[TowerTalk] Estimate of guyed tower totals in USA

[knormoyle@comcast.net]

I did some random looking around, because I was curious.

The "list of masts" entry is nice in wikipedia. Has all the big
guyed masts in the US and elsewhere ...When you have >2000'
towers, all the little ones around might not matter in what
you're trying to analyze....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_masts
or maybe better
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_masts

another related funny page, was this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Deletion_policy/Masts
which captured the heated discussion about just how to edit the list
of masts page. A lot of mast fanatics in the world!

I downloaded the FCC antenna structure registration databases, just
because I was curious about how many records there were..
http://wireless.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/wtb-datadump.pl
(find the right link on the right hand side..they're big)

Since the height is included (but not whether
guyed or self supported), you could make a guess that registrations
above a certain height are guyed, and get some guesstimate to 
start with.. The number of registrations seems to be increasing significantly, 
(saw a number from 2001).
I would think someone would have done a histogram of the database.
(as noted, only a subset of towers need registration though)


It is funny thinking about all the rusty tv antennas on guyed 30' masts
I see driving around central california...assuming that counts, they
would seem to dominate by far.

When you step back and think about it, it's hard to think that hams
would be a dominant segment of any analysis (height, number, or maybe
total amount of steel?, or total contribution to the US GNP?, or total bureaucratic
forms filed?)

another odd site found: with sections like "tower site of the week" I suppose
this is for those with a true tower fetish!
archived sites of the week at:
http://www.fybush.com/siteindex.html

for instance, a closeup of the tower on top of the Pru in Boston, brings
back old memories
http://www.fybush.com/sites/2004/site-040709.html

it's guyed! so it's on topic! :)

-kevin
KE6RAD