Amateur radio and HOAs

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rapidcharger

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I have an idea. How about the ARRL lobbies for HOAs to be made illegal and the formaton of an HOA punishable by death.
That will solve quite a few problems.

That way PRC117f doesn't have to hear anyone talking about them and as an added bonus we can put up all the antennas we want.
 

SCPD

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I have an idea. How about the ARRL lobbies for HOAs to be made illegal and the formaton of an HOA punishable by death....want.

I know my viewpoint will ruffle feathers.
But something's got to be said about a ham or swl listener who knowingly moves into an HOA, and then has an issue. Anyone who has been into the hobby, and don't consider antennas when ascertaining a purchase, well just saying.
 

rapidcharger

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I know my viewpoint will ruffle feathers.
But something's got to be said about a ham or swl listener who knowingly moves into an HOA, and then has an issue. Anyone who has been into the hobby, and don't consider antennas when ascertaining a purchase, well just saying.

I don't want to derail the thread. Yes, I agree, folks should take responsibility. I read the rules and restrictions before I bought the place. That aside, I was the president of an hoa for 6 long years and that experience has led me to the conclusion that I actually honestly have, which is hoas, save for maybe condos where I don't know how else you could do it, really are a waste, ineffective and inefficient run by power tripping unqualified, egotistical, incredibly stupid, selfish, corrupt greedy pigs. We've got enough microgovernments as it is. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.


As a side note, now everyone knows why the on-air rants about hoas can be rather lengthy!
 

AK9R

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Well, since we are going to derail the thread, might as well start a new thread. <wink, wink>

Yes, an amateur radio operator should consider antenna possibilities when buying a house. But, there's more to life, and house buying, than amateur radio.

When house shopping seven years ago, I eventually decided that any house I thought I'd like in neighborhoods without anti-antenna HOAs was going to be an older house in need of attention. As a first-time home buyer, I wasn't sure I wanted to sign myself up for lots of home repairs. So, I built a new house in a neighborhood with anti-antenna CC&Rs. I've since figured out ways to communicate effectively on 80m through 70cm, have achieved WAS on SSB and RTTY, and have 58 DXCC entities confirmed in LotW. I spend my evenings and weekends playing radio rather than working on the house. As much as I'd like to put up a tower with a tri-band beam, I know it's not gonna happen where I currently live. But, I still have fun with ham radio. Where there's a will, there's a way.
 

mikepdx

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Does everyone on these forums live on a postage stamp sized lot
in an HOA, in an incorporated city?

I sometimes feel like I'm the only one (happily) living in the sticks on acreage.

It's none of my damn business what my neighbors choose to do,
and none of their business what I choose to do.

We believe in good old fashioned freedom and property rights.
Traditional American values.
I bought my land. I decide.

Not a committee of strangers hell bent
on maintaining or creating their version of utopia..

You can have your traffic jams, drive-bys and particularly HOAs.
 
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K7MEM

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Does everyone on these forums live on a postage stamp sized lot
in an HOA, in an incorporated city?

I sometimes feel like I'm the only one (happily) living in the sticks on acreage.

You can have your traffic jams, drive-bys and HOAs.

No, you are far from the only one that lives in the sticks. Sure there are no traffic jams, or HOAs, but I also have no paved roads, no city services (water, trash removal, gas), no mail delivery, no paid fire department, etc.. I have 9 acres and can put up any antenna I want, as long as I kept the out of they way of my horses and the free range cattle. However, eking out a living in the high desert is not as easy as it might seem, but you learn over time.

Since I am not living in a HOA controlled area, it's really not my place to say anything about it, pro or con.
 

rapidcharger

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Ah jeez. I really didn't want to open this can of worms.
My complaints about hoas has absolutely nothing point nothing to do with antenna restrictions. It's really pretty easy to comply with those and they're not that easily enforceable anyway in most cases. Plus you can usually find a place to put the antenna that nobody notices it anyway unless you make enemies who rat you out. That never happened to me. My antennas are in the attic. I have a big, floored, Disney movie style attic you can walk around in. Perfect.

As far as living on acreage well that takes a lot of money and some people need to work in urban centers. You may have no rules but I have 120mbps down speeds on my cell phone. There's trade offs in life.

Anyway as I said before, which really was quite relevant to that other thread, is there is plenty to complain about to exceed 15 minutes of airtime. Does that last sentence now make this thread starting to get derailed? :confused:

I used to believe hoas were a necessary evil but they aren't. They are just another product of our terrible broken housing system in this country and the greed and corruption that keeps it that way.
 

77Impala

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I do not know which is worse HOA's or city historic districts. I have never dealt with a HOA. But I do live just on the other side of the street (literally!) of the down town historic district. And the city expects me to conform to the historic district rules as well.
 

Voyager

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Remember when you could purchase property and you actually owned it?
HOAs are downright unamerican. Some of the fees are higher than the mortgage!
 

RadioPatriots

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Ah jeez. I really didn't want to open this can of worms.
My complaints about hoas has absolutely nothing point nothing to do with antenna restrictions. It's really pretty easy to comply with those and they're not that easily enforceable anyway in most cases. Plus you can usually find a place to put the antenna that nobody notices it anyway unless you make enemies who rat you out. That never happened to me. My antennas are in the attic. I have a big, floored, Disney movie style attic you can walk around in. Perfect.

As far as living on acreage well that takes a lot of money and some people need to work in urban centers. You may have no rules but I have 120mbps down speeds on my cell phone. There's trade offs in life.

Anyway as I said before, which really was quite relevant to that other thread, is there is plenty to complain about to exceed 15 minutes of airtime. Does that last sentence now make this thread starting to get derailed? :confused:

I used to believe hoas were a necessary evil but they aren't. They are just another product of our terrible broken housing system in this country and the greed and corruption that keeps it that way.

Geez RC didn't you learn anything from the "Patriot Act?" It's simple. Just paint your towers in the red, white and blue and put a big American flag on top ... just like the government does with everything they don't want the sheep to scoff at :wink:

EDIT: or tell them it's a LE relay tower and absolutely essential for "officer safety." I could go on...
 

R8000

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Does everyone on these forums live on a postage stamp sized lot
in an HOA, in an incorporated city?

I sometimes feel like I'm the only one (happily) living in the sticks on acreage.

It's none of my damn business what my neighbors choose to do,
and none of their business what I choose to do.

I just searched on YouTube "The worst fire dept in the united states" and, it returned with Grants Pass,OR.

As you would say, in the sticks.

Um, I will keep my nice small city lot with awesome city services such as water, sewage, police dept, fire dept, taxi service, high speed internet. This is all in a lil town of 10,000 people. All this, and I have my 160 meter dipole, fiberglass VHF/UHF antennas and the lot. I can have my ham radio and the convince of a small city offers. Traffic jams only happen when one of our 7 traffic lights turns red. Nice.
 

ab3a

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Living in an HOA is a choice. It is a compromise that one makes for daily life.

Ham Radio doesn't have to be from the home. It can also be at a club station. It can be portable. It can be mobile.

That said, I used to live under a very "active" HOA and I detested it for reasons that had nothing to do with ham radio. I moved to a 100 year old farm house with eight acres of land about 18 years ago.

I guess that speaks for itself.
 

mitbr

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I don't live in an area with an HOA. My city I live in wont let me put up a small tower and my home owners insurance would drop me if I did.
 

rapidcharger

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I don't live in an area with an HOA. My city I live in wont let me put up a small tower and my home owners insurance would drop me if I did.
Funny how sometimes cities and towns are more restrictive than some HOA subdivisions. It's like the city could care less when it thinks you're under control by some HOA.

I guess if you know the rules before hand you need to decide if you can live with them.

The problem is it's becoming more and more difficult to opt out of living in a subdivision. The city lots are being bought up here even when they have houses built on them, bulldozed and turned into neighborhoods and anything remaining turned to commercial.
 

N8OHU

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I don't live in an area with an HOA. My city I live in wont let me put up a small tower

Hmm... I would look into that if I were you; I think the reasonable accommodation provisions of PRB-1 may apply here.

nd my home owners insurance would drop me if I did.

Unless there are financial issues in play here, I would look for another insurance company.
 

N8OHU

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The problem is it's becoming more and more difficult to opt out of living in a subdivision. The city lots are being bought up here even when they have houses built on them, bulldozed and turned into neighborhoods and anything remaining turned to commercial.

An HOA is guaranteed income for the town or city, since they generally establish some kind of agreement with the developer that enables them to provide services like Police and Fire without raising taxes for everyone else.
 
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That said, I used to live under a very "active" HOA and I detested it for reasons that had nothing to do with ham radio. I moved to a 100 year old farm house with eight acres of land about 18 years ago.

I guess that speaks for itself.

I did the same,Lived in WestPhiladelphia,,I was a contract K9 handler.
Had to deal with my nice liberal neighbors calling animal control..when Id have one of my dogs off leash playing in the park..Sure theres a leash law,But Im exempt!...
And when Id bring my long rifles,or carbine in or out...Like miss kravits...Id seen the eyes peeping through the blinds..and knew the 911 callwas already in process..district Capts and shift commanders knew me..
so was never an issue...

Now Im on 3 acre...retired..and spend my days enjoying my lack of human contact!
 

popnokick

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FWIW - There is a bill (HR 1301) before Congress that would affect private land use restrictions with regard to the Amateur Radio Service. HR 1301 would require the FCC to amend its Part 97 Amateur Service rules to apply the three-part test of the PRB-1 federal pre-emption policy to include homeowners' association regulations and deed restrictions, often referred to as "covenants, conditions, and restrictions" (CC&Rs). Details on the ARRL website at -

HR-1301
 

fyrfyter33

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I don't live in an area with an HOA. My city I live in wont let me put up a small tower and my home owners insurance would drop me if I did.

What state do you live in?

Many have codified PRB-1 into State Law. Local ordinances are not allowed to go against state laws in most states. That might be worth a look. http://www.arrl.org/state-statutes

HR1301 as in process now, is meant to deal with HOAs and CC&Rs. The problem with both of these is that there is usually an allowance for Satellite Dishes and OTA TV Antennas, but not radio antennas. I think what most want is equal treatment, especially considering some TV Antennas are more unsightly than some radio antennas.
 
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