Howard White, KY6LA
is a professional engineer who has designed and built tower systems
for public transit mobile vehicle monitoring systems around the
world. After the 2003 San Diego Fires, it became obvious that he
needed an antenna system that would work on 7233, The San Diego
ARES Net and The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN)
to provide needed communications to hard to reach areas. Howard
went through a year of regulatory and engineering work with the
City of San Diego before he was granted a building for an 85’
tower and 3 Element SteppIR MonstIR antenna in toni La Jolla, CA.
It was only after the Antenna was installed
that the Nasty Neighbor Storm hit. Soon his street was festooned
with “Antenna Be Gone” sign. The Nasty Neighbors enlisted
two uninformed City Councilors who proposed banning Ham Antennas
across San Diego. When the Nasty Neighbors heard that Howard’s
antenna were used to save lives during Katrina, they complained
that Howard’s permit only was for local emergencies and
by saving those “Katrina’s” he violated the
permit and should remove the tower.
Realizing that no single ham operator could win this
fight on his own against such selfish self centered adversaries,
Howard organized the San Diego Bioterrorism and Disaster Defense
Council to help local politicians become aware of the value of
Ham Radio Antennas to the Emergency Communications. Howard became
part of the SANDARC Legislative Oversight Committee which set
up a legal defense fund to protect Ham Radio in San Diego.. In
the interim, although not a Lawyer, Howard became a local expert
on PRB-1. In March, the Mayor of San Diego instructed City Council
not to proceed with rewriting San Diego Antenna Ordinances.
This talk is about PRB-1 and how to use the law to protect
you from Nasty Neighbors. It will cover PRB-1, what it means and
how to use it. More important the talk will show you how to organize
your local ham community so that you are not fighting alone for
your rights. We have great strength in numbers if we learn to
work together.
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