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Blocking someone's view?

K

kenglish

Guest
Most of us have heard horror stories of a ham or radio listener being denied approval to put up a tower, or even a small outdoor antenna, because one or two neighbors claim it would harm "their" view.
Since there are several companies now launching tens of thousands of small satellites in to near-earth orbit, blocking both professional and amateur astronomers' view of the sky (and also creating havoc for radio astronomy users).... Do you think that hams could use this sort of a defense? We could say that no one has a legal right to a view of the sky any more.
Just wonderin'.?
 
kenglish said:
Most of us have heard horror stories of a ham or radio listener being denied approval to put up a tower, or even a small outdoor antenna, because one or two neighbors claim it would harm "their" view.
Since there are several companies now launching tens of thousands of small satellites in to near-earth orbit, blocking both professional and amateur astronomers' view of the sky (and also creating havoc for radio astronomy users).... Do you think that hams could use this sort of a defense? We could say that no one has a legal right to a view of the sky any more.
Just wonderin'.?
Click to expand...

Nobody is selling houses by bragging about how spectacular the view of celestial objects through a telescope is from the location. The satellites are blocking nothing to the person on the ground strolling the neighborhood after dark. Any judge would roll his eyes and collapse to the floor in laughter if that argument were to be made in court. Of course, there'd always be a lawyer around to pretend to take it serious and fleece another sucker.
 
What I'm talking about is people who claim they have a right to see only what they want to see, without feeling your antenna (or, tree, flagpole, windvane, etc) is "harming them".
You would think that the astronomers and other scientists would have some standing in this, with all the billions invested in their work. So, will there be some sort of ruling about rights to maintain any kind of view?
 
kenglish said:
What I'm talking about is people who claim they have a right to see only what they want to see, without feeling your antenna (or, tree, flagpole, windvane, etc) is "harming them".
You would think that the astronomers and other scientists would have some standing in this, with all the billions invested in their work. So, will there be some sort of ruling about rights to maintain any kind of view?
Click to expand...

If there were astronomers doing top-level government business who would be materially impeded by new batches of mini-satellites, you'd think they'd have been taken into account during the planning of the satellite program. Otherwise, you're just talking about academics and hobbyists, and since when have they ever stood in the way of Uncle Sam? As for residential views, my opinion remains the same. Chances are that if one homeowner is upset by having the view from his living room window -- whether it be mountains, forest, other homes, or just an open sky -- marred by Joe Ham's multi-element beam on a 30-foot tower, that ugly (to the 99 percent of Americans who aren't hams or radio geeks) tower and antenna will also be a black mark against the home when it's on the market and potential new owners come out for a look. The customer, in fact, may ask for a price break just because of that marred view, which, if agreed to, hurts the current homeowner in the wallet.

So no, there will be no ruling about rights to maintain any kind of view. It will continue to be argued on a case-by-case basis, as it should be.
 
There was no public comment when 5G towers started appearing all over my neighborhood. Should there have been?
There are three on the block facing me, and a couple around the corner. One on the next block is across the street from a residence, directly across from their upstairs bedroom window. Why should it be nearly impossible for a ham to use his radio due to concerns about looks, but big business is able to do harm to so many without there being any recourse?
 
kenglish said:
There was no public comment when 5G towers started appearing all over my neighborhood. Should there have been?
There are three on the block facing me, and a couple around the corner. One on the next block is across the street from a residence, directly across from their upstairs bedroom window. Why should it be nearly impossible for a ham to use his radio due to concerns about looks, but big business is able to do harm to so many without there being any recourse?
Click to expand...

[Sarcasm button on] Because of big money. [Sarcasm button off]

Actually, it's all subjective. People think they have a right to a view, until the lot next door is bought by a development company and they put up a monster mansion and 'poof!', no view. It all revolves on money. Some communities have standards that you sign off on when you buy there (HOA standards). Others are driven by city codes, obviously. In this day of property speculation things like views and the like probably have more pull than they did 50 years ago, before property values in big cities went nuts. They consequently use the "value of my house" as an excuse to determine what others do with their own yard.
 
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Singapore used to have a rule (and, maybe still does), that any building that blocks TV reception to any nearby building has to provide a signal to them, via the new building's antenna system or cable.
 
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