[TowerTalk] Tower regulations for home brew towers in the US?

Jim Cassidy jc_ki7y at q.com
Sat Feb 22 11:34:18 EST 2014


There have been at least 2 times in the Portland,Oregon area where permits were held up by a request from the authorities requiring inspection of the welding at the factories manufacturing the commercially made towers.  The 2 companies involved were Rohn and US Tower.  with some legal help the requirement was dropped.  
I am sure it would have been a real problem to try to permit a tower not from a recognized manufacturer.

KI7Y 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Markku Oksanen" <markku.a.oksanen at kolumbus.fi>
To: "Roger (K8RI) on TT" <k8ri-on-towertalk at tm.net>, towertalk at contesting.com
Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2014 4:26:20 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower regulations for home brew towers in the US?

ALL
I would conclude that firstA) Rural areas on a large piece of property the county might not interfere much, perhaps a building permit but nothing elseB) Closer to civilization things get progressively harder with regulations, neighbors etc.  County might just not give you any permit at all.C) It may be best to ask the county offices before relocating with a bunch of aluminium
Liability is an other question:  If you have your home made towers A) Is it a good idea to put a fence around the whole thing, guy wires and all, and put warning signs so that everybody would know that there is perhaps ice aboveB) Is it necessary to prevent anybody from climbing a tower with those anti climbing boards on the bottom of the tower or is high fencing enough?C) How about verticals with high RF voltage? Fence around or what?
Insurance:  Can you insure your tower against forces or nature?  
Thanks!
Markku

> Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 17:54:01 -0500
> From: K8RI-on-TowerTalk at tm.net
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower regulations for home brew towers in the US?
> 
> On 2/21/2014 5:24 AM, Markku Oksanen wrote:
> > All
> > Just because I am curious:
> > Here at OH-land even large towers can be home brew just like my 160 and 145 foot rotating towers.These have been made by a private small company that made perhaps 200 towers through the years.Building permit and zoning never questioned the "engineering" of the towers as the responsibility in the end rests with the owner.In addition, home owner insurance happily includes towers and covers damage without question.
> 
> As others have said, there is no national standard "except" above 200 
> feet it requires FAA permission and lighting. There are also height 
> limitations based on being close to an airport.
> 
> I live just to the West of Midland MI in Homer Township.  They have no 
> limitations on ham towers "except" for "set back"  IOW, if the tower 
> falls it must fall on your property.  That is tower only. I had 30' of 
> mast with a large array on it above the tower..
> http://www.rogerhalstead.com/ham_files/Tower29.htm
> The top of the tower just met the "set back".  They did not care what 
> was on the top. I needed the height for exposure limits.  As I'm right 
> on the centerline for the GPS 06 approach for Midland Barstow Airport 
> (KIKW) the FAA  rules apply, but I'm a tad over 4 miles out and just 
> inside the final approach fix (FAF). Sooo... I can go to about 190 feet. 
> On my one square acre lot that would be impractical.
> 
> When they were rezoning, I maintained close contact with the committee 
> with the result that they exempted regulations on Ham towers because of 
> FAA and FCC regs were deemed sufficient. So here I can build my own 
> tower, be it guyed, self supporting, or crank up/tilt over.
> 
> 73
> 
> Roger (K8RI)
> 
> > How is the situation in the US?  Looks like most towers are commercial (Rohn, couple others) and it seems that a "professional engineer" (correct??) needs to look at the mechanics of the whole thing in order to get a permit to put up a tower.
> > So, how, if at all, is it possible to build your own large towers?  Does anybody do this?
> > The towers I have are 1.5 feet a side with 2 inch tubes, inverted U (0.7 inch) "cross bars".  Only guyed at two levels and full of aluminium, 8000 lb steel guy wires and ball bearing guy rings.  And they have survived some crazy storm too in the past 15 years.
> > MarkkuOH2RA/OG2A/WW1C 		 	   		
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> >
> >
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-- 
Jim Cassidy   

KI7Y


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