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How I Deal With Stucco...

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by WJ6F, Mar 26, 2017.

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  1. W1YW

    W1YW Ham Member QRZ Page

    Oh, you got stucco!

    With apologies to Groucho.
     
    W0PV likes this.
  2. WB2WIK

    WB2WIK Platinum Subscriber Platinum Subscriber QRZ Page

    Even without the wire mesh, and I think it's always used as that's what holds the stucco in place until it cures, stucco sucks as a dielectric.

    It's mostly "cement," which as a dielectric is similar to "dirt."

    However my home is stucco and I have zero problems since my antennas are on a tower that's much taller than the house is.

    I think the "issue" is trying to use an indoor antenna when you have stucco siding. That's like using an antenna inside a Faraday cage...some RF might leak out, but it's a terrible dielectric.
     
  3. W1YW

    W1YW Ham Member QRZ Page

    Vhy a Duck?
     
  4. AB2YC

    AB2YC Guest QRZ Page

    I have aluminum siding, I like how it keeps the RF out of the shack.
     
  5. K3FHP

    K3FHP XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    Ditto, no sympathy for self inflicted injuries. of course there are those older folks who took up radio for the first time after moving into their retirement homes. For those, my sympathies... just bas luck, but there are many stealthy ways to play ham radio even there.

    As for stucco, if done directly over CBS construction, no mesh is used, you just have to dodge the rebar filled solid pour support columns.
     
  6. AF6LJ

    AF6LJ Ham Member QRZ Page

    I remember hearing you out there, on 7.255
    The day this recording was made.
    Cool...
    Works reasonably well.
     
    WJ6F likes this.
  7. W7AMR

    W7AMR Ham Member QRZ Page


    Is it possible that one buys into an HOA not because wants "MOANING AND WHINING AND CRYING ABOUT THE CC&R's" but have no more money?

    So, if someone lives in "CONCENTRATION CAMP" should shut up and give back his license to FCC?

    Senator Nelson of Florida was the only one who stopped "parity act".

    What a pitty!
     
  8. OH2FFY

    OH2FFY Ham Member QRZ Page

    EXACTLY !!!!
    If a Ham moves into a housing area and in doing so thereby agrees to restrictions posed by the management or building committee , then they should honor their agreement
    If the agreement says no antennas ,,, then it's NO ANTENNAS.

    Not antennas hidden , not antennas sneakily put up at night ,, it means NO ANTENNAS.

    If you don't like those sorts of restrictions , just don't move there.
    It's all your fault if you do.

    But if you do move to a HOA place , then act honorably , and HONOR YOUR AGREEMENT !!!!


    Of course people without honor and are self centered will have a different view to mine.


    gregW:) OH2FFY
     
    KG5EXW likes this.
  9. KF5WKW

    KF5WKW Ham Member QRZ Page

    I'm sure you realize that brick is just a veneer over what is normally two-by-fours (wood or steel) and plywood? The brick are "held" in place by steel ties that are nailed to the studs every so many feet. I don't know of many residential homes that are build of cinder or concrete block to which stucco can be easily applied. Even if they are, there will be a lattice-work of steel re-bar embedded within concrete within those walls. While not as bad as wire mesh, it is still not conducive to efficient transmission of RF from inside to outside. Most residential homes require chicken wire or stretched wire lath to hold the stucco. That said, there are many effective ways to get an antenna outside, even in HOA restricted neighborhoods. That being said, if people don't want HOA's, they should never support them. It's that way with most things. The problem lies in that most people no longer care about freedom.
     
  10. KF1P

    KF1P Ham Member QRZ Page

    We lived in California. At least when we had dealings with the Home Owner's Associations there was some understanding. Seems like Northridge (Earthquake) is still on their minds in the San Fernando Valley. We moved from there to South Carolina and it was the other extreme. Ya had to ask the HOA for permission for anything. So I learned "End-Fed Stealth-Wire" and did quite well. Last year we sold that place and moved to 1.33 acres. No HOA and underground utilities (thank you Duke-Energy). A "High Noise Day" is S-3. Since the place is virtually treeless I use single-band verticals with a lot of radials.

    Now as far as Stucco: It is concrete. Question: would you put your antenna in a concrete box? Same for any of the new "Low-E" Windows. Would you put your antenna inside a thin aluminum box? Always think "Outside the box". Get any antenna as free and clear as possible.

    I would go camping with a Yaesu FT-817 and enjoy Radio when the mood struck to work HF. But that is another story.
     
  11. K1SZO

    K1SZO XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    Is there a lot of nice girls there? :eek::D:p
     
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  12. WB2JIX

    WB2JIX XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    I agree. It's an article topic. I am in a stucco condo/HOA as well. I work around the problem, not through it.
    Brian
     
  13. AK7DB

    AK7DB XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    We live in a Stucco house in NV and have no issues hitting local repeaters with an HT from inside the house and we have low e windows as well. Our HOA allows antennas as long as they are in the back yard and no taller than the highest peak of the house so I do have a few outside antennas that work well. We really tried to find a house that was not in an HOA but that's not always an option.
     
    WJ6F likes this.
  14. W4KJG

    W4KJG Subscriber QRZ Page

    In my lifetime, I'm not sure I can recall all of the many homes I've lived in. My dad worked in the Great Lakes shipping industry of the 30s-60s. The industry shuts down when the ice gets more than about 2-feet thick in the Lake Superior ports.

    One of my dad's many hobbies was buying awful houses late each summer and rebuilding them over the long winters (we were "re-hab addicts" and didn't even know it.) Worse than that, my wife of nearly 42 years and I have bought, built/restored more properties than I can remember. Many have been in HOA/CC&R areas .

    We just sold an HOA home in an over 55 development that we owned for about 7-8 years. When it wasn't rented, my wife and i enjoyed it as a city get-away in the winters. I operated HF there without any real issues. I am currently sitting in the garage of our HOA beach home in North Carolina. The weather is fantastic and the ocean is beautiful. The alligator pond behind our back deck was so loud with frogs last night that we had to shut the windows and turn on the air conditioning.

    Like with many of the properties we've bought, lived in, rented, and sold-- many have been in HOA/CC&R areas. I have been asked to help start and serve on more HOAs than I can remember. They have ranged from rural multi-acre places to townhouses. I've always been able to operate HF. Most of the standard CC&R "boiler plate" bylaws and restrictions forbid antennas, chickens and pigs. Dogs and cats were allowed in all. Horses and cattle were allowed in some -- just not chickens, pigs or antennas. I've raised a lot of chickens and I've raised a lot of antennas without issues.

    I currently serve on the HOA Board of Directors and the HOA Architectural Review Board at our beach home. My wife and I do a lot of volunteer work within the HOA. This is typical of what we've done together in more than the last 40 years. I have few issues-- but I also have very non-noticeable antennas.

    In the 1970s I worked in Reston, Virginia when it was still a new "planned community." The wife of one of my co-workers was the one responsible for getting the first "Clothesline Ban" lifted in HOAs in Virginia.

    My feeling is that if you are part of the planning, enforcement, management and VOLUNTEER FORCES, and you don't try to push to the extremes with a huge tower and monster antenna, you can get permission for good usable "stealth" HF antennas.

    Ken
    K8KJG/4
    (/4 for four more days before I head to non-HOA cold country in WV)
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2017
    K4KPT and WJ6F like this.
  15. WJ6F

    WJ6F Ham Member QRZ Page

    Thanks for the comment and for watching! Hope all is well out your way!
     
    AF6LJ likes this.

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