Amateur Radio - Antenna Zoning Book

Antenna Zoning for the Radio Amateur 
-- By Fred Hopengarten, K1VR

• Everything you and your attorney need to know to obtain a permit for your antenna-support system. 
  
• What to do when things turn ugly after your antenna system is up. 

Don't let the confusing tangle of ordinances and by-laws keep you from installing the antenna you need in order to communicate effectively! In recent years, many cities and towns have enacted ordinances designed mainly to regulate cellular antenna structures. Unfortunately, hams have sometimes been caught in the backlash of regulatory overkill. This book describes proven techniques and strategies that a ham and his or her attorney can use to obtain an antenna-structure permit (also includes material on Canadian law and regulation). You will learn ways to respond to a wide variety of complaints after the permit has been obtained, if the town, or your neighbors, turn sour. 

Contents

• Introduction: Why This Book Was Written
• 1: Principles That Will Help You Win
• 2: The Process in a Nutshell 
• 3: Your Winning Team 
• 4: Basic Preparations 
• 5: Getting to Know the Players 
• 6: Possible Objections 
• 7: Preparing the Permit Application 
• 8: Public Hearings—Your Big Moment in the Spotlight 
• 9: Deliberations and Decisions 
• 10: Now, Get the Permit and Build Your Antenna 
• 11: Awkward Post-Permit Situations 
• 12: Appeals 
• 13: Tower and Antenna Regulation in Canada [by Tim Ellam, VE6SH] 
• 14: Bibliography 
• Appendix A: The Law 
• Appendix B: Drafting a Bylaw, or Redrafting a Bylaw 
• Appendix C: Lawsuits 

CD-ROM included containing case law, customizable forms and additional legal reference material. Windows and Macintosh compatible. 

For updates, see  Errata Addenda for 2d Edition 100107.pdf

Book Reviews: 

Frank Fallon, N2FF

I am really excited about this book. I get a lot of e-mails and telephone calls asking for zoning information. This new ARRL book is a MUST read for anyone planning to put up a tower. Get the book and read it before you even look at an antenna catalog. 

Fred Hopengarten, K1VR, a communications lawyer and contester, has written a truly fine book designed to save the serious amateur a lot of money, time and grief. It is a must read for any ham who plans to buy a house and put up a dream antenna system. Even before you buy the house or begin looking at tower and antenna catalogs you should get a copy of the book. There is practical advice on selecting a real estate agent, dealing with a town clerk, and getting a copy of the local building codes. Fred covers every subject you can think of and then adds quite a few you didn't think of but should have. 

Don't be put of by the $49.95 price tag as it will be the best money you will spend on the entire house and antenna project. Your initial reaction may be that this is way too much for a book that is only 286 pages long, but be aware that you also get a CD-ROM crammed full of precedent setting cases, sample letters and documents designed to help you and your lawyer prepare you zoning application and or appeal. Director Jay Bellows, KØQB, a Minnesota lawyer who serves on the Tower Assistance Committee with me, feels that the CD-ROM is the best part of the book as you or your lawyer can edit the PDF files using Word and tailor them to your needs. 

Even for an old veteran of many tower battles this a truly invaluable book. Fred takes us through the entire process providing detailed guides along the way with tips on how to talk to town officials and what not to say. These are very important things easily forgotten. He makes the point that you should at all times be the good guy in the white hat who lets the town know what he is doing an why. It is surprisingly easy to read which is a real accomplishment with a subject as detailed and complicated. 

The book is designed to give you a view of the entire process and help you avoid the pitfalls that others have fallen into along the way. It is a college course in the subject at a graduate level. Some few may discover after reading it that they came across the book too late in the process and would be better off changing their plans or looking for a second dream house.

It will save me hours on the telephone when a local ham calls for advice. But even for them the book may be helpful in making that decision possible. The best advice I can now give is before you even begin to look for a house, read Antenna Zoning for the Radio Amateur. Failure to buy and read it is almost certainly guaranteed to cost you many times more in money and time wasted. 

Gerald Abbott, K8GA

This is a delightful book & CD which is full of useful tips and info. Hopengarten impressively thought of everything and still expresses interest in learning and sharing more.

We're certainly fortunate in this wonderful hobby of ours to have talented individuals like Fred Hopengarten, Jim O'Connell and other volunteer counsels to share valuable insight into the various aspects of our hobby.

Whenever another ham knocks the ARRL, my response always includes remarks to the effect that everything I know about ham radio comes from ARRL literature. This magnum opus certainly further justifies my thoughts in this regard. 

Wade Walstrom, WØEJ

For those who find themselves facing potential new, adverse local government regulation, ARRL has recently released a new publication, Antenna Zoning for the Radio Amateur by Fred Hopengarten, K1VR. This is an excellent new publication that provides a lot of material to help you as you approach local governing bodies to be able to put up an antenna.

There is a CD ROM with documents you can use directly to aid your efforts. The book may seem a bit pricey at $49.95, but if you find that you are in need of an attorney's services in your quest, you can save more than the cost of this book in attorney's fees because the book provides a treasure chest of material your attorney will not have to search out! I highly recommend this book!  

Jim O'Connell, Esq., W9WU

[Y]ou definitely gave away the most of the secrets.

Jim Parise, W1UK

The very first thing you should do is get a copy the book by K1VR  "Antenna Zoning for the Radio Amateur" from the ARRL.  It covers in great detail all the questions you have raised and provides specific methods for dealing with the permit process.  For $50 you get the benefit of the experience of a top communications law attorney who has successfully navigated the permit process dozens of times for hams.

Nick Critelli, Esq., K0PCG

Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to write Antenna Zoning.  It is the bible for those of us out here in the trenches in our war with the P and Z.

Mel Whitten,  K0PFX

Just a note and a big "Thanks" for your "Antenna Zoning" book.

This evening the city of Bridgeton approved my building permit for a 72ft crankup "antenna structure" (US Tower HDX-572MDPL)!   

I live on a typical city lot and was permitted to install the tower between houses only 15 feet apart.  "The Flying Setback" was allowed with a letter of permission from my next door neighbor. I had 9 additional letters from the neighborhood, many photos and a letters of support from several county and state agencies.

I followed your suggestions and found all the information very valuable thoughout the 3 month process.  I would not have been successful without your book!

Again, thanks a million!

Bob Applegate, K2UT

Just wanted to let you know that your book was a big help last year.  Our town passed a zoning ordinance allowing 100' towers with minimal setback requirements. Your book helped quite a bit in the process.

Thanks again; your book was money well-spent, and will probably be used more in the next few weeks, HI!

Ed Parsons, K1TR

A very complete and overdue treatment of an important area - nice work!

Byron Peebles, NZ3O

I have this book and it is a MUST for anyone who is considering any kind of tower work or for anyone who has local ordinance activity taking place. Really a fantastic job, for about the price of 15 minutes with a good lawyer.  I've even suggested that my lawyer buy a copy (even though I know it will work its way into a bill somehow :-)  Great GREAT job, Fred, and very readable.

Pat Barthelow, AA6EG/N6IJ

I can vouch for the book.  I'm not a lawyer, but I got the book at the Pacific Div. Convention, and it's a gem.  The first 20 pages would pay off the total cost of the book to any ham who faced the battle (er ... Dance) with the authorities, to put up any significant antenna.

George Tranos, N2GA

If you are at all interested in how to go about legalizing your tower installation, you have to get Fred's book!

Wayne Greaves, W0ZW (in NCJ, September/October 2009, p. 11)

Buy and read Fred Hopengarten's book, Antenna Zoning for the Radio Amateur. Although this book focuses on the process for successfully obtaining a building permit for your tower, there is a lengthy appendix that addresses rewriting public ordinances.  The entire book is well worth your time and money.

Duane Mantick, WB9OMC (at http://www.antennasup.org/bookrevi.htm)

I bought a copy of the ARRL's "Antenna Zoning for the Radio Amateur" at Barnes and Noble in the "Engineering" section. Not a book for the "light of wallet" at the ARRL's listed $49.95, it may be truly worth TWICE that. First thing, it comes with a CD-rom that contains text for many of the court decisions and other documents referenced in the book. While doubtless a paper-saver, you can probably cut-and-paste many of those documents into your own filings if you're about to do battle for your own antenna installation.

The book itself is, in my opinion, an absolute masterpiece. It is not a casual read - this ain't the comic section of your newspaper. 

But if you are serious about the antenna topic, Author Fred Hopengarten, K1VR, has really put together solid and in many cases utterly fascinating material and case histories.

If you want to learn more about WHY out antennas are such a fight and by extension what this site and others are all about, "Antenna Zoning..." is a MUST-read. Simple as that.

 
Just $49.95  

By the way, for tips in selecting, and installing, an antenna support structure, you should buy "Up the Tower," by Steve Morris, K7LXC. It is available at http://www.championradio.com/ .