Vandals knock radio tower down

[W3SLK]

Steve said:

The term terrorist (as we would use it) goes back to the 1800s. It is not a buzzword.

These groups do more than hurt their own causes. They destroy property, injure and kill people. They should be hunted down and ruthlessly eliminated. They are nothing like the majority of our society.

Damn straight! Let's light the torches and grab the pitchforks! We have a quest!!! 

[Opcom]

Done by ELF? Elfs are related to Gnomes. ELFs are like communists - evil! and inflicting suffering and consternation on humans. Don't be misled by the happy garden gnome.. he's just not done plotting your demise, yet. Then there are Socialists, Goblins, and the rest. All them critters are trouble; #&%$$%&&* terrorists! I'm not even going to start about the damage done by Fairies..

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

It's all fun and game until they burn your house or knock your tower down. 

[k4kyv]

The term terrorist (as we would use it) goes back to the 1800s. It is not a buzzword.

These groups do more than hurt their own causes. They destroy property, injure and kill people. They should be hunted down and ruthlessly eliminated. They are nothing like the majority of our society.

But it has now become a pet buzzword whenever someone in the media (or local, state or national government) wants to instil fear into the public for any reason, whether such fear is warranted or unwarranted.  The word has lost its classic 1800's meaning: people who use violent acts or threats for political purposes or to force a government to act. Now, 90% of the time, the word criminal would  be more appropriate, because "terrorist" has come to cover everything from obnoxious street hooligans to bank robbers to the mafia. Common criminals destroy property, injure and kill people as well, and they rarely have government or politics in mind, beyond evading the cops.

Less than a month ago someone in the local news media used the word terrorists to describe under-age kids using fake ID's to get into nightclubs!

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

None of that has anything to do with the fact that groups like ELF, ALF and Earth First are terrorists.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Rather than retaliating against Prius's, I would suggest targeting HOAs and their busybody Nazi thugs.  A more serious threat to amateur radio than BPL, TVI and SSB combined.

Makes no sense, Don. Last I checked, no one was being forced to join any HOA. It's purely voluntary. Those who don't like the rules shouldn't buy there in hopes of getting the rules changed later. Instead, grow a brain and spine and look elsewhere. We already have enough self-inflicted victims out there who don't want to take responsibility for their choices and actions. HAM Radio doesn't need more stupidity associated with it. 

Besides, owning a Prius is punishment enough. 

[k4kyv]

None of that has anything to do with the fact that groups like ELF, ALF and Earth First are terrorists.

Nobody said they weren't.

I just said the word has been so overused in recent years that it has lost its significance.

From KA1KAQ Makes no sense, Don. Last I checked, no one was being forced to join any HOA. It's purely voluntary.

Try to tell that to someone who is attempting to buy a house and property within reasonable commuting distance to work in any major city.

Some states have state laws that require HOAs for new developments.  I believe Florida is one.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

It's only lost significance to those which never saw the significance in the first place.

I lived a whole six miles from center city Baltimore at my previous QTH. No HOA. Tens of thousands of houses in the area with no HOA.

Same here - tens of thousands of houses within easy commute distance to Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Richmond. The HOA problem is largely a myth.

[Opcom]

that I will agree with. It seems like those burdened with HOAs must have brought that curse on themselves by selecting a property under the HOAs control.

Yes I was definitely making light of hooligans. Having had to deal with serious and dangerous 'problems' up close and personal, it is better for me to make some levity.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Yes, we should belittle and deride them. Then we should shoot them. 

[k4kyv]

The people who are burdened with HOA's usually live in a brand new house.  There are plenty of older ones in existing communities that are HOA-free.  Probably better built, too.  Some of the new houses they throw up around here are real crap, shoddy construction using the cheapest material they can find.  But in an older community, you just might have the inconvenience of mingling with riff-raff... you know, the people who park their car in the driveway and use the garage for storage, who don't keep their lawn perfectly manicured, who don't rake up their leaves in the fall, or who maybe even put up radio antennas.

I'd rather mingle with riff-raff than to live in one of those HOA concentration camps.

[ka3zlr]

Yes, we should belittle and deride them. Then we should shoot them. 
[/quote

Marvelous.....LOL..    An Stampede their Cattle.....LOL.

73
Jack.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

I'd rather mingle with riff-raff than to live in one of those HOA concentration camps.

Right on!

[KB3RRX]

The people who are burdened with HOA's usually live in a brand new house.  There are plenty of older ones in existing communities that are HOA-free.  Probably better built, too.  Some of the new houses they throw up around here are real crap, shoddy construction using the cheapest material they can find.

Thats the truth. I worked for a company installing new furnaces and air conditioning in new (and rather expensive homes)
talk about cheap and shoddy construction. When you walk up to a exterior wall fully studded in 2 stories high and can shove it 6 in in either direction
you begin to see why you shouldn't buy new.  They also had one house collapse because it snowed on it!!!!!  The barn on my place is much better constructed than any new house.

I am proud to be the cause of an HOA being dissolved strong arm tatics and foul language are very useful when caught on camera:)
especially when you find out one of the hoa nazis has an outstanding warrant on them

Wayne
KB3RRX

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

I'd rather mingle with riff-raff than to live in one of those HOA concentration camps.

*whew* Was getting worried for a minute there! 

Of all the folks I've talked to who were in developments with HOAs, virtually all were there because the little lady wanted to be there. Convenience plays a roll for some, no doubt. But so does retaining control of your own destiny. We have HOAs all around us here and could've easily chosen to be in a newer home for not much more money (since the Realtor showed us virtually all new homes). It was worth it to us to take a little extra time looking around. And even if we'd somehow had to buy into such a mess (not sure why, but for the sake of argument), it would certainly be a temporary situation. If I was married to a woman who insisted on it (and I wanted to stay married to her), I'd likely be in one too. Some things are more important than radio to most folks, even hams. And rightly so.

The folks who love those kinds of places have every right to live in one, just as I have the right not to. The more people 'in there', the fewer out in the wild complaining about our towers and aerials. I'm far more concerned by local zoning than private HOAs.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Catch 'em, and make em ride the next tower down....

Or wire up a pole pig to the lower sections of the guys or fencing or...

Follow the NJ rules of engagement, Shoot, Shovel, and Shut-up.

[k4kyv]

Rig up a high voltage source with a current limiting resistor, to each guy wire where it attaches to the tower (assuming this is not a vertical radiator with guys broken up with insulators).  Perfectly harmless to the touch since the guy wire shorts out the HV at the anchor point and there is no voltage on the guy wire in reference to ground, but the moment some idiot decides to cut a guy wire, he gets zapped with 100 kv the moment his bolt cutter makes it all the way through the cable.

[k4kyv]

Another AM broadcast tower falls, this time in Florida.  This is the 3rd radio station to lose a tower in recent weeks, but this one may have been a careless accident and not deliberate sabotage.

http://www.beacononlinenews.com/news/daily/2041

[W2DU]

Hi Don,

The tower in DeLand, FL, that fell is less than a mile from my home in DeLand. I heard about it on Bill Pasternak's Newsline earlier today. Then son Bill, W2WM emailed me about it just a few minutes ago, and sicked me onto your post. Bill also lives in DeLand. Small world.

Walt

[W2DU]

I intended to add that Jean and I spend Summers in Michigan, which is why I didn't learn of the tower falling until reading it on the Newsline. We return to DeLand on Oct 11.

Walt