LMAO! You do realize we have near 100deg temps swings in a 12 month period in Northern VA? By that I mean Winter lows around zero and Summer highs around 100 (with near 100% humidity and bugs). It was 97deg yesterday (we haven't peaked yet). It's not pleasant to sit outside outside of early Fall or late Spring. You dress for the weather and prepare accordingly. It's not hard. Chris
Damn!!! It's going to be another HOT day here in the Northeast. Maybe a thunderstorm later in the afternoon to cool things off.
In the UK we don't have the equivalent of an HOA but planning permission from the local authority is needed in most cases, if it is more than 3m high or anything above the roofline other than a single antenna. In some cases it's extremely difficult to get planning permission granted for ham radio because it's hard to justify it to the local council because they don't understand what ham radio is, especially if you live in a built up area and if it is in someone's direct view. The RSGB has a planning department to assist but it's still very difficult to convince anyone it's necessary. Effectively the entire United Kingdom is in an HOA.
Gotta side with most of the guys here ... if you voluntarily move into an HOA as a ham op, you deserve what you get. HOA-cop wannabes can be very annoying, even if you're in compliance. My advice to hams remains: AVOID HOAs! Core belief: Individuality and innovation are American cornerstones.
In Ukraine, everything depends only on who you are and who your neighbors are. If you are richer and cooler, then everything is allowed to you. If your neighbor is richer and stronger than you, and he doesn't like something, then no law will matter. This is both good and bad. For example, I have always lived in poor areas and this gave complete freedom with regard to antennas. But the price was the risk of theft and additional security costs. But now the main problem is noise. You can escape from it only in your own house with neighbors at a distance of a couple of kilometers from you. I think this is a universal remedy in any country.
Agree completely, but it's highly regional in nature. Here in NoVA (defined as within 2hrs "rush hour" drive of DC) virtually every house below $400k is a townhouse and virtually guaranteed to be in an HOA. Most everything relatively new (ie less than 20 years old) is also in an HOA. Are there homes not in an HOA? Sure, but not many of those will have space for a tower or even a horizontal wire of HF-capable length. Therefore, if you want to live around here and you need to commute to a business around here, you're probably going to be in an HOA or an environment that presents other restrictions to our radio aspirations. Point is, we need to stop replying to the HOA issue with "just move" or "sucks to be you" and come up with constructive answers such as antenna designs that work in such environments or playbooks on how to work within an HOA to achieve reasonable goals. Chris
IMO the truth is that there are no constructive answers such as antenna designs that work in such environments. There are things that cannot be done physically and you need to admit it, and not be hypocritical and engage in self-deception. Technically, I might even try to put yagis on the roof of an apartment building, spit on the neighbors and the law here, spending a lot of money. But the noise and interference from this will not go anywhere. I am just as limited by this now, because my children still need to live next to a college, which simply does not exist in the village, where I would be better off with antennas. But I understand that all this is temporary and in a few years I will be able to leave the city. But now I just admit that the only way out is not to create useless surrogate antennas in the apartment, but only to travel with radio and antennas out of town, which I have succeeded in lately.
There is not an answer for every circumstance, but I think there are answers for many. My point was that the childish "HOA suck ha ha ha" response is unproductive and merely results in tit-for-tat sniping back and forth. We need to accept that HOA and other limited environments are an unavoidable fact of life in many regions. I'm in a similar situation as yourself. I have fewer restrictions, but the population density means QRM is a fact of life. I'm going to be here until my youngest is out of public school and in college (5 years). At that point, we too plan to get out of this region altogether (assuming I'm still able to work from home full time). The kids can make the trip from college to our new home on their breaks just like I did when I was in school. Chris
The ZED moderators have a 'cure' for that once matters get "out-of-control". True, however; many people can neither tolerate nor accept that mode of living being told what they can or can not do on property they own. This is NOT just confined to amateur radio. What US7IGN was attempting to write was that mediocre antennas are not efficient in such or all environments. Unfortunately, radio antennas and towers are deemed to be an "eyesore" to the general public and thus would "affect" property values in the neighborhood. However; there are alternatives to amateur radio operation within an antenna restricted HOA.
It would be nice if we could avoid that altogether. That's a viewpoint I support, but it's not reality in many places. Using my own locale as an example, you're probably not going to have that freedom if you buy a newish home in Northern VA. If you were to buy a home far enough removed from NoVA to avoid the busybodies, then you're going to have a heinous commute. When I bought my house 20 years ago, all of the homes in my price range, up to double that range, or within acceptable commuting times came with an HOA. I understand what he was saying. My point is sometimes you have to make do with what you have. Crappy installations are an eyesore to me too. I don't want to live right next door to a slob ham (there's a good example of that a couple miles from here, it looks like his yard was taken over by a giant spider). The closer you live to your neighbors, the more you have to take into account their concerns. It's called being a good neighbor. On both sides of me, my neighbors' front doors are about 20' away from my own. Even if I could get away with it legally, there are things I simply won't do with my property because it would look out of place in the community. I expect the same from them as well. Yup, which was my point. Chris
Very helpful look a the variability -- all good to know in advance if possible. Thanks, Chris. Quin, K8QS Subscribe to "Ham Radio Perspectives" YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3MJT8o8-XMxF8XROf7Q5GA/videos
Thanks, Bill. Excellent report from the field. Quin, K8QS Subscribe to "Ham Radio Perspectives" YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3MJT8o8-XMxF8XROf7Q5GA/videos
Wise advice, Jim. Quin, K8QS Subscribe to "Ham Radio Perspectives" YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3MJT8o8-XMxF8XROf7Q5GA/videos
Chris, I've been in a location where I've tried gong the "constructive answers" route and failed miserably. I did my homework and presented all the positive aspects of ham radio I could ... I was a member of the state RACES team, the local ARES group as well as US Navy MARS .... none of that mattered, so I operated mobile until I sold and moved. Housing in those days was seller's market so I did okay .... but I knew then that HOAs were inconsistent with ham radio operations and that wasn't likely to change. I think I turned out to be right just going by the media on such problems today. I don't mean for it to sound like "sucks to be you", but for me and many like me, we follow all the rules that already exist .... Our work has mandates, deadlines, rules and regulations .... but our home is the respite from that. We've done our job, we've obeyed the speed limit to get home, now it's our turf. That's the feeling that rural living provides. The rule-of-law and common decency are sufficient to ensure the domestic tranquility in our neighborhoods. The last thing we need is some HOA-cop getting all uppity about the color of my front door or the 5BTV in my back yard. 73 de Neil K9CTB
