We may be underestimating the number of hams in The Villages!

There are 321 licensed operators in zip code 32162 and 323 licensed operators in zip code 32163.

Of course, many of these may be inactive or SK’s.

73,

Don WB4CKI

From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of James Simpson via TVARC
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2025 12:38 AM
To: Bob N4REE <[email protected]>
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [TVARC] Making antennas in our HOAs legal

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 <[email protected]> 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
[email protected]

--
QRP Forever ---===+++===--- Make CW a second language
https://bob-easton.com/n4ree

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