South Carolina Hams fight to amend homeowner association restrictions

Lots of luck with the ARRL, where were they , when we now have to pay for our Ham Licence? Why are you paying $ 86.00 a year for your ARRL print QST?
I was a member for over 60 years of the ARRL and I quit when they only wanted more money.
I know printed books, Newspapers, etc, costs have gone way up. But I can't believe that the ARRL couldn't find a way to continue to include the print copy of QST along with the membership at a modest cost.
N0HWJ

 

We're living in a serious housing shortage. Trying to find a home within reasonable commuting distance to one's job. can be extremely difficult. New housing developments are sold out before they are even completed. Just finding a house that fits one's family. What is needed is the reasonable accommodation of ham radio antennas. The trend to not allow ham antennas began when 50 foot towers with large. multi-band yagis were considered unsightly and detract from the market value of the surrounding houses. As usual, HOAs got out of control. Board members enjoyed having power and began restricting ANY radio antenna, even ones nearly invisible in backyards. I have seen this madness in action while serving on many HOA boards. And this last point is important. Get on your HOA board. Then, you have a voice and a vote toward reasonableness. In a new housing development north of mine, I noticed three simple antennas, thin wires from the peak of the house to the six-foot fence. One is an OCF, and two are likely end-fed long wires. I haven't yet met any of them. I hope to. I hope to see if any HOA action occurs to demand their removal.

I currently live in a rural setting with lots of land to experiment with antennas. But I realize that at my age, we will likely move to a traditional suburban setting where I must deal with the HOA. Because of this, I am building and trying various types of discrete antennas. I am astonished by an end-feed long wire fed with a 9:1 transformer (unun, balun, whatever) with a maximum height of 22 feet. I also own a townhouse in a high-density neighborhood. My antenna farm is in the attic. It consists of several ham-stick antennas (40, 20, 17, 15) mounted together with a single feed and dipoles for 2, 6, and 10. Also, a Comet VHF and UHF for local repeaters.

HOAs in densely populated suburban neighborhoods are just how it is for a large part of the ham population. We learn to live with it. We adapt. We join the board or show up during a board meeting and present ham radio and its benefits. And then ask them to allow nearly invisible end-fed long wire or a multi-band vertical. Or... do it and hope nobody notices.

 

I suspect that most of those complaining (of which most have never lived in an HOA) are not proposing the acceptance of an end fed wire or two, but are complaining about the rules restricting towers and wires, in abundance, hanging from poles and the like.

Also, the HOA board cannot unilaterally amend the CC&R's. Such changes must be made by a vote of the majority (generally 3/4 or more) of the community. In many large communities there exists several smaller HOA governed communities managed by a larger HOA. In these communities the smaller HOA boards need approval from the larger governing body even if the residents of the smaller community approve a modification of their CC&R's.

 

But what about folks who get licensed years after they purchased? Selling and relocating is not a desirable option. And think about the effect HOA restrictions have on amateur radio growth. Help encourage a neighborhood youth in the hobby and then he and you find out he can't put up an antenna and its "no antenna, no amateur radio". BTW I've used various stealth antennas over the years and they don't always work well enough to enjoy the hobby, let alone be useful for emergency communications.

 

FWIW, I got myself elected to my condo board a few years ago and for my input, I was "punished" by having EVERY suggestion or proposal I ever made rejected by the others. It apparently was an understood conspiracy against me. It is pleasing to me that one of my suggestions 4 years ago that we purchase a small tractor ( CAT something vehicle) for snow removal has just recently been adopted after being unfavorably viewed by the board until now. (Too many owner complaints?) I also suggested solar power and that is still being rejected but EV charging stations is now getting some talk. The usual approach of the board is to tell us owners that they have looked into it and it is unsafe, too expensive, or tax breaks don't apply to us. They look at anything that is negative so they don't have to adopt or work at adoption. This instead of an attitude of "let's see how we can do this".

BTW, one of my suggestions to the board was that every board member should review all of our monthly invoices ( estimated number 20). Not accepted. Later there was some kind of $40k unfavorble mistake and payment for paying for driveway sealing, so they blamed the propertly manager and fired him. I don't think the money was ever recovered.

The effect of HOA's is to limit new entries into amateur radio. You can't mentor someone's child into the hobby if they can't have an effective station. The kid doesn't decide where they live.

 

I have lived in an HOA community for over 20 years and use portable antennas to do ham radio such as the silver bullet vertical setup and a dipole in the attic. Never had an issue making contacts around the world. The National HOA is just like the national realtors association and has a very strong lobby and it will beat hell to overcome their scope as was shown by past attempts. HOAs are a money grab, too, so we all may know how difficult it is to topple a large industry based upon collecting money. The amateur radio hobbyist's argument does not seem to be strong enough to allow for any change.

 

Real Estate Law facts: An HOA that is "created" by neighborhood residents in not enforceable. That is not an HOA. And actual HOA is a covenant and condition of sale between the original land owner of a tract of land and the contracting company that bought the land. It is recorded in the county deeds office, which is now superceeded since the Obama presidency by the feds. The HOA and its restrictions "run with the land" permanently. Here's how it works: A 150 acre family farm in inherited by reason of death by an offspring. Facing death and inheritance taxes, the individual and/or family decides to sell to pay the taxes. A big investment group, which may be a Bill Gates, or a Wall Street investment firm, or a group of investors from China or India buys the land to build a housing project. Typically underground wiring, tiny lots and big cheaply built crackerbox houses, all looking alike are built, as per the HOA, HUD, and other restrictions. The houses are listed on the MLS where any Realtor (trademark NAR) can sell them. In no time at all you have a big blight upon the land where there was once an American family farm. The real estate agents are often immigrants from third world countries who got their real estate license and take advantage of "sponsorship" laws put in place under The Great Society, and import buyers from those countries. Since it all fits legally under "DEI" mandates, there you have it. HOA 2024 style.

 

Hold on a second there.

Are you an expert in real estate law in all 50 states?

The reason I ask is because RE laws vary widely from place to place, and what's common where you are may be illegal elsewhere - and the reverse.

IANAL, but from what I know, a group of neighbors can form an HOA, and the rules can be enforceable. This rarely happens, for obvious reasons, but it CAN happen.

What you describe are deed covenants and restrictions, which are a whole different thing.

HOAs have been around for decades; they're nothing new at all. The origin of "no antennas" rules dates to the 1970s and the expansion of cable TV. Developers and cable TV folks made deals whereby the houses would be wired for cable TV at little or no cost to the developer while being built, and then the developer would put "no antennas" rules in place so that most residents would sign up for cable TV. Win-win for both - the developer could sell the homes as "cable-ready", and the cable TV folks saved big on installation costs and got lots of customers from day one.

That situation was so prevalent that in the 1990s the satellite TV folks went all the way to the Supreme Court and got the OTARD ruling - which does NOT apply to Amateur Radio antennas.

 

Did you ever log into their web page?

 

Next time you all are going to the capital let us all know. I would have went..
Thanks
Mike KQ4GEX

 

Absolutely.
It was also announced on the ARRL-Roanoke Division Facebook Page. Might want to give that a follow as well.

 

Good for you Danny and SC Hams! I'm going to look up the bill and see if we can get a similar proposition in front of the Florida legislature! I gave up on ARRL years ago.

 

Exactly. I gave up on ARRL years ago. State by State, that's how we have to go

 

Good luck with that! The last time they tried, they allowed the HOA Association to write the bill, and we all know how that ended up (in the bin where it belonged--it would have made things actually worse).
That was also the last membership dime they got from me (that and losing a majority of the 3.4G band after I told them in 2011 help us promote it or we will lose it, but with no CW contests there, they ignored it).

Im lucky where I live, in between 2 city limits (one claims ETJ, but last year TX congress passed a bill to allow us to petition to get out from under it, since they dont do anything but take permit fees and ticket those shooting off fireworks) and no HOA.
I was thinking of starting an HOA though --- Myself, the wife KA5HHZ, and some neighbors KG5KL, KA5FZU, and K4ES, we could start a Ham Operators Association
Minimum requirements: At least 1 big beautiful antenna visible from the street !

Good luck to all fighting the property nazis !

 

You sound a little like students and their loans. They got the education if it’s useless that’s not our fault. But if you find someone to pay for your house let me know