[TowerTalk] Tall towers & ERP

[Michael Keane K1MK]

At 01:59 AM 12/11/06, you wrote:

>This thread seems to be setting in early, this year.  Usually it's
>much closer to Dayton time.  heh.

Well, at least the current round is event driven, not the annual 
reappearance of a yet another TowerTalk urban legend.

The FCC does have an NPRM that is open for public comment at present.

>To which I will append....how is it that nobody addresses the multi-megawatt
>ERP's at SHF frequencies?  It's well known that there are regular bird
>deaths from exposure to TV emissions on the Empire State 
>Building.  Or, at least
>there used to be, the summer I was a transmitter tech.

Gee, there's broadcast TV at SHF? ;-)

Tall, lighted buildings are "well know" to kill migrating birds all 
by themselves, TV transmitters not required. And tall buildings are 
also up there on the environmentalist's agenda. 
http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Environment/BirdMigration/sub/lights_out_chicago.html>

But there are many more buildings than towers, with much more 
invested in then, and they aren't all regulated by a single federal 
agency. Towers are the easier target even if they kill fewer birds.

>I must say that Bob's indication that the estimated losses are 40-50Million
>annually, makes more sense, as compared with the reported NFWS 4-50M.  The
>latter must be a typo.

Nope, not a typo. To quote the NPRM:

"The agency [FWS] estimates that collisions with communications 
towers are responsible for at least 4 to 5 million bird deaths per 
year, and that if a proper cumulative impact study were conducted it 
might indicate the number to be closer to 50 million per year."

>On the other hand, I think there's a lot of extrapolation going on.

Oh yeah.... a whole lot

>I repeat my personal observation, echoed by cell phone techs who are
>hams:  I have not seen piles of birds around cell sites.

Typically, cell towers are "short" towers, unlit and without guys.

It's the multi-hundred foot, illuminated and guyed towers that are 
being accused by the FWS and others of killing all those birds.

73,
Mike K1MK

Michael Keane K1MK
k1mk at alum.mit.edu