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[10]LIFE

Over neighbors' objections, Shelburne operator gets the green light for ham
radio towers

[11]Joel Banner Baird
Burlington Free Press
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NOTE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the
reasons for the FAA's 200-foot height limit for amateur radio antennae.

SHELBURNE – One-on-one talks with fellow amateur radio operators as far
away as Moscow are now firmly on the horizon for a Shelburne man.

The erection of two antenna towers on Zachary Manganello's rural
property on Dorset Street — a source of contention with his neighbors
for at least a year — was approved by the Telecommunications Review
Board this week.
Zachary Manganello, then a Charlotte resident, is an amateur ("ham")
radio operator who participates in the federal RACES emergency
communications network, as seen in this ID card submitted to Shelburne
in January 2020, as part of a proposal to erect two antennae towers.
The proposal was approved on Feb. 17, 2021.

On paper, and later, in balloon tests that attempted to approximate the
towers' altitude, the structures struck some folks as too tall for the
neighborhood.

Radio towers downsized

Compromises were struck along the way. The new structures will be
measurably less of an eyesore. Originally conceived at 70 feet,
Manganello's ham radio project is getting off the ground with slim,
guywire-supported towers that extend up 40 and 60 feet.

If the towers ever collapse, they'll remain on his lot. If he moves,
he'll have to pay for their removal.

Manganello's persistence — and patience — draws on more than a century
of niche science. His community of fellow amateurs, also known
as "hams," have swapped notes, both casual and urgent, over
non-commercial radio frequencies (originally in Morse code) since the
1890s.
A photo mockup of amateur ("ham") radio antennae was submitted as part
of a proposal by Zachary Manganello of Shelburne in January 2020. The
70-foot towers pictured here were subsequently downsized to 40- and
60-feet, and Manganello's proposal was approved in February 2021.

Hams tout the technology as a forerunner of the internet, and one that
still serves to connect, entertain and alert far-flung communities of
emergencies when cellphone and broadband service goes down.

More:[13]Vermont leads the nation in battery recycling. Why do most
still end up in the trash?

The FCC takes these hobbyists seriously enough to require them to get
licensed.

Shelburne limits such antennae's height to 35 feet in this part of
town, which lies roughly equidistant between Spear Street and Hinesburg
Road.

Ham radio offers backup emergency communication

The prospect of backup emergency communication offered by a local ham
radio operator, as well as Manganello's openness to public education
and research projects, eventually swayed the citizen-run review board.

So did the Federal Communications Commission, which strongly suggests
that local regulators make "reasonable accommodations" to amateur
operators — not just for practical reasons, but for "the amateur's
unique ability to enhance international goodwill."
Antennae designs are a part of a proposal submitted in January 2020 by
Zachary Manganello, an amateur ("ham") radio operator, for the erection
of two towers on his property in Shelburne. Manganello's proposal was
approved by the town in February 2021.

Aside from Moscow, Manganello lists Japan and Hawaii as among his
over-the-air "targets."

And he is an amateur only in the limited, technical sense. Now in his
early 40s, Manganello got his first ham license when he was 14,
according to his application to Shelburne.

He has held the highest class of amateur license since he was 17; he is
now a card-carrying member of the Vermont Department of Public Safety’s
[14]Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service.
Amateur ("ham") radio's usefulness during emergencies, as seen in this
illustration from the American Radio Relay League, is seen in an
application by Shelburne resident Zachary Manganello in his proposal to
erect two antennae towers.

"My own technical investigations," Manganello wrote in his application,
"have included wireless mesh networking, internet linking, radio
astronomy, weak signal propagation evaluation, and antenna design."

The new towers will take about a year to build. They'll have no lights
— they lie beneath the FAA's 200-foot threshold for interference with
air traffic.

Call sign K1ZK is able to stay on the air if the grid goes down

And if the grid goes down in an ice storm? Manganello's in-house
station (call sign K1ZK) will, thanks to a solar-charged array and a
cluster of Tesla Powerwall batteries, maintain a connection.

Contact Joel Banner Baird at 802-660-1843 or
[email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @VTgoingUp.

This coverage is only possible with support from our readers.
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