To an upset neighbor!
"Whenever we have guests over, they take one look at it and say, 'Oh my God, what is that?'" said Greg Ramsey, who's lived at 235 East 11th St. since 1988 and whose outdoor terraces sits about 12 feet away from the antenna. "It's like a military installation or something. It just seems extremely selfish to have this huge tower for one man to be running his ham radio from. It's obtrusive and inappropriate."
The tenant, who grew up in the building between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, told Hedlund that the antenna allows him to communicate with radio operators worldwide. "It was put up professionally and it's been approved," he said. "I didn't do anything in a precarious manner."
Read the whole article here.
[Photo by Patrick Hedlund/DNAinfo]
(From the article): "That's a bunch of baloney," he said, equating the antenna to a flagpole someone could erect on their property.
ReplyDeleteThat quote coming from a ham radio operator shows that he definitely has a processed meat obsession. I suggest an intervention immediately.
"It looks like a military installation?" says random gay neighbor clutching his pearls.
ReplyDelete@ Marty
ReplyDeleteWhat a turkey.
I think a wishbone antenna would have been much distracting.
ReplyDeleteYou do not want to move to Stuyvesant Town. Building has been without all water since 9:30 this morning (It is now 8:27 PM) and management had promised to restore water by 5:30 PM. All we get are empty promises that they are fixing it and we will have water back long before midnight (that was Resident Services telling me at 7:30 PM)
ReplyDeleteSo, Marty, do you think the guy with the processed meat fetish is a spammer as well?
ReplyDeleteOMG the word verification is "Cultella". Wouldn't that be a great name for a band or a Goth supermodel?
Paul Isaacs, meet Chatroulette. Chatroulette, meet Paul Isaacs... It's like buying tylenol and emptying out the bottle to hold your medicinal slugs.
ReplyDelete@Lisa: Most definitely! And I bet he's got this poster hanging in his apartment:
ReplyDeletehttp://twe.ly/qlt
My brother, a ham operator also, wrote me and said,
ReplyDeleteCool! If I remember correctly, a federal law was passed years ago that allows hams to do exactly as this guy did since too many communities were trying to restrict such antennas.
Mick
@Marty - Ha!
ReplyDeleteThis must be the putz whose signal interferes when I'm practicing music in my apt. I play quietly and often with headphones and if he is "broadcasting" it just cuts in at a disturbingly loud volume and is startling. Besides that his conversations are dull and eternal. Knock this thing down.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking we all ought to be getting ham radios instead of iphones. How retro and cool would that be? Are they portable or do you have to operate it in your basement with goggles and headphones?
ReplyDelete@Jill
ReplyDeleteAnd a radiation shield.
HAM radio antenna is not only unsightly, but potential health hazard to neighbour or themselves. they use power around 1500 watts, typical microwave oven is 800-1200 watts, it is like Microwave oven operated with door open, coming out of those antenna.
ReplyDeleteprevious anonymous, you don't know what you're talking about. ham radio operators don't transmit in the microwave ranges, and typical power operation is way less than 1500W -- not that it matters since we're talking about different wavelengths anyway. you can't cook with 20 meters, if you could your microwave would be something like 60 feet wide.
ReplyDeleteget a clue, nimbys!
There are Federal regulations in favor of Ham Radio antennas that trump State and Local codes, regulations, to say nothing of a well-funded, well-connected (politically) special interest group which frequently comes to the aid of amateurs facing hostile neighbors and local governments. The best bet would be for concerned parties to negotiate with the ham radio operator in good faith to compromise on the issue in order to avoid a potentially expensive legal conflict. There are alternatives available to the ham that would be much less visually offensive to others, but he may dig in his heals if neighbors are nasty about it. As for interference, if you look on the back of devices which are picking him up there is an FCC sticker which says "this device must not cause interference and must ACCEPT interference, including interference causing unwanted operation." Yes, this actually means that the consumer product in question is considered a lower priority than the Ham Radio equipment, and that the Ham operator has probably not broken any regulations, and is not under any obligation to remedy the situation. Having said this, most Hams care about the grief they may be causing their neighbors and will go to great lengths to correct interference issues.
ReplyDeleteMost of the above is correct, and although hams can and do transmit in the microwave frequency range, the antenna shown in the photo is not capable of such operation. Please, I ask that all of you who take offense to the antenna please try to understand the hobby further. The large antenna at the top is highly directional which allows this ham to direct the signal in specific directions while rejecting signals from other directions. This ham is enjoying his hobby -- this isn't some developer or business -- this is a person enjoying his hobby. From the looks of things, he has spent thousands of his/her own dollars on this hobby. This hobby has been around since the dawn of radio and the technical achievements from it have propelled the commercial devices you all love. As for the person experiencing interference, please, go knock on his door and explain the situation. Most hams are willing to help, even if it legally isn't their problem. For all of you, go knock on his door, and say "I saw your antenna and am curious to see what you do with radio." Most of us would be willing to take you in and show you what it is we do, if you take a genuine interest. You might find that it is an interesting hobby!
ReplyDelete-Jeff, AE5KZ-