Ken hasn't lived in the city as long as some of us have :-)
He's right about "grannies with clipboards" -- I've run into them in the
various DC neighborhoods I've lived in over the past 20+ years. If you
look closely, you'll note that they all seem to wear very expensive
running shoes and carry GPS's!
Sadly, cookies don't cut it, especially when it comes to RFI or serious
ugliness.
History in this city -- which constantly repeats itself -- is that the
stealth antenna supports (i.e., roof towers) or towers and masts that
just peek over the roof line work (I've had big satellite arrays and HF
yagis on a roof tower for 15+ years). The neighborhood, too, makes a
difference. I'm surrounded by lots of returned/retired foreign service
officers, almost all of whom know about ham radio. My neighbors are
retired "Africa hands" who credit ham radio for being a lifesaver during
their tours in lord-knows-where!
There are a lot of grandfathered and/or abandoned towers around town, be
they at (former) embassies, universities and colleges and other
unidentified sites. It's really expensive to take them down off of
buildings, and unless the landlord makes you, you simply walk away when
you vacate (been there, done that, too).
Eric W3DQ
Washington, DC
> Date: Sat, 09 Jul 2011 07:15:41 -0400
> From: kenlow7@aol.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Looking for a station in Washington DC
> To: scottw3tx@verizon.net
> Cc: cq-contest@contesting.com
> Message-ID:<8CE0C40AC477535-4B4-102CA@webmail-d006.sysops.aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>
> Hi Scott -
>
> Great idea, but in DC good luck with the Zoning Boards. Anything more than
> 12-feet over a rooftop needs a permit, and below 12 feet over is still in the
> gray area depending on how the rules are interpreted and how visible the
> antenna is from street level.
>
> You might want to include a big batch of cookies for all the neighbors along
> with the rest of the hardware. If you see any grannies with clipboards
> sniffing around, you'll also need a legal reserve fund. Maryland is easier.
>
> Ken KE3X
> Washington, DC
>
> p.s. Hans - I would hold off on the moving trucks
>
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