IMPORTANT FCC Issues Request for Comments on EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS BY AMATEUR RADI

Come on everyone, get out your pencils and start writing. Also get your friends to do the same. We can finally change things for the hams living in HOA/CC&R communities with strict antenna or no antenna policies, like myself come this summer. When the Japan Tsunami alerts went out, I volunteered as a civil defense spotter and watched for wave heights using the activated civil defense vhf net. I bet when disaster struck, each of you got involved in one way or another and many of you probably live in a HOA/CC&R community. I'll be spending parts of this weekend writing my comments. 73 and Aloha from Hawaii, Delwyn KH6DC

 

My turn to rant.......

Amazing, I read through the most recent comments sent to the FCC on this question. Low and behold the flood gates were opened.
The question is basically how is EMCOMM and Amateur Radio being impacted by the likes of HOA's and CC&R's.
Not how things have been ruined by No Code Hams. Someone actually responded with a request to raise the power limits on FRS radios?
Really? What on earth does FRS or GMRS for that matter have to do with Amateur Radio or EMCOMM Operations?

It's great that people want to get involved with Government. I'm all for that, but some of the responses that have been submitted are laughable.

If you want to help, then help. Don't whine about how it used to be. And there are proper channels for complaining about HF interference problems, use them.

If these people would just stick to the actual question it would help everyone and save a lot of time. The FCC needs to be made aware of how many people are being effected by the Antenna Nazi's. Yes, they know its a problem but maybe not the scale. Same with your legislators, they work for the loudest groups and Hams have been silent for too long.

Respond to this, tell the FCC that Amateurs are being restricted to death in most modern developments. Ham Radio antennas do not ruin the property values, this has been proven time and time again. In Alaska like most of the Pacific Northwest, Earthquakes and Tsunamis are a real threat. Fewer and fewer EMCOMM capable Hams means less EMCOMM response in a disaster. VHF/UHF is all well and good for local work, but like we saw when Katrina hit the Gulf Coast those repeater based systems should never be counted on. HF will work, I don't care what mode you choose. CW, Digital or phone.
Without at least a simple wire antenna your not talking on HF. The HOA's and CC&R's want no antennas because they do not understand the threat. They are under the impression that the Government will step in and take care of communications, like FEMA did in the Gulf?
Since common sense won't get them to accept the obvious then it's time the laws are change to force them to see daylight.
If not for the law they would still be denying Dish Network Antennas or as is the case here now Digital TV Antennas.

Most of us trapped in these developments would be happy if they would just allow wire dipoles that are made of 20ga wire. From 50 feet away you couldn't even see that against the sky. Having asked and been denied by a HOA Board for just such an antenna for the purpose of the Amateur Hobby and EMCOMM (I even sited that I needed this as I was involved with Army MARS).

Yes I am frustrated by the process, but I am further dismayed by some Amateurs who don't live with restrictions and simply say we should move. How practical is that? I seriously doubt most Hams can simply up and move to pursue their radio involvement.

Am done with the rant. All I ask is if you respond to this question about how is EMCOMM and Amateur Radio being impacted, tell the FCC that PB-1 did not go anywhere near far enough. I don't know the number of Hams living under restrictions but I have to think its a lot more than we can live with.

So your turn, slam me if you must.


Ron, KL7YK
Anchorage, AK

 

I've read the FCC Public Notice. It's writer has more questions than a hippie at a Chamber of Commerce meeting. Furthermore there is no body of research to support possible answers to just about all of these questions. The FCC is required to solicit these comments by the enactment of a Public Law. FCC might as well be asking for anecdotes, because they're sure going to get them. Just wait until the banking and homebuilding lobbyists get into the act.

 

A very timely and worthwhile article. I'll be glad to add my commentaries to the FCC. I too live in an HOA home developement, ( A.K.A. Gestapo), and would like to have more antennas. Other than my wire hidden in the trees.

 

Done and sent!

 

Many thanks to all those who send their comments to FCC or provided constructive input.

The best we can do is to provide factual information about how ham radio can make difference and how CC&R's may impede vital emergency communications that can ultimately result in loss of life.

I have two specific examples from personal experience that I included in my comments to FCC

I used to live in Louisiana in 2005, when hurricane Katrina ravaged the area. My part of the city was without electricity and phone service for six weeks. Cellular phones n the whole area didn't work for about the same period. Satellite phones provided by our company were useless because the service was saturated with so many simultaneous users. Hams played a vital role in coordinating delivery of food, water and medicines. FEMA was a joke - ask anybody who lives in the New Orleans area.

I am also a volunteer weather spotter for the NWS and Skywarn. Every time there is severe weather I can hear hams providing valuable weather information, especially from remore location. Technology can not replace the role their play, and the NWS knows that. On March 2, when a series of tornados destroyed parts of Southern Indiana and Northern Kentucky, I know the lives were saved in Southern Ohio because timely warnings were issued, greatly in part to reports provided by hams. I was very fortunate in the sense that I had no hazardous weather to report, but I have heard many reports, some of them really dramatic, of things happening at other locations.

I live in a community under CC&R's and I can clearly show how the rules affect my ability to help NWS with severe weather reports.

I bet that other hams can provide hundreds of real-life examples. It is this kind of factual information that can provide FCC with the enough ammunition to extend PRB-1 to private CC&R's.

I believe that FCC is on our side, but they need facts and examples to prove the point.

S. Bucki
KD8KQH

 

Yeah, because getting the federal govt involved in a private matter is usually the best thing to do...

 

okay i hate hoa's just as bad as anyone else but no one is forced to go into an hoa when they purchase a property. i wanted to put up my tower so i purchased a home outside of an hoa area. it is pretty simple, maybe people who have hoa's do not want antennas and towers ..if a person is willing to sign up for an hoa they should be willing to live with being told what to do in that hoa..as much as i hate hoa's and love ham radio not everyone feels the same way about a 50 foot tower in their area of living..

 

The HamRadioNow.tv video podcast has posted a discussion on this issue with ARRL CEO Dave Sumner K1ZZ.

 

But it's not just a 50-foot tower. Much of the 'boilerplate' language in the CC&R's prohibits (or requires permission for) ALL ham antennas - dipoles, HF and VHF verticals, the stuff that compromise is made of on an urban or suburban neighborhood lot.

No one knows what will result from this study and the eventual changes from Congress and the FCC, but blanket authority to erect a 50-foot tower anywhere is not likely.

Watch the discussion at HamRadioNow.tv.

 

My condo association allows generators, cable T.V. utility boxes and by federal law 24" satellite T.V. dishes plus flag poles. Pet rules do not apply to "service animals", reasonable rules should apply to an Amateur Radio antenna. As for I knew what I was getting into. Try and buy a condo or house that doesn't have these restrictive rules? You'll end up living in the "hood" or so far out in the country you have none of the services you may need.

 

So what would "reasonable" restrictions, accepted as a community standard that can be adopted and enforced by the immense, far reaching and intrusive powers of the Federal Government, overruling local civil contracts known as HOAs?

 

Lets give replies to the FCC like KD8KQH citing actual impacts and examples. Call signs, locations, specific examples. If we fight this as a whole body and demand our rights back, as operators, reporters and watchers, we can win this.

 

Thanks for posting this. I sent my comments. Even an opening that allows for lower visual impact antennas could change the landscape for amateurs in many communities. It would take non-trivial research and care to craft specific language to create such an environment.

Although this may seem to be a federal intrusion into private contracts, it should also be noted that a similar intrusion occurred to ensure satellite TV companies could compete with cable companies in urban areas. The root basis of such an action, or OTARD for that matter, could be viewed as the FCC exercising its jurisdiction, rather than expanding it. They are asserting that only the FCC can regulate certain transmitting/receiving antennas, not local governments, and not (to some extent) private contracts. TV viewers aren't even licensed by the FCC.

I'm glad it's being considered.

Dan, W4LI

 

What he said.