Now that I no longer have a job associated with FedGov and my current company is WFH-friendly, after Thing 2 is out of the house, we'll be looking to get out of here as well. My vote is for the WV or TN mountains, but SWMBO wants to be closer to the beach (she grew up in the mountains and has no love for them). Chris
Most copy and paste. We found one HOA that required permits from the town next door. Cable company helped drive it. Ban antenna and we will wire subdivision. Power company pushes underground utility. The worst case is roads. If your roads are not up to code they do not get accepted. HOA is then on the hook for maintenance. We moved out as far as we could taking in consideration Doctors, hospital access and landing zone medical EVAC.
If your particular family/career needs mean you’ll be in an HOA or CCR-controlled QTH, then so be it. But accept that and take the severe antenna restrictions or the outright ban as a challenge, not an obstacle. When I did that, I enjoyed ham radio much more and didn’t grouse over it or play the “woe is me” song. Here’s some concrete things that I did, but after I moved to my current QTH. 1. Go to https://haminfo.tetranz.com/map, plug in the address of the property and see how many hams are in the vicinity, then check out their QRZ pages and see how active they are, what antennas they have, etc. You might find some hams with stealth antennas that you can partner with to give you a hand with your setup. 2. Take pics of the property you’re interested in from the street, from different places on the street. This will give you an idea of what other residents can see while they’re walking/driving by. Some streets provide an awful lot of eyeball time of your property, so consider how many seconds and from what vantage point a driver would be looking directly into your yard, or how long a walker can feast his/her eyes on your yard. The pics will help you identify places in your yard to avoid putting something, or at least put some vegetation in to help conceal anything you do or put up. 3. Scope out your trees and natural cover. Wire antennas can easily be hidden, and some verticals can be as well. See how well the the trees/cover conceal your house, provide thick areas for hidden antennas, etc. 4. Scope out what other people have in their yards. It won’t be antennas, of course, but the presence of yard art and other stuff means “stuff in the yard” won’t really stand out too much, which might be a good way to disguise, for instance, a magnetic loop antenna. 5. Remember the experimental nature of ham radio. Remember that most everything will work, but you have to accept your limitations. Are you used to 500 watts SSB and pointing your yagi toward Europe or Asia and working anyone you want? Well, you may end up with a dipole, EFHW, magnetic loop, or something else compromised and find yourself shut out of those cool openings. Maybe it’s time to work on your Morse skills or explore digital HF so you can use much less power but still get through. Consider the ham satellites. Consider working only mobile. Or find the local parks in your area and go all-POTA for a while. It can be done! 73 de Jeff, KF5KWO Helotes, TX stealth ham on HF since 2003
@KF5KWO, Great stuff and exactly the sort of thing we need to be focusing on. BTW, years ago, right when I got licensed, I bought this book: Low Profile Amateur Radio: Operating a Ham Station from Almost Anywhere: Al Brogdon: 9780872599741: Amazon.com: Books I don't know if it's still available though, the Amazon price is insane (maybe I should sell my copy). It's maybe 3/8" thick and something you can read in an afternoon. Chris
HOA's are inherently. Builders use them in municipal jurisdictions to gain cod waivers, delete sidewalks and get variances. Cities collect the same taxes on gated communities while sloughing off city service on the HOA. Roads, retention ponds and police services and hydrants are left to the community. As an annuity stream gate house and community center/rec halls and fitness centers are leased to the community on a 99 year lease. My old community the gate house which was similar to a one car garage had a rent of about $4,600 per month on a "triple net lease." Add our cable service was on a community contract with no option to opt out. Funny my community allowed basketball hoops, parking on sidewalks and signs galore. A simple two meter antenna on your car and the guard would block your entry!
Instead of offering meaningful help, I see the usual “Anti-Everything” QRZ crowd is dominating this thread with their predictable rhetoric.
The CCR's of our gated community stated no external antennas. We placed a contingency clause in the sales contract (new home, small lot) for a 43 foot monopole. Submitted the usual docs, location on plot plan, not visible from the street, copy of ticket, direct communication with local public safety, etc. The HOA granted permission straightaway; maybe the builder was leaning on them. However, we were willing to stand our ground and bail out. I reckon they knew that. Of course, it helps if there are enough trees around to shoot wires for the higher bands. Who is going to look up at a grove of trees in the backyard, especially on common property? And, the neighbors are great. So, there are some things one can do. You learn to be patient working DX and become a better op. 73 de K3BR
The most precious advice about what to do before moving into an HOA restricted area is, "dude, you'd better think this through, because after the fact, you're pretty much stuck". And it's been repeated - some 10 pages worth - on this forum, at the time of this comment. Freedom is a wonderful thing, but only if one takes advantage of it. From my own point of view, the mandatory water retention pond and the fountain with the colored lights just isn't worth the trouble a single, self-important HOA-cop will cause ... and that neighborhood is gonna be FULL of them .... and it won't be just about ham antennas!
The problem is people, their attitudes, and wanting to get into business they have no business getting into. When I sold my house in Ocean Shores, my wife and I had to move quickly and the only condo/apartment we could find was a building run by an HOA. Well, we moved in and the building dumpster was full and we couldn't fit some of the moving boxes. The condo owner forwarded me an email with the words "It has been reported that the new resident in your unit failed to place their moving boxes in the dumpster." Reported? OK. Not happy about that. Filed that in the brain for future reference. I replied directly to the HOA president myself explaining the dumpster was full. I was polite, even nice by Jersey standards. I get a terse email back was told, well, you need to put your boxes in the dumpster. I replied the dumpster was full and it was not possible. Well, let's say her attitude wasn't quite kind, threatening me with a fine etc. My reply was, "What part of THE DUMPSTER WAS COMPLETELY FULL" did you fail to comprehend? Then I got the attitude that she was the HOA president etc. and a former police officer. Well, that got my Jersey attitude going, but I kept quiet. She said I could still be fined even as a renter. That clinched it. Jersey attitude kicked in. I told her where to take her attitude, and place it where the sun doesn't shine. We moved a month later. I didn't care if she was HOA president, a cop, or the Queen of England. That being said, I never take kindly to someone lording a title or position over me like they're better than me or something. I now live in a senior building where the gossip mongers look for any shred of information they can find about you. There was one maintenence man I hadn't met yet. A resident saw me walking down the hall and reported me to him. He comes blazing out of his office asking if I lived here, followiing me asking over and over. Now this is literally right after a phone call informing me my mother had passed away. I mean LITERALLY after that phone call. Lucky for him, the manager came out before I broke him in two. My attitude at the moment wasn't the best, and I did go to his office later and apologize and explained what happened. The timing at that moment was just totally wrong, so it does go both ways. I asked him, if in the future some resident wants to know anything about me, he reply "I don't know." Situation resolved. The management here knows I'm a ham radio operator and have made no secret about it. I respect the no outside antennas rule. I can use something temporary with their blessing. I can go up to the roof garden late at night when most if not all the residents are in slumberland. I chose to move here for the conveniences, and since I am here, there are rules and they have to be followed. That was my choice. I can wheel the cart my radio is on to the elevator and go up to the roof garden. I have 100 feet of speaker wire I can lay behind the planters and roll it up when I'm done. I look at it as a challenge. There is a problem or two with this idea however. You see, I can't drive an 8 ft ground rod through the roof. <GRIN> Also, there are no outside power outlets within the confines of the garden area. There is one I found that's outside the railing enclosing the garden area but it is being used by a set of lights and I can't reach it. There is an outlet in the vestebule leading to the elevator and I can probably use that, so that solves one problem. I figure late at night, no one will come up and trip on the 100 ft wire or the extension cord. The only worry I have is setting off the fire alarm system with 100 watts, especially when there is no earth ground. There are silver conduits along the railing that I can reach and I found what looks like a ground (bare copper wire) but I'm not sure what the conduits are for, or what that bare copper wire is for. I'll look, but I won't touch. There is also some sort of antenna up there like a microwave antenna that looks like a barbecue grille. Not sure what that's for either but it is defnitely directional. Any ideas on how to get back on HF would be truly appreciated.
Do you have any friends or relatives that you can set your gear and antenna up at? You could then run remotely. Just a thought.
Great post, Jeff. Thanks for contributing so widely and helpfully to the discussion. Quin, K8QS Subscribe to "Ham Radio Perspectives" YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3MJT8o8-XMxF8XROf7Q5GA/videos
Great idea. We should have addressed this topic in our video. Quin, K8QS Subscribe to "Ham Radio Perspectives" YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3MJT8o8-XMxF8XROf7Q5GA/videos
I'm a realtor in the Charlotte and surrounding area. I hate HOA areas. HOA's have always existed, but it's the "fair housing" laws that have cause the proliferation of HOAs. They are simply people's last line of defense in living in a stable neighborhood. But essentially it's a double tax. Just like private school is double tax. You pay the government their ransom to spend on their schools, and you pay again to send your child to a better school. A lot of people like HOA's, if they can afford it. But to a ham radio operator it's poison.
