As regulations cannot change a statute, you may find the attached analysis of the original statute to be insightful as to how many ARRL members will actually be affected (my view: very few). See the attached Power Point.

I was in Dripping Springs, TX, for a hearing and a former hill staffer came up to me, trying to tell me that my client’s tower, 15 feet from his barn (actually a dance studio), 65’ high, on a suburban (not farmed) lot, was impacted by the statute.

No.

The client’s tower was not covered because:

·         His land was not used for agricultural purposes,

·         The tower was adjacent to a barn, and

·         The tower was within the curtilage of a building.

As curtilage is not an everyday word,

In law, the curtilage of a house or dwelling is the land immediately surrounding it, including any closely associated buildings and structures, but excluding any associated "open fields beyond", and also excluding any closely associated buildings, structures, or divisions that contain the separate intimate activities of their own respective occupants with those occupying residents being persons other than those residents of the house or dwelling of which the building is associated.^[1]It delineates the boundary within which a home owner can have a reasonable expectation of privacy and where "intimate home activities" take place. It is an important legal concept in certain jurisdictions for the understanding of search and seizure, conveyancing of real property, burglary, trespass, and land use planning.

In urban properties, the location of the curtilage may be evident from the position of fences, wall and similar; within larger properties it may be a matter of some legal debate as to where the private area ends and the "open fields" start

And if we wanted to be certain, we could have registered the tower in the ASR system and obtained a “no hazard” letter from the FAA.

Fred Hopengarten, Esq.   K1VR

Six Willarch Road

Lincoln, MA 01773

781.259.0088, k1vr@arrl.org

New England Director

Serving ME, NH, VT, MA, RI and CT

Heads UP

See:   https://generalaviationnews.com/2019/07/08/new-faa-regulations-require-towers-under-200-to-be-marked/

Note that communications towers have the option of being "logged" into the FAA database.

We need to confirm the FAA's requirements and provide our members with instructions on the need and method of compliance.