  The truth of
the matter is, as you say, that a retracted crankup is more visible and less
aesthetically pleasing for the owner and the nearby neighbors next door but
is less visible a few houses away.  I guess the cities would rather screw
the next door neighbors to avoid having complaints from the whole block.

It also depends on tree coverage.  A retracted crankup is less visible if
there is sufficient tree cover when it is retracted.  Unfortunately, this is
not the case in most suburban cities.

On 12/22/05, J. Edward (Ed) Muns <w0yk at msn.com> wrote:
>
> One comment that I hear consistently from owners of crank-up towers is
> that
> their spouses and neighbors find them much more objectionable when the
> tower
> is nested with the antennas closest to the ground.  Everything looks much
> larger and is more in one's view, compared to being fully extended and
> more
> out-of-sight.
>
> 73,
> Ed - W0YK
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
> > [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Kelly Johnson
> > Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2005 3:05 PM
> > To: Rick Tavan N6XI
> > Cc: towertalk at contesting.com
> > Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Crank Up towers
> >
> >
> > I'm looking at putting in a tower and I've been leaning toward the
> crankup
> > for exactly the same reason: neighbor appeasement.  I'm sure my wife
> would
> > probably like it a bit more too, but she's supportive of my
> > "hobby" so she'd
> > be ok with something else.
> >
> > Why do you now think a crankup isn't necessary for "neighbor
> appeasement"?
> >
> > Would your opinion change if your tower was located at home in suburbia
> as
> > opposed to your 2nd home in the mountains where it is probably
> > less visible?
> >
> >
> >
> > On 12/22/05, Rick Tavan N6XI <rtavan at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > As a crankup owner and K7LXC customer, I agree with most of
> > your comments,
> > > Steve.
> > >
> > > I wouldn't characterize UST customer support as "good." A better
> > > description
> > > might be "reluctantly effective." I have had to argue with them
> several
> > > times to get support but they have always capitulated and done the
> right
> > > thing. I still can't get the damn control box to work
> > consistently but at
> > > least they explained how to open it up and override the flakey
> lockouts
> > > which fail temporarily at random intervals. This $10,000 monster works
> > > correctly about half the time.
> > >
> > > I bought the crankup solely for neighbor appeasement. Now that I know
> my
> > > wonderful neighbors even better than three years ago, if the
> > crankup ever
> > > gets destroyed I'll probably replace it with the guyed tower I really
> > > wanted
> > > all along.
> > >
> > > 73,
> > >
> > > /Rick N6XI
> > >
> > > On 12/22/05, K7LXC at aol.com <K7LXC at aol.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > In a message dated 12/17/2005 9:03:36 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
> > > > towertalk-request at contesting.com writes:
> > > >
> > > > >  Can I get some feed back from you guys on experience  with
> > > > Crank Up towers?
> > > >
> > > > ...
> > > >     Pros - I can't think of any.
> > > > ...
> > > >
> > > >     US Tower is the 800 pound gorilla. They make a  good product and
> > > offer
> > > > good customer support. There is an aluminum crank-up  out
> > there but it's
> > > > even
> > > > more expensive and is very fragile compared to a steel  tower.
> Tri-Ex
> > > > crank-ups
> > > > are being sold but I don't have anything good to say  about their
> > > customer
> > > > service.
> > > > ...
> > > >     Of course there are spouses that would prefer a  crank-up
> > and other
> > > > aesthetic reasons for buying one but the only reason I've
> > ever heard of
> > > > that truly
> > > > justifies one is N6RJ who convinced his neighbors it  would only be
> > > > extended
> > > > after dark.
> > > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > >
> > > 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 at 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 at 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 at 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 at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk