[TowerTalk] Best choices for 27' height limit.

[Tom Anderson]

Dick:

Years ago when my XYL Cheryl (WY5H) and I lived in another town between 
Dallas and Fort Worth, I wrote the mayor and asked if the city has any 
heighth limits on hams towers before I put up anything and he wrote me 
back and said no, so I put up 40 ft. of Rohn 25.  A few years later 
another ham put up an HDBX 48 that his neighbors didn't like and started 
complaing to the city council, etc.  Ended up being a bunch of hams and 
neighbors at the council meetings.  The mayor made a public statement 
that the city has ALWAYS had a 30 ft. heighth limit on any tower in the 
city.  When the public comment section of the meeting opened I stood up 
and gave him a copy of the letter he wrote me about no limits and asked 
was he mistaken or did the city not have any limits?  He stammered and 
studdered and basically ignored me.  Of course the news media wanted my 
letter and I gladly gave them a copy (it was on a city letterhead "from 
the Office of the Mayor").

The city thought they had the hams, but then they had to go back and 
draft a new ordinance, hold public hearings on it, etc.  Thank goodness 
I didn't throw that letter away.  We ended up with a 50 ft. limit which 
with all the residential lot setback requirements, etc. would have been 
the max anyone could have put up anyway.  Besides no one had anything 
higher anyway other than one ham who had a 60 ft. tower.  That ham is 
now on the city council there.

We also reminded the city about who would operated their 2m and 440 gear 
during weather and other emergencies in their EOC. if they got the ham 
community too mad.  The em. management director (also the fire marshal) 
stood up and said he would work both radios, even though he didn't have 
a license.  Another ham who was a lawyer and ARRL volunteer counsel  
reminded him not to unless he wanted to risk a fine from the FCC.  He 
finally got a tech license.

Tom, WW5L





W3OA wrote:

>Jesus - 
>
>
>I agree with Pete - Don't quit. 
>
>On my first call to the zoning office I was told there was a 40 foot 
>limit.  Then I bought a copy of the zoning ordinance and studied it.  It 
>looked to me like ham towers were exempt from the limit.  Then I went in 
>and talked to the head of the planning office. He agreed with me. Lesson 
>learned: Sometimes the people who answer the phone just give you a 
>"safe" answer if they don't know the real answer.
>
>Just finished installation of my stack yesterday.  A C-4E at 70 feet and 
>a C-3E at 40 feet all mounted on a Heights fold over tower and connected 
>with a Comtek Systems Stack-2 stack switch. I'm a happy ham.
>
>Good luck with your system.
>
>Dick - W3OA
>
>  
>
>>Message: 2
>>Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2005 11:18:31 -0400
>>From: Pete Smith <n4zr at contesting.com>
>>Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Best choices for 27' height limit.
>>	Suggestions please?
>>To: "Jesus Castro II" <kc6pmt at hotmail.com>
>>Cc: towertalk at contesting.com
>>Message-ID: <6.2.0.14.2.20050915111436.02152a10 at mail.adelphia.net>
>>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>>
>>First of all, don't quit.  That height limit is quite possibly impermissible under PRB-1.  I would check with ARRL for a Volunteer Counsel near you and talk with him or her.  The hamlaw reflector (ham-law at altlaw.com, subscribe by sending mail to listserver at altlaw.com, with subscribe ham-law in the body of the message) is your best site for discussion of such issues.  K1VR's excellent book, published by ARRL, is another good source.
>>
>>73, Pete N4ZR
>>
>>At 07:11 PM 9/14/2005, you wrote:
>> 
>>
>>    
>>
>>>My dreams were crushed when I called the City Planning Office where Im going to build a station and the man said the height limit was 27'. The future site is a typical city lot.  It looks like I can no longer put up a stack of C3's and a 2 el 40m.
>>>
>>>I would like your thoughts on my best options to build the best station for 10-160 that's possible under these devistating peramiters.
>>>
>>>Thanks all
>>>
>>>Jesus - KC6PMT
>>>
>>>_________________________________________________________________
>>>
>>>   
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>> 
>>
>>    
>>
>
>_______________________________________________
>
>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
>
>
>  
>