Not being familiar with your QTH, equipment, etc. I can't really make any
comments on the technical aspects of the deal other than I would think that
filters on your gear and their cell equipment would be sufficient to
mitigate most any interfernce that might occur. My one bit of advice to you
is to get a lawyer and not sign anything without reading it, thinking about
it, reading it some more, etc. While reading try to think of possible
scenarios that might happen. For example, if you intefere with their cell
equipment whose is responsible for mitigating the interference. If filters
are required who pays for them. Filters for cell equipment can cost many
thousands of dollars! If filters are required on your gear, who pays for
that? As far as what is a fair offer to lease the property is concerened,
that is a real estate question that once again I suggest you hire someone
who knows the market. There are real estate agents that specilize in just
this sort of thing. They will take a percentage of what you get but I would
rather get most of what I am due than all of a rip off. Yes, I work in the
wireless industry and deal with these sorts of issues. Being on the "other
side" so to speak I will tell you that they will low ball you and try to rip
you off. Your best protection is legal counsel and a good real estate agent
to potect your interests.
73
Jim W4KXY
----- Original Message -----
From: "w3sz" <w3sz@comcast.net>
To: <vhf@w6yx.stanford.edu>; "VHF Contesting" <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 1:44 PM
Subject: [VHF] Cell Sites
Hello, All,
I am asking for advice from the collective wisdom of the VHF and
VHF-Contesting lists.
I have been approached by a cellular company wanting to put up a tower on
my property and of course to lease that space.
My immediate response on reading the letter was, "Are you crazy?" I had
this response of course because of concerns about EMI in both directions,
me to them and them to me.
I am however by virtue of the fact that my property is quite high, and
probably sees every cell tower for more than 10 miles in all directions
already exposed to multiple cell towers, at least a couple of which are
fairly close [I would guess on the order of 0.5 to 1.0 mile away, but that
is just a very rough guess]. I have a few bleeps and bloops on 903, but
that is it in terms of problems as far as I know. I am not aware of any
desensing on the other bands {I operate 50 MHz thru 24 GHz weak signal
terrestrial, and 144 MHz EME}. I use cavity filters before the preamps on
144 MHz EME, and helical filters on 50 thru 903 MHz before the preamps.
The amount they offer as a starting point for negotiation is not large,
but it would cover my property taxes and in addition leave me with more
money to spend annually on ham radio than I would ordinarily allow myself
to spend. So I am starting to consider this, thinking that maybe
suffering some additional bleeps and bloops on 903 would be a small price
to pay for the financial benefits of such an arrangement. My wife of
course thinks this is a good deal, and has already figured out that if I
do this it will be 'x' years before the rent we receive from the deal will
pay off what I have already spent on ham radio-related expenses I have
incurred at the property. So there are domestic advantages to the deal.
;)
Other thoughts that occur to me:
1. No neighbor problems currently with my present towers. This could
potentially cause some I would think. And if I don't do the deal, and
make that known, it could be a positive if complaints ever surfaced.
2. If the cellular signals are strong enough, I could suffer significant
problems on other bands [besides 903] due to mixing products.
3. I don't know how MUCH rent / other benefits it is reasonable to ask
for. I faintly recall a QST article where I believe the author got in
addition to rent a new tower, antennas, maintanence, etc. Does anyone
have knowledge of the 'going lease rates', which I am sure vary a lot? I
am in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
4. I would need to have some agreement that the cell company would need
to accept any interference that occurred from me, with the worst result
allowed being that they would terminate the agreement. No other damages
allowed. And maybe they would have to leave the tower in place if they
left.
Any thoughts from those who have been down this road, or considered it, or
know someone who has, would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance, and
73,
ROger W3SZ
--
Roger Rehr
W3SZ
http://www.qsl.net/w3sz
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