[TVARC] Making antennas in our HOAs legal

Mon Sep 29 09:01:15 EDT 2025

Bob,

The allowance of a 43-foot vertical or flagpole in HOAs is probably too
high.  The Villages currently allows no more than 22 feet as I found when
putting up my 6BTV inside PVC as a flagpole.  (You can get away with a bit
higher which I did.)  The usual complaint is that the antenna must not fall
on an adjacent property.  If that is the case, it means poor installation
or a cat 4+ hurricane, in which case more home damage is likely from the
storm.

73 de Ed

On Mon, Sep 29, 2025 at 4:38 AM James Simpson via TVARC <
tvarc at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

> Bob, N4REE,
>
> I believe your suggested number of hams in The Villages exceeds 400 plus
> hams. Not sure exactly how to verify that but 200 is much to low based on
> comments I have heard in the Villages Amateur Radio Club meetings.
>
> This must be verified by some reasonable means before we use it to make
> any proposals for legal status modifications.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
> 622 Tracy Dr, The Villages, Fl. 32159
> Jim Simpson, KF8J
> 937-478-0996
>
> On Sep 27, 2025, at 3:50 PM, N4REE - Bob via TVARC <tvarc at mailman.qth.net>
> wrote:
>
> As many of you probably know, the ARRL is attempting yet again to help
> us make our antennas legal.  Maybe the proposed legislation will work this
> time.
>
> For you who haven't heard about it yet, the ARRL has prepared legislation
> and is doing letter preparation and delivery for us. They offer a site
> where any of us can fill out a simple form that gets letters sent to our
> House Representative and both of our Senators.  If you haven't been there
> yet, please visit: https://send-a-letter.org/hoa/
>
> WAIT, THERE'S MORE you might want to know:
>
> * Bob White, K0NR, has a summary of antennas the legislation will allow,
> at: https://www.k0nr.com/wordpress/2025/09/pass-the-bill/
> He summarizes, the bill requires that specific amateur radio antennas NOT
> require approval from HOAs or similar organizations for:
> - Antennas that are 1 meter or less in diameter
> - Flagpole antennas, not to exceed 43 feet in height
> - Wire antennas – minimally obtrusive wire antennas
> - Vertical antennas – not to exceed 43 feet in height
>
> * The legislation itself mentions a few permissible restrictions, at:
> https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/hr1094/BILLS-119hr1094ih.pdf
> Namely:
> - Compliance with manufacturer specifications, zoning ordinances, tower
> ordinances and building codes
> - Be maintained in a structurally safe manner
> - Be removed if the property on which the antenna exists ceases to be in
> control of the owner/operator.
> - Ground-mounted antenna structures and enclosures are to be shielded from
> view from the street and neighboring properties.
>
> ADDITIONALLY, the ARRL has a page that explains their thinking and they
> actually mention THE VILLAGES on that page.  See it at:
> https://www.arrl.org/current-legislation
>
> Full text of the ARRL's letter is here:
> https://send-a-letter.org/hoasampleletter/
>
> While these might not be the antennas we really want, these conditions
> offer us many more legal options than we currently have, along with legal
> justification we can use with the Architecture Review Boards and our
> neighbors.
>
> For my part, I have already signed up for the ARRL letters.  I'm also
> going another step further in creating my own letters to send to my 3 reps.
> It seems to me that a bit more local "color" might catch their attention.
> To that end, I've added two paragraphs that I place in the middle of the
> ARRL letter.   Use something like these if you please.
>
> Bob, N4REE additions:
> -----------------------------
> Amateur radio operators serve critical emergency communications when
> commercial infrastructure fails.  To me, this is especially important in
> Florida where frequent hurricanes cause communications disruptions.
> Amateur radio operators are here to help when cell towers and other
> commercial radio installations are destroyed by storms, as with hurricane
> Milton in Tampa, Jacksonville, Miami and Orlando last year.
>
> My community, The Villages, has a population estimated at 150,000.  We
> have over 200 licensed amateur radio operators here. Each of us have a
> restriction in our property covenants that prohibits "aerials of any
> kind."  With the legal antennas proposed in this legislation, we can be far
> more helpful during emergencies, and can use our antennas during calmer
> times to keep our skills honed.
> -----------------------------
> Please consider joining in and pushing our congress people for this
> legislation.
> 73 de N4REE, Bob
> n4ree at bob-eastom.com
>
> --
> QRP Forever ---===+++===--- Make CW a second language
> https://bob-easton.com/n4ree
>
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