[TowerTalk] Potential New FCC Tower Construction Threat

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

Not this crap again!  Time to write not only the FCC denouncing 
the "bird kill" stuff as a hoax (which it is) but write you Congress 
critter and point out that birds are regularly killed from flying 
into patio doors and other large areas of glass.  

It's time that F&WS had their wings clipped - do they want to ban 
windows in homes and businesses, too? 

73, 

   ... Joe, W4TV 
 


> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com 
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Eric Hilding
> Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2006 12:00 PM
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Potential New FCC Tower Construction Threat
> 
> 
> As if BPL and CC&R's aren't bad enough, it appears we may 
> have a new potential tower construction threat issue to deal 
> with in the future.
> 
> I'm passing along some info that I just read in a newsletter 
> from my Attorney in Washington.  It appears to pertain to 
> commercial tower installations, but you know the drill...give 
> the environmentalists an inch and they'll take a mile. Most 
> Enviro-Nazis do NOT distinguish between amateur & commercial 
> towers...they hate 'em all.  Hopefully the ARRL is on top of 
> this, because even a remote possibility that future tower 
> constructions might all require costly Environmental 
> Assessments if the FCC adopts policy changes requested by the 
> US Fish & Wildlife Service could be bad news for us.  In 
> abundance of caution, we might want to all file Comments on 
> behalf of Amateur Radio in the Proposed Rulemaking in Docket 
> 03-187 before the January 22 deadline.
> 
> The USFWS is estimating between 4 and 50 million bird 
> collisions with communications towers each year.  This was a 
> MAJOR issue for Mike, K9AJ and myself in negotiating our IOTA 
> NA-178 trip with USFWS last Spring.  We had to take down our 
> small Sigma 5 vertical dipole on the Island at sunset due to 
> concerns over bird collisions with the teenie weenie 
> horizontal T-bars.  Only the slender "Farallon Special" 
> (Super-charged mobile screwdriver antenna with extension 
> shafts & whips) was allowed up during the night and 
> installation was restricted to the adjacent shaddow area of 
> the tiny Carpenter Shop we operated from on the Island.  We 
> could have no "horizontal" antenna components of any size in 
> the air at night & no guy wires.  And you think you have CC&R 
> problems???
> 
> In January I will have been a licensed ham for 50 years.  I 
> have never had any bird collision situtations myself, nor 
> heard of any occuring with any other ham operator I've spoken 
> with on this subject.
> 
> Many City and County Building/Planning Departments have 
> already been known to cause grief to ham operators seeking 
> permits.  The last thing any of us need is to see a costly 
> environmental assessment requirement added to the 
> mix...anywhere in the U.S.
> 
> IMHO, we need to formally distance ourselves from commercial 
> tower installations in this Proposed Rulemaking.  It might be 
> prudent to contact your Senator/Congressperson folks as well.
> 
> FYI & 73.
> 
> Rick, K6VVA
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