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

Fri Jul 15 12:47:02 EDT 2016

Same feeling here. I lived in Hong Kong on the 16th floor of a 21 story building. There were no rules , at least any read to me. I hung dual dipoles on both sides of the building, just inches outside our windows. The roof of a building there belongs to the person owning the top floor flats. The owner wouldn't even talk to me. Finally, after a year, that owner moved, and a new Israeli moved in. I showed up within a week, with at multiband vertical in hand, showed it to him, and explained what I wanted. He said, no problem, as long as it didn't get into his electronic piano or stereo. I immediately got escorted out to the roof, hooked the bottom of the antenna to a pipe there, dropped coax down and inside trough that held water pipes, and hooked it up on my floor. It worked for a year, thru 3 major typhoons (one of them a class 5). When taken down, it was bent over almost 40 degrees, but was still working. (The only ham antenna that remained working after the class 5). 

We do what we have to do, but we certainly don't want attention brought to our antennas, in situations like this. It is a shame. I thought this rule was going to allow us to put up antennas, no matter what the "association" said. So much for help. I cant see a whole lot of difference than before. I, at least presumed that it would forbid FUTURE associations to stick their hands in it. House builders got their way. 

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

From: "stan levandowski" <sjl219 at optonline.net> 
To: "CW Reflector" <cw at mailman.qth.net> 
Cc: cw at mailman.qth.net 
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2016 11:50:16 AM 
Subject: Re: [CW] Amateur Radio Parity Act Receives Favorable House Energy and Commerce Committee Report 

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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-----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 of the Amateur Radio Parity Act, H.R. 1301 , 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 ) -- 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 . 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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