New FAA regulations require towers under 200′ to be marked

No, they never have. These rules go back to after WW2....planning regulations.
I have my 40 foot mast on legs...it's portable...the local council hate me, but there is nothing they can do.
I've been down this route many times, in various location in the UK.
Also, once a structure has been up for 4 years, it aqquires " legal consent " and cannot be removed.
Bats are highly protected in the UK, a Bat nesting box cannot legally be interfered with, so one of those at the top of a tower really stops their silly games.
I always advise hams to get some kind of tower on legs, unless you want to go through the protocol of trying for planning permission, which is by no means guaranteed.
73 friend ...des

 

Oh My, I hate bats... You want some more? I have about 30 of them living in my attic or so.. I came downstairs because I couldn't sleep the other night and was greeted by one doing laps in my dining room EEEEK, CRAIG! Didn't wake him up... Then the thing disappeared back into the Toy Room... I went in and flipped on the light, Nothing... Little Poopers... We did so much work in the attic with no fear over the winter... Then come spring they were back... Watched them launch from a hole in the eve roof joint from a lousy roofing contractor... We have the wall and ceiling opened up in the toy room as we're moving a bathroom and replumbing the house. Some day we'll be done in here and can finish closing up everything. In the meantime I stapled up a plastic sheet over the route the little thing was using to get down my wall.. Wonder if they'll let me airmail these in a box to the UK to you. Install them in your own belfry... Have a nice night! I never thought about towers and Bats... We've had a bird problem before but not bats. I'm ready for a flame thrower here...

Erika DD

 

Brilliant! Well played. I applaud your moves and beating them at their own game. Having acted attorney pro se on a number of occasions, there were two wins that remain as sweet today as they did then. I prefer not to talk of the losses...heh.

73 and Non Illegitimus Carborundum, Jeff

 

A 40 ft tower on legs? Got any pictures?

 

I always ride a tower as it walks to the Subway Sub Shop.

 

I believe amateur radio could learn a lot through this whole process.

BACKGROUND
Being a Commercial pilot, living in a rural area and using agriculture spraying. I also own many structures above 100 feet high and have been a ham for over 50 years.
My company was also very active in building wind monitoring Towers and saw this effect happening over the last 10 years in various States.

The Aerial Applicators Association took one accident and one lawsuit, which was only 6 million dollars, really not big in today's Society that is suing everybody for everything. I believe that if a pilot hits a structure during low-flying operations it's pilot error, when they're flying under restricted regulations such as Pipeline Patrol or AG operations. Previously the FAA would have always give the pilot a citation. Think about it, if you're driving down the road and there's a detour sign, if you don't follow the detour sign and have a wreck who's at fault???
It doesn't take a very big organization to screw up a lot of other businesses and activities.

They used this to scare many state legislators into already doing this by enacting state legislation. They tryed to use a wide definition obstructures over the last seven or eight years. Which I would call deceptive and trying to include all structures, not just wind towers used for monitoring. To get their agenda through this is a pretty small organization and they have been battling the cellular companies, the Nationwide tower companies, municipalities, utility, oil and gas, Construction, even Bridges and railroads, and of course the American Radio Relay League.
It should show all amateur radio operators how easy it is for some ad-hoc group to get into our business.
They still is some really misleading language as "Farmhome sites" they don't give any exact definition of how far away you can have structures from a Farm or Homesite. I've already seen in some areas on the outskirts or in of many major cities and the states are enforcing the regulations for any structure over 50 ft along with the municipalities and counties. They're buying into this as a general regulation for everybody and not being challenged.
As a Voluntary Consulting Engineer and a Technical Consultant for the ARRL, I hear about numerous cases, this is going on even in my Backdoor near Wichita Kansas. They were able to stop the construction of an 80-foot monopoles and they use these regulations along with other things to stop it.
If we didn't have the ARRL this would have been basically a blanket order on any structures anywhere. The FCC didn't go to bed for commercial Tower owners licensees are amateur radio operators.
Some of us have been battling this for years it's not new news.

What has to be done now is some definitive definitions or they'll try to generalize it in general zoning and enforcement activities.
Just look at the threads in this posting and see how confused everybody is and the misconceptions that have developed, think about non amateur radio operators and their concept in applying the general information in these proceed regulations.

 

Obviously there's some speech to text typos above, sorry for that!!!!! But I think you get the message.

 

Good afternoon Steven. As the only person here WHO HAS had an antenna snagged.... We were feeling very exposed when that guy hit our antenna support. The farmer was just a slug but its EZ to threaten somebody else with a lawsuit, and or stir somebody else up to. Go After the Insurance and try and make a profit. When all he did was hire the AG Applicator. In our area there was a LOT of people related to the farmer in his mid 20's and he had an inkling for some revenge.

We'd bought the farm in the first place from the bank, and he was the Farmer the bank had gotten to live on site and farm the land... It became our duty to give the guy notice we were moving in !

The slug at the bank... The President at that time was later fired over the whole transaction, complete incomp and got the bank's board really looking at his track record... < ZERO The owner of the Charter Company I was flying for at the time asked me the guys name and low and behold the banker had been our Company's BANKER before he was shown the door and found himself president of a bank in a town so small Madge sent her grand kids out to everybody's house to tell them when they had a phone call downtown... ONE PHONE. Well...

You have quite the power base where you're at. We were only 4 years married, no kids at that time. Really bought a pig in a poke and every time we turned around money was flying out the doors, windows, and chimneys. Then along comes a Farmer and AG pilot whom pretty much ruined our DAY, WEEK, MONTH, and year, seriously stirred the pot and created some severe pucker factor...

Things didn't smooth out until we DIALED 1-800 - We know lawyers too.... fortunately I had family living nearby... No financial assistance but Daddy's lawyer became the Governor of South Dakota. That is before he rolled upside down and slammed into a SILO in the state's MU2 with all the movers and shakers from Podunk, SD.

Sure we don't need to register most ham towers... and hopefully those exemptions hold up when the NTSB is busy picking up airplane parts and the EPA is sniffing around talking about declaring your back 40 their next Superfund site.

Neighbors and legal eagles who grow tired of chasing ambulances are always looking for the next cash cow to chop open. I cannot afford even a "free consultation" with a decent lawyer, let alone fend off "Lenny the Suit" a potential lawyer looking to go mad dog on us for creating a hazard for snagging somebody's tail wheel.

Say I looked at a few things... Like your airport which you have listed as PUBLIC USE... That is very cool and everything, but also means it needs special insurance, AND what happens when an out of towner does a carrier landing using his tail wheel on a RHOMBOID WIRE. Then What? I know you roll out Bob Kardashian's ghost and all his buddies. Seriously there's a lot of hams in the USA that have next to 200' towers. There's a bunch who exceed 200' also out there... I hope everybody can afford a lawsuit... Because we do live in a Lawsuit Happy World.

Does signing up with the FAA on towers give anybody a layer of protection legally? I do know if you have Insurance coverage some mouthpiece is going to try and take it away from you... Then you'll be without insurance, without antennas, without $$$, and SOL without attorneys... I'm just trying to make a funny, but really my husband makes jokes every time a Meso commercial comes on the TV and Asks me if I use talcum powder and do I have anything weird going on yet. That's just in our house, what is everybody else out there doing tonight? Even if it is just to make a funny.

Hey have a nice afternoon. All that said, I do agree with you...

Erika DD

 

You're right on,,, I definitely have insurance and my towers and everything are marked, my 195 footer is registered as an antenna tower structure by the FCC.
It's painted and has lights, I do have a airport Beacon Light on top of it.

I carry a 20 million-dollar umbrella policy because of my other businesses and I'm sure if someone crashes, they'll try to sue me for all of it LOL.
Since I have a public airport the State of Kansas Department of Transportation is the representative for the FAA here and they come out and do annual inspections and update any information on the airport diagram.

My situation here is that they have failed to list the tall utility poles that I have had up for a number of years. So those will have to be reported, they have nighttime strobes and orange markings on them them currently. I will be adding a bunch of red balls on wires.

I'm only going to get worried if somebody puts their taildragger in my swimming pool, LOL
Also I have a very close friend who's 91 years old now and lives on the border in Southern Arizona and he had a 200-foot tower snagged a few years ago by a Customs and Border Patrol helicopter

 

Dave thanks for the link.
I am in the process of installing an A3S beam on my tiny one acre lot and this issue had become concerning to me.
I read the article and was much better informed.

73

 

I doubt registration provides any real legal protection, but I would think that NOT registering would be a gift to plaintiff’s counsel who would argue to the jury that you were negligent and at fault for not registering it...while the widow(er) of the pilot sobs in the courtroom. Not a pretty picture.

 

Any pilot flying an aircraft 50 feet through a residential area and strikes a tower, I'd say that is pilot error!

 

Love how this thread as awakened the sleeping mental giants of Hamdom to come and grace us with their minds eye

 

Love how this thread has really grown into a thing of beauty

 

I'm surrounded by trees taller than my antennas.... so PFFFT!