I think the HOA restrictions have actually made hams better able to react to emergencies- We have to find ways to disguise or camouflage or antennas, making them harder for bad guys to see. Some have to be able to get antennas up and down quickly, and have streamlined techniques to do so. Others have to go to parks or rural properties and set up using batteries and other of grid power sources. Maybe HOAs have been good for ham radio. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger ". "Amateur radio-when all else gets turned off " If you think 770k hams, half who could care less, and the other half fighting each other, are gonna win against all the powers that be, you're dreaming. Won't even get out of committee.
I have seen what happens in a nice neighborhood when the HOA agrees to let a ham or two have a lot of freedom with antennas. Too often their installations look like crap. As much as this opinion will be ill received,,,,again,,,,the owner agreed to the HOA when they bought it. Tough. Move if you don’t like it.
If the HOA rules on antennas were in place when you purchased the property, you should abide by them. Or, work with your neighbors to change the rules. Don't go crying to the County, State or Feds.
Sometimes its really hard to find a quality home in a non-HOA area. In Phoenx/Scottsdale, for example, every single residential community has a name of some kind, a gate and an HOA. It's really sickening. My wife and I wanted a home with some space around it, no neighbors five feet from me, and it was a year-long search and very limited market to find one without an HOA. We REALLY need this legislation. Dave
>>SMH<< Did I again crash in motocross and fall into a long-long coma...and somehow wake up in the past? Or, is this Deja Vu? "AS A"....and I hate when folks use this BUT...here we go again. A) Who decided to pick an HOA community to live in? B) Who signed off on YOUR agreement to the embedded CC&Rs when YOU bought the home? C) Were YOU just assuming...or praying...YOU could simply "sneak one up" and nobody would notice or give one flying flip? -------here we go now------ "AS A" TWICE HOA board member turned HOA President in Central Florida AND in one of Orange County Florida's most affluent HOA communities...(hint: SHAQ lived in the community), getting involved with the YOUR COMMUNITY proved the key to getting folks to understand and gain just a little more insight TO EVERYONE'S RIGHTS and way of life. To THAT end lies the problem with what all this round again represents. Amateur Radio operators AND "THEIR" RIGHTS. What you've forgotten in all this 6ithin'moaning. whining and crying is...your neighbors ALSO signed and agreed to the HOA CC&Rs when THEY bought their homes therefore, agreeing to abide by the CC&Rs. What YOU and THEY signed is a legal and powerful document. Why are these points such a difficult point to digest? If you want a change, get on the board or committees. I.E., get closer to what YOU perceive as the alleged problem. OR, are hams AGAIN gonna try and throw that , "When the spit hits the spam...ham radio is there" biscuit out there? NEWS FLASH! NO WE AIN'T ! And do you know who KNOWS THIS?!? Why it's the HOA DEFENDERS! ----one more time--- "AS A" once and long time ARES AEC and EC OF Orange County Florida and know what the state of volunteerism WAS THEN...AND ESPECIALLY NOW...let me sum this up. WE'RE A PACK OF HOBBYISTS! Volunteers for whatever the needs were and are now are like the proverbial teeth of hens. Just like Hams who even participate in a trained, organized AND RESPECTED Emergency Preparedness Group! ARES or otherwise! The end of this story? Get a grip on that powerful document, what's in it and remember, you all signed it . BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY...when it comes to Emergency Preparedness and who's available "to do it," Ya'll ain't fooling nobody! AND, "the nobody's" no longer know nor give one flying flip who we are! (OR WERE!)
So, you're saying someone put a gun to your head and demanded that you buy a home in that area? Or that there is absolutely no other place that offered such freedom? I bet you could have easily found it, if you looked hard enough or sucked it up and paid more for such a place. Life is about compromise. For my wife and I, we gladly drive 15 minutes more in our commute to afford a place with no HOA versus one closer to work with one. Heck, we would gladly drive 30 more minutes per day to do so. Having recently moved, it was very pleasant being able to click the "no HOA" filter on the Zillows to rule out those slum areas which have HOAs - there's no way on this side of death that I'd lower myself to living someplace infested with the kind of filth that feels the need to mandate what I can and cannot do with my property. Let some other schmuck pay the price of being a fool to the fools. In fact, we had even made an offer and put down earnest money on a home, and were all set to move in as soon as the loan was finalized, when I asked my real estate agent to see a copy of the C&Rs. Turns out, she didn't reveal the whole thing to us, and it would have been a nightmare living there; it ruled out me being able to park my 3/4 ton pickup or my motorhome on the 1 acre property, as well as amateur radio antennas. We lost $3000 in a blink of an eye - and the sellers were trying to con us with the, "Oh, nobody cares, yadda yadda yadda..." Until I pointed out that nobody would care until someone in the small cul-de-sac got mad at me about something. I'd put this legislation right up there with seatbelt laws, anti-smoking laws, gun control laws, and basically every other law that controls one's individual rights to do whatever the heck they want to do - or NOT do. This country does NOT need more legislation by any stretch of the imagination.
Matthew, you seem to be mistaking me for someone whom you could argue with. All I said is that its hard in some communities to find homes that AREN'T in an HOA. We found one, just took a year. My concern is that if large sections of cities (like the one I mention) have these anti-ham practices, than the big safety net of Amateur Radio will be outside cities in the rural areas. Not smart from a practical perspective to limit such an important resource (radio) to the outskirts of cities. Dave, W7DGJ
I think you're missing the point. This legislation is only needed because modern HOAs have interfered with the right of property owners to use their property as they see fit. Property rights have been subject to government rules just like this since feudalism ended and the King allowed us to own land. 300 years ago, the modern HOA would have been considered preposterous and no judge would have allowed them to do what they're doing. It's nothing like seatbelt laws or anti-smoking laws, gun control, or anything like that, because those laws seek to constrain a liberty interest you already have. The right here in question is the right to property, which includes the right to do as you see fit with the property in your possession. Passing a law to enhance liberty is not analogous to telling someone that they can't allow people to smoke on their property or that they have to wear a seatbelt on the public roadway.
Our “Ham operator Assassins” (HOA) had me take down my antenna because it wasn’t pretty!! God I hope this law works so that I can drive up to their office and flick off these insane Karens! Go congress
Well, committee rule is little more than mob rule with a happy face painted on it: when 12 MEMBERS on a committee decide to hang the 13th member without criminal trial, is that OK? No. Same with a committee making capricious rules. I kept radio stations going for decades in some rather difficult places and circumstances. Personally, I'll take clandestine/invisible antennas every day over the alternative. What my neighbors do, is none of my business, unless it actually and materially impacts my life and/or property in a damaging way. The reverse is true for them: they didn't see my antennas, and life was beautiful. Now, I am retired; living a rural life on a patch of ground with TALL trees and very low RF noise. HOAs, and Stasi snoops are no longer part of my life. Clandestinus optimus est. Ray ..._ ._
I sure MISS the days of "Live and Let Live"! Jeez, all the negativity on this post, unbelievable. You are in this site because you are an Amateur Radio Operator, why not just support the bill for every Amateur Radio Operator. W7ASA, "What my neighbors do, is none of my business, unless it actually and materially impacts my life and/or property in a damaging way." AMEN!
