Hi,
The ham from the QST article is K9VDD from Madison, WI.
http://www.qsl.net/k9vdd/k9vdd.htm
As you can see on the web page the cell company lease has expired and
they transferred ownership of the tower to him...
He has a copy of the QST article on his web page also.
73
George / KF9YR
-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Rob Atkinson,
K5UJ
Sent: Friday, September 10, 2004 4:47 PM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] FCC Tower Registration
Warning: **This is not an expert reply**
A few years ago a ham wrote an article in QST about how he got a cell
phone
company to locate a cell site on his property (actually they approached
him
like the radio station has done with you) and they put up a tower (maybe
a
monopole big fat mast) and put his beam up on top so he got a nice solid
commercial free tower + rent money out of the deal. he gave a good list
of
pros and cons.
from what I can recall, pros:
Rent money coming in every month or quarter or year depending on
contract.
Don't know how much to expect though. I would have the contract they
will
probably produce looked over by a communications atty. You will want
that
done anyway for other reasons besides getting an idea of what a
reasonable
rent payment would be.
They may beef up your tower (better guying) to handle the additional
wind
loading and do a professional grounding job.
They should pay for the electric bill. They will probably have a
separate
service circuit run to the transmitter and have the power co. bill them
directly. They may build an equipment vault at the base of the tower on
a
slab.
Cons:
Depending on ur QTH there may be some iffy zoning since this is
"commercial."
You will have a transmitter on all the time. depending on the ERP this
may
or may not be a problem. your own consumer stuff may get rfi.
I'd make sure the contract says they have to fix all your ham station
rfi
(because it is licensed), if there is any, whether they are causing it
or
you or you are causing it to them. It should also say you cannot be
expected to perform any emergency maint. on their gear. in other words,
if
they go off the air at 2 am in a blizzard they have to send their guys
out.
It's their baby.
You will no longer be able to easily dismantle, move, or do stuff to the
tower with their antenna, i.e. you have a bit of a committment. The
contract will probably say something to that effect.
Selling your property if you ever want to move will be more complicated
if
they are still a tenant.
If you think you are going to stay at ur QTH for a long time and the
tower
they want to use is pretty permanent, it might be something worth
pursuing
to the extent of at least finding out what their deal is and thinking
about
it & running it by a lawyer & how much you need the money and how much
it
is.
There are obvious variables e.g. if you are HF op & they want to run 100
w.
FM on 95 MHz then prob. okay. OTOH, if u a weak sig. EME guy & they
want to
run 10 kw, run! (first ask if they have any extra heliax you can have)
:
)
my 2c.
Rob/K5UJ
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_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with
any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
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