If you find yourself dealing with informal complaints about a new
tower it can help to employ some psychology in your actions. When a
new antenna structure first goes up, the negativity about it is almost
always precipitated by the shock of seeing a dramatic change to the
landscape and a feeling on the part of the observers, of being
powerless. A lot of negativity about some action really comes down
to "I didn't have my say." So people react, and the knee jerk
reaction is usually "take it down." Sadly, 99% of this would
dissipate if the structure were allowed to stay in place for a few
weeks. What happens is people pretty much get used to it, it fades
into the skyline noise, and they quit noticing it. So, one
negotiating tactic is to suggest that everyone adopt a six month
waiting period (you can do this if you are not legally bound to some
covenant) to give everyone time to explore options. I can almost
guarantee that after six months most folks will say "Oh, I had a
problem with that? Oh well forget it." In other words the problem
really isn't the antenna but rather the sudden dramatic change to the
look of things. This happens with lots of buildings and outdoor
sculpture ... The French mostly hated the Eiffel Tower when it was new
for example. Well, now it's the 8th wonder of the world or
something. Plenty of other examples like that.
Another thing to do is play up the positives. Point out that you
already made every effort to make the structure eye-friendly; that you
are aware and sympathetic to aesthetics. For example, you can point
out the tower's set back from the street as a positive, asuming you
did not put it up in your front yard. Let's say for example you put
up a SteppIR yagi. If I am not mistaken, they use green fiberglass
tubes. Use that as an aesthetic positive. If you put up a yagi,
point out that you didn't put up a quad (show them what one looks
like). Once people are in discussion and you are calm and relaxed
and appear to be reasonable they often calm down and feel like they
have gained something, especially if you can make them feel like they
gained something with what you told them you did proactively. A lot
of times folks just want to be able to have input, even after the
fact, and are glad if you seem sympathetic. If they are unreasonable
you can simply tell them you strive to strike a balance between
aesthetics and an acceptable level of performance and you consider
yourself a good neighborhood citizen and hope they are able to reach
an understanding of that. Whatever you do, don't immediately offer to
fold back or compromise your antenna farm if you are not legally
required to. Just don't put gas on the fire by immediately being
aggressively hostile--that only fuels anger and makes people
determined to exert some control over you. Act, don't react.
73
Rob
K5UJ
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