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( <br />I. <br />Pentel is an amateur radio operator who uses radio <br />communications to serve the public interest* After she was <br />licensed by the FCC in December 1988 to operate an amateur radio <br />and a station from her home, she installed on her roof a vertical <br />radio antenna that reaches a height from the ground of 56.5 feet. <br />Over the next two years, Pentel was unable to establish reliable <br />radio communications with other amateurs across the United States, <br />and she was able to establish only one international contact. <br />Pentel concluded that her existing antenna thus was not adequate <br />for domestic, much less international, communications. <br />Accordingly, Pentel began preparing to install a more <br />sophisticated antenna. The replacement was to be a retractable <br />steel tower that measured 30 feet when lowered and 68 feet when <br />fully extended. This tower, which Pentel planned to have installed <br />professionally in accordance with its manufacturer's <br />specifications, was to have mounted on its top two directional <br />aluminum antennas.^ <br />Pentel was unaware when she installed her original antenna <br />that she was violating the city's zoning ordinance, which limits <br />all structures, including radio antennas, to a height of twenty- <br />'pentel's proposed antenna would be more effective than her <br />existing set-up for two reasons. First, Pentyl's current vertical <br />antenna di'^sipates signals in all directions, while her propose <br />directional antenna would concentrate and collect signals. <br />increasing her ability to transmit and receive in a specific <br />direction. Second, an antenna's effectiveness increases with its <br />height. Pentel's existing antenna is blocked by trees. Her taller <br />replacement antenna, when extended, would be at or near the tops of <br />nearby trees, thus improving her signal transmission and reception. <br />-2-