[K3CAL] antenna restrictions

Wed Jul 1 12:02:53 EDT 2015

There are two aspects to the antenna restriction topic that often seem to get blended together.

1 - local town, city, county and state zoning rules, regulations and laws

2.- private property home owners associations, rules regulations covenants, or property standards

The first, local town, city, county and state regulations that affected HAMS were written in an en effort to control the explosion of cell towers. These regulations as they affect HAMS have been addressed with a MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER (FCC 85-506) Federal preemption of state and Local Regulations Pertaining to Amateur Radio Facilities.

http://www.arrl.org/antenna-regulation-and-zoning 

This is an old memorandum (seems to me there is a newer one - but I cannot find it right now)

This memorandum basically states that local town, city county, and state regulations cannot prevent the installation of HAM radio antennas so long as they are installed in accordance to local building code.

The Second aspect (private property regulations) is what  the Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 is trying to overrule. 

This bill would override the agreement that has been made between private parties. In a community where property standards or covenants are in place. A Home buyer agrees to guidelines that regulate the appearance of the property they are purchasing. Size of home, color, sheds number of cars storage of boats, RVs etc can all be regulated to meet and exceed the basic government zoning standards to ensure that the community maintains a desired appearance and property value. 

Realtors are required by law to advise the potential home buyer of the existence of the covenants controlling property standards.  They are enforced by a homes association which often includes an annual fee charged to the home owner to support the association or board that over sees the property standards. 

Those HAMS who live in communities with property standards should have been aware of the antenna restrictions when they bought the house. If they feel the restrictions are unfair they should move to a community with out such restrictions. They should not ask the government to override a legal agreement made between private parties. Must be the same people who move into a house located next to an existing airport, complain about the noise and incite the government to restrict its use.  

It seems unlikely that the lowly HAM radio community has enough clout to generate not only one bill but TWO bills related to antenna restrictions. It is more likely that these bills are being pushed by the recently digital over the air TV conversion and cell companies wishing to compete with cable and satellite companies. 

Remember digital signals are bi-directional so suddenly broadcast tv (over the air) can now charge for their products, But only if there are customers with antennas to receive them.

It is very likely that there is MUCH more to these two bills than just antenna restrictions. I wonder how the slight of hand pork barreling in these bills would affect us as Americans ???

Brian K
KB3WFV      

--------------------------------------------
On Tue, 6/30/15, N3AE <n3ae at comcast.net> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [K3CAL] antenna restrictions
 To: "Reflector, K3CAL" <k3cal at mailman.qth.net>
 Date: Tuesday, June 30, 2015, 10:30 PM

 And
 if you think these two bills don't face any opposition,
 read the links below.

            http://www.caionline.org/govt/advocacy/regulatory/Pages/HamRadioOperation.aspx

      http://www.caionline.org/govt/news/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=112

 If
 reading this hogwash upsets you like it did me, you'll
 write to your representatives asking them to sign on as
 co-sponsors.  These HOA's are becoming shadow
 governments trying to control as much of your life as they
 possibly can.

 Recommend following ARRL's
 recommendations for a snail-mail letter using their
 template.   I've tried emailing Hoyer and got a
 response, but I doubt he actually saw or read my email. 
 Probably the same is true of snail-mail but a collection of
 similar letters DOES have an effect.

 Shawn
 N3AE
 From: "Bob
 N3PPH" <bob at n3pph.com>
 To:
 "CARA" <k3cal at mailman.qth.net>
 Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2015 3:04:56
 PM
 Subject: [K3CAL] antenna
 restrictions

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 {font-family:Tahoma;font-size:12pt;}Some have
 or have friends that can't put up antennas due to
 the HOA's and the like. At this point bills in both
 chambers of congress are trying to address this in our
 favor. The article is here. Our
 represenatives are Steny Hoyer http://hoyer.house.gov/ in
 the house, Ben Cardin http://www.cardin.senate.gov/ and
 Barbara  Mikulski http://www.mikulski.senate.gov/ in
 the senate. 73,Bob
 N3PPH 
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