When you get a tower trailer to use for ham radio, you’re going to get a lot of questions. The number of times most people see a construction tower set up with a Yagi, HF antenna, or some wi-fi dishes on it, are, in the experience of most people, exactly zero. They don’t notice people’s small dual band antennas, but they will notice this:
Sometimes you’ll be right by the tower and can chat with folks directly.
But often you can’t be, and public relations is important for the hobby and our served agencies. The more prepared and professional we can be, the better. We’ve mentioned QR codes in the past – and they’re a great way to direct people to information about the towers and the ham radio hobby.
But how to get to the next step – printing the QR code?
I’ve found that www.buildasign.com has fairly reasonable sign options – both magnetic signs as well as aluminum, license plate sized, and plastic. They look decent, they’re rugged, and they won’t take up your entire field day budget. And, you can put QR codes or club logos on them so that they can answer the questions that people have when you’re not there to answer them. It helps give the trailers a little personality too. If you use a tower trailer for ham radio, you have my permission to use the QR code for your equipment.
The BP and J tower trailers both have labels, QR codes, as well as name license plates, so far all from buildasign.com. Originally we had grand plans of painting on the QR code, or something like that, but it is ever so much easier to just order and print them.
In Minnesota, too, there are no actual license plates on trailers this size, so that area is fair game for signs. You’re going to want to register for one of these instead:
Ham Radio Tower Trailers 