I know a number of Owls and Eagles that would be very upset with the removal
of my tower in Montana. They have found that the tower works very well for
a base of operation for their attacks on mice, rats, rabbits and fish.
Although I might enjoy the hot tub more if that big ole Great Horned Owls
wasn't always looking at me!
I have many smaller birds that fly into our windows constantly.
Mike W0MU
-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of john@kk9a.com
Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2006 11:56 AM
To: TOWERTALK@contesting.com
Cc: K6VVA
Subject: [TowerTalk] Potential New FCC Tower Construction Threat
I wonder how many bird's lives are saved by towers. It gives them a nice
place to perch high above their ground predators such as cats and also away
from ground pesticides. If a bird makes a nest on a tower, it is less
likely to be destroyed by raccoons, snakes, and squirrels then if it were in
a tree, since those animals have difficulty climbing towers.
John KK9A
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Potential New FCC Tower Construction Threat
From: "Eric Hilding" <dx35@hilding.com>
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 09:00:12 -0800
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
As if BPL and CC&R's aren't bad enough, it appears we may have a new
potential tower construction threat issue to deal with in the future.
I'm passing along some info that I just read in a newsletter from my
Attorney in Washington. It appears to pertain to commercial tower
installations,you know the drill...give the environmentalists an inch and
they'll take a mile. Most Enviro-Nazis do NOT distinguish between amateur &
commercial towers...they hate 'em all. Hopefully the ARRL is on top of
this, because even a remote possibility that future tower constructions
might all require costly Environmental Assessments if the FCC adopts policy
changes requested by the US Fish & Wildlife Service could be bad news for
us. In abundance of caution, we might want to all file Comments on behalf
of Amateur Radio in the Proposed Rulemaking in Docket 03-187 before the
January 22 deadline.
The USFWS is estimating between 4 and 50 million bird collisions with
communications towers each year. This was a MAJOR issue for Mike, K9AJ and
myself in negotiating our IOTA NA-178 trip with USFWS last Spring. We had
to take down our small Sigma 5 vertical dipole on the Island at sunset due
to concerns over bird collisions with the teenie weenie horizontal T-bars.
Only
the slender "Farallon Special" (Super-charged mobile screwdriver antenna
with extension shafts & whips) was allowed up during the night and
installation was restricted to the adjacent shaddow area of the tiny
Carpenter Shop we operated from on the Island. We could have no
"horizontal" antenna components of any size in the air at night & no guy
wires. And you think you have CC&R problems???
In January I will have been a licensed ham for 50 years. I have never had
any bird collision situtations myself, nor heard of any occuring with any
other ham operator I've spoken with on this subject.
Many City and County Building/Planning Departments have already been known
to cause grief to ham operators seeking permits. The last thing any of us
need is to see a costly environmental assessment requirement added to the
mix...anywhere in the U.S.
IMHO, we need to formally distance ourselves from commercial tower
installations in this Proposed Rulemaking. It might be prudent to contact
your Senator/Congressperson folks as well.
FYI & 73.
Rick, K6VVA
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