[Elecraft] Ham Ingenuity (WAS: Federal Preemption)

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Man, this issue over deed restrictions and homeowner's associations has gone
on and on and on... Probably has many non-US Hams shaking their heads in
wonder <G>. 

We Hams are a cross-section of our cultures, and America is certainly not an
exception. 

Homeowner's associations are definitely falling from favor. Not because
people want to put up short wave antennas, but because a cross-section of
people don't want another layer of administration telling them what they can
or cannot do. 

I regularly work in residential real estate, and I have seen that homes in
neighborhoods with associations do not appreciate was well nor sell as fast
as other homes. The system has backfired on the very benefits it was
supposed to provide. More and more buyers simply refuse to consider any home
that has an association controlling it. 

If you aren't comfortable circumventing the restrictions, then perhaps the
right approach is to take it heads on. Not for permission for your personal
case, but for all the homeowners to protect them and their investment. 

The bottom line, as someone else pointed out, is if you don't want to live
by the rules, don't sign on the bottom line that you will, especially if
you're uncomfortable breaking the rules, even secretly!

In the meantime, you can get out with a legal antenna in your attic or
elsewhere. Shoot, did you know that you can bury a doublet underground?
It'll show about 14 to 16 dB loss compared to a doublet at typical Ham
heights. Okay, if you're a QRPer, try running a K2/100. Your signal will be
about equivalent <G>. And QRN from such underground antennas is very, very
low! Just be sure to put the antenna inside a pipe so it's not in intimate
contact with the soil and  water. One installation I've seen documented uses
4" PVC for the antenna wire with a plastic garbage can in the center, buried
up to its lid. The lid provides an easy access to check for water and the
owner put the ATU in there so coax line runs to the shack, underground of
course! Heys discusses underground antennas in his little book, "Practical
Wire Antennas" published by the RSGB and available through many sources
including the ARRL. 

Us Hams are known for being ingenious and adapting to a given situation. It
was just that sort of thing that caused us, when we were relegated to the
'useless' wavelengths below 200 meters, to discover the "shortwaves" and the
completely unsuspected skip propagation that we all take for granted now.

People who have opted to live in a restricted neighborhood have simply
chosen a different set of challenges! 

Ron AC7AC