[CW] Amateur Radio Parity Act Receives Favorable House Energy and Commerce Committee Report

Fri Jul 15 11:50:16 EDT 2016

I live in a townhouse.  I'm 67.  This has been our retirement home for 
the last 15 years.  I served on the Board until very recently.

I can imagine how a request to install a simple dipole antenna would be 
addressed by our Board.   The meeting is called to order.   First, our 
retired NYC real estate attorney would argue that we have to be mindful 
of establishing precedent.  Then our retired broadcast engineer (he has 
a REAL 1st Class FCC Radiotelephone License as he likes to point out) 
will bring up lightning protection and proper grounding and RFI 
potential in a close-living community.  At this point, our retired IBM 
safety and security manager will bring up the issue of RF safety, 
antennas falling across driveways and decks and children suffering RF 
burns.  Our landscaping coordinator will explain in agonizing detail how 
detrimental to curb appeal and resale value ANY visible antenna will be. 
At this point, the other five Board members (all old and retired because 
younger people don't have the time or energy to serve) have a collective 
look of absolute horror; they imagine nothing but terrible consequences. 
 The attorney says she has read the new ruling and "something" must be 
approved so...she proposes that ham radio operators living in the 
community be authorized to put up a wire antenna that fits within the 
footprint of their rear deck.  The broadcast engineer amends the motion 
to limit the height of such antenna to 8 feet to reduce lightning threat 
and chance of falling over on passing children.  He reads his research 
notes about end fed MFJ vertical antennas with loading coals that don't 
need radials. The motion is carried.  The attorney announces that the 
Board is now fully compliant with the new ruling.  The meeting adjourns.

Meanwhile, for the last 15 years and fully aware of Youvan's Corollary, 
I've been having a ball with a 67' doublet in my attic fed by 16' of 
window line to an SGC231 autocoupler in the top of a second floor linen 
closet. It can provide 4 million matching solutions.  I even work QRPp 
when propagation is good.  My logbook is full of choice DX contacts as 
well as wonderful ragchews.  My favorite QSLs include VK2DX (03JAN2012) 
("Great signal for 4 W,Stan,and GL with QRP DXCC") and JH7VHZ 
(19OCT2011) on 900 milliwatts with a KX1 on rundown "AA" cells).  No one 
is the wiser.  

Stan WB2LQF

On Fri, Jul 15, 2016 at 09:14 AM, Steve WD8DAS via CW wrote:

I've been watching this with bemusement because I thought it was 
unlikely to really be helpful to hams in a neighborhood with a 
homeowners association.  And indeed, the current amended version would 
actually get new regulations in Part 97 that says hams must "notify and 
obtain prior approval from a community association"  before installing 
an outdoor antenna. 

This would be the end of stealth antennas in such situations - at least 
without breaking the rules of the amateur service.

Steve WD8DAS

sbjohnston at aol.com

http://www.wd8das.net/

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Radio is your best entertainment value.

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-----Original Message-----

From: D.J.J. Ring, Jr. <n1ea at arrl.net>

To: CW Reflector <cw at mailman.qth.net>

Sent: Thu, Jul 14, 2016 7:47 pm

Subject: [CW] Amateur Radio Parity Act Receives Favorable House Energy 
and Commerce Committee Report

This is important for some of us.

BT

Amateur Radio Parity Act Receives Favorable House Energy and Commerce 
Committee Report

An amended version 
<http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/ParityAct-SubstituteBill-Official-2016.pdf> 
 of the Amateur Radio Parity Act, H.R. 1301 
<https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1301/text> , 
received a unanimous favorable report on July 13 from members of the US 
House Energy and Commerce Committee. The bill now will go to the full 
House for consideration. Before reporting the bill out of committee, the 
panel first voted to accept the amended language, "in the nature of a 
substitute." Rep Greg Walden, W7EQI (R-OR), who chairs the Energy and 
Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, said 
the substitute bill represented "a good balance" that came in the wake 
of months of meetings, hard work, and compromise, and he recommended the 
measure to his colleagues.

"The amendment guarantees that even in deed-restricted communities, 
Amateur Radio operators are able to use an effective outdoor antenna," 
Walden said. "Without an effective antenna Amateur Radio operators are 
severely limited, so this amendment ensures that amateurs are free to 
pursue their passion wherever they live."

At the same time, he continued, the measure protects the rights of those 
"who have chosen to live in deed-restricted communities and to set their 
own aesthetic and other rules."

In early June, the ARRL and the Community Associations Institute (CAI 
<https://www.caionline.org/> ) -- the national association of homeowners 
associations (HOAs) -- announced that they had reached consensus on 
substitute language for HR 1301 in an effort to move it through 
committee and to overcome objections to the companion US Senate bill, S 
1685 
<https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1685/text> . 
The offices of US Representatives Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), the bill's 
sponsor, Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Walden mediated and offered assistance.

"While it's rare to have two groups with opposing viewpoints walk away 
from legislation happy, by golly, I think we've done it here," Walden 
concluded. He said the substitute bill represented "the best of what our 
committee can do when we work together in bipartisan compromise that 
meets the needs of all parties involved."

In her remarks, Eshoo said she was glad that an agreement had been 
reached on the bill's language, which she initially feared would violate 
the rights of homeowners associations. "We found a balance that works 
for all stakeholders," she said, calling the ARRL and CAI "the bookends 
of the effort."

Kinzinger called the amended bill "a good amendment that strikes the 
right balance."

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