[TowerTalk] FCC Chaurman needs to be a ham

[K8RI on Tower Talk]

If I'm going to install a tower, I really don't have to know anything about 
the engineering of a tower.
It helps, but it's not necessary.
I do have to know who does know, or how to find who knows.
I need to know where to find the information for guying and concrete, or who 
to ask.
It helps if I already know, but again it's not necessary.

I do need to know it's highly advisable to talk to my zoning board if my 
township (location) has one.
They will tell me if any zoning applys to my proposed installation.
They will tell me if I need a permit.

There are only two regulations here.  "Set back" limitations for safety. 
Don't bother even trying to get past this one even if you have a small lot. 
Set back is safety and no other regulations over ride safety.  The second is 
any thing over 80 feet requires a permit and must be properly engineered. 
80 feet and under doesn't even receive a building permit. It doesn't even 
matter if is sets in 80 yards of concrete, here it won't get a permit.  How 
high should I put each antenna and how far apart?  I ask or look it up, but 
I dont have to know it.  I am required to know about RF safety regulations. 
Even then all I have to know is how to plug in the numbers to an on-line 
calculator.  I do not have to do the actual calculations or even any 
precision measurements.

Yes, it would also be in my best interests to talk with my insurrance agent 
as to what they'd like to see.  The question often arises as to whether the 
tower should be attached to the house or not. In my case it's not attached 
and I can insure it as an additional structure for an additional charge. 
Most companies will insure it for 10% if attached just like any other 
attached structure for no additional charge.  I have a small home and a big 
tower.  I'm far better off with it as a  seperate structure.

OK... In another life I worked my way up to project manager.
Again, It *helped* that I knew the work flows and my degree is in computer 
science, BUT I was paid to know who to get to do each phase of the projects. 
I was paid to know who to get to do the FDA validation. This is not the 
validation most engineers think of.  The higher I moved up the ladder the 
more I was managing people and the less I used my own knowledge of the 
subjects.  That I knew the subjects and work flows helped me evaluate what 
the engineers, techs, and consultants told me though.  They had a much more 
difficult time with the old, "If you can't dazzle them with briliance, 
baffle them with BS" as I could tell what shown and what smelled.

IOW I was paid to know who knew each phase of the project and how to get it 
done.  If I neede to know how some particular lab test was done I either 
knew who to ask, or how to find who to ask.  I did very little hands on work 
with the projects.  Managing them I had no time for the actual "people 
work".    I had to manage the peole who knew where to get the information 
and those who did the work.

There is no way a manager can know every phase of an operation, unless it is 
a small operation, or one that produces few and similar products.  Even 
conputer science has become such a large field we all specialize in some 
phase, or aspect.

The same is true in communications and in government.
Yes it would be nice to have some one as chairman who is knowledgeable and 
in favor of amateur radio, or one who understands the physics of how this 
stuff works, but as long as he, or she has no  personal agenda  they should 
be able to rely on the knowledge of others.

OTOH we should always be on the watch for some one setting the stage for 
their own advancement at the expense of amateur radio once they leave the 
position.

Roger Halstead (K8RI, EN73 & ARRL Life Member)
N833R, World's Oldest Debonair (S# CD-2)
www.rogerhalstead.com