[BC] Linksys, Towers

[Edwin Bukont]

1.  Have been very happy with our Linksys WRT54G, although I did have some initial issues that were resolved with a little searching on the web.  Two desktops and two laptops share the wireless connection along with a few wired desktops.
 
2.  As for playing the zoning game, and I know I mentioned this before some time ago, but I was quite pleased with my efforts at putting at tower on top of 2000 N. 15 St in Arlington, VA, (former USRN/WWI facility) within the line of sight considered within architectural restrictions from the Nation's Capital looking down Constitution Ave.   I think I played every card possible.  The building is effectively 13.5 stories tall.  It lies in the glide slope to Reagan National Airport.  The tower I erected as 19', 6" tall.  Arlington does have a matter of right for towers 75' tall.  The top of the tower seems closer to the underside of planes than it is to the ground.
 
The site sits on a promotory at the intersection of three neighborhood advisory committees.  I did not use an attorney for the  process since I figured out long ago that they all talk  (thanks to having dealt with the fine jurisdiction of Charles Co. Md and the firm of Mr. Mudd), and your attorney is probably telling his buddies about your upcoming filing.  Didn't mention any specific purpose in the application, only that we wanted to erect a steel structure of such and such size to support communication equipment.   I did not use the words antenna, dish, tower, mast, transmit, reception, microwave nor, god forbid, radio in any of the paperwork.  The filing itself was done under the landlord's name, with their permission, as the tower was affixed to their structure, and not to any radio station physical property.  It was essentially an extension of the cooling tower facade. I did have the services of Fred Purdy's firm and John Allen's firm to assist with structural and aviation matters.  We did all the newspaper postings and such necessary to gather public input. 
 
One item I found in the county records, while doing my search, was that the adjacent courthouse was built after my building, and during said construction, the building I was in was the temporary county sherriff office, and designated to support essential communications.  The county had retained such a right to use that roof, with right of first refusal after construction.
 
It took three phone calls and a fax for me to get a letter from the county saying they no longer needed the roof and that the allocation for antennas was signed over to the landlord, who promptly rented that use to us.
 
Day of hearing, held on a weekend to allow the common person to attend and complain,,,not one complaint,,,who was going to complain about a communications tower going on the roof of a building owned by Charles E. Smith, Arlington's largest landlord, where the county records showed the police had precedent and where folks figured nothing that tall could exist  and so close to the airport and it wasnt 75'.
 
I got my ok, the tower went up, the dishes, whips and antennas went on.  No paint, no lights, no shrouds, nothing fancy at all.  Even the city manager commented that we had the grace of God on our side.   $70k and about half a year is all it took.

Edwin Bukont CSRE, DRB, CBNT 
V- 240.417.2475; F- 240.368.1265