[GreenKeys] ARRL Request to Contact Your US Senators

Thu Jul 27 12:26:42 EDT 2017

I used to live in a condo with some heavy handed antenna restrictions. The rules prohibited outdoor antennas of any kind, antennas in the attic, indoor antennas and antennas on vehicles. They also prohibited transmitters and even specifically banned CB equipment. I suspect that the rules were written during the CB craze of the late 1970s because of the specific mention of CB. The rules were rewritten after a change in the board of directors, who then asked condo owners for comments on the new rules before they were finalized. I pointed out to them some of the things that were prohibited, including: cell phones, wifi, Bluetooth, wireless thermometers, home automation systems, AM radios, FM radios, TVs with rabbit ear antennas and cars with radios in them. Apparently someone read my email because most of the restrictions were gone when the new rules went into effect. One that remained, of course, was the restriction on outdoor antennas.

I bought the condo a few years before my interest in ham radio was rekindled and I got another license. My job also required extensive travel and I was not concerned about antenna restrictions. Since then, I’ve retired, got an extra class license, moved into a house and am selling the condo next week. The antenna restrictions on the house are minimal, there is no HOA and the body that is supposed to enforce the deed restrictions disappeared during the savings & loan mess many years ago. I have a 6BTV vertical at the end of the driveway, an end fed half wave stretching from one side of the yard to the other, a 2m and 70 cm eggbeater on a mast and am thinking of putting up some kind of HF beam antenna. I used to have an OCF dipole stretching from the back yard into the front yard, but the performance was disappointing and I took it down. Some of the proceeds from the condo sale will be used to buy an Icom 7610 when it goes on sale later this year.

Andy KG5ABO

> On Jul 27, 2017, at 1:27 AM, Raymond Cote <bluegrassdakine at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> So i guess my 200' LP would be out of the question. Or my satellite VHF Yagi. 
> Sad.  Good thing i live on a 2 acre farm
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Raymond Côté 
>> Ex US Navy ET1 (SS)
>> Submarine service
>>  
>> Ex Univ of Hawaii
>> Oceanographer
>> underwater volcanology
>> 
>> Ham license -KD9CCZ
>> Commercial radio telephone license PG-21-3809
> 
> 
> On Jul 27, 2017, at 00:13, "hwhall at compuserve.com <mailto:hwhall at compuserve.com>" <hwhall at compuserve.com <mailto:hwhall at compuserve.com>> wrote:
> 
>> I'm kinda in the same frame of mind as Jeff.  When I sign a contract, I don't normally expect the government to void it so I can play with a favorite hobby.  OTOH, I believe the spirit of the contracts is to prevent eyesores that lower property values, because buyers want to know their big investment has some protection.  In that spirit, stealth antennas appear to be fair play.  They aren't eyesores & often are invisible, no effect on property appearance or value.  Some stealth ideas actually aren't antennas per se, they're flagpoles, gutters, etc., that we are able to use like antennas (hi hi).
>> 
>> I've also seen in established neighborhoods, the old HOA has lost it's zeal & often its members, and as long as you're not raising your neighbor's dander you can get away with reasonable stuff that's technically non-contractual.  I'm told that the more that happens, the less enforceable the contract becomes.  Any lawyers on board to weigh in on that?
>> 
>> My own neighborhood orginally banned antennas, yet when we were looking to buy, there was one CB-looking monopole down the street.  I also noted that the covenant "grandfathered" anything that was not objected to in the first few days after construction.  Read yours carefully for any "outs" like that.
>> 
>> Wayne
>> WB4OGM
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Jeffrey Angus <jdangus at att.net <mailto:jdangus at att.net>>
>> To: greenkeys <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net <mailto:greenkeys at mailman.qth.net>>
>> Sent: Wed, Jul 26, 2017 6:06 pm
>> Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] FW: ARRL Request to Contact Your US Senators Supporting S 1534 - the Amateur Radio Parity Act
>> 
>> On 7/26/17 5:01 PM, Jack wrote:
>> 
>> And now, for a probably unpopular opposing view point.
>> 
>> I've heard all sorts of excuse about why one would chose to live in a HOA
>> or CC&R controlled house. But the bottom line is that these restrictions are
>> there for a reason. "Keep 'those people' out of here." And the reason you
>> want to live there is you don't want "those people" for neighbors.
>> "Those people" are, pick your poison, minorities, gypsies, white trash etc.
>> I have news for you, as amateur radio people, we are also "those people."
>> 
>> Online forums and QST, the "official journal of the ARRL" have for the past
>> 20 years or so consistently published articles on how you can circumvent
>> the contract you knowingly signed and erect some sort of stealth antenna.
>> Bird houses and flag poles are two of the more popular ones.
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