Yeah, mostly; but not just "anywhere" near the ocean. Some towns on or near the ocean are pretty cheap, some are very expensive -- depends on many factors including "how the heck do I get there?"
use a indoor antenna. if you are in a wooden building, put it in the attic. hidden in an artificial plant. or made a mag-loop antenna. I use a mag-loop on the first floor of a 3 story building. concrete and steel. I do make contacts at about 600 to 1000 miles from here on 100 watts. it is a challenge because of all of the electronic interference but I do make regular contacts.
I live in an HOA. It is a weird bipolar issue. On one hand, the HOA absolutely limits what I can do here, and who likes to be limited? On the other hand, the HOA prevents someone from putting a trailer on the lot next door. Without the HOA, anything that is allowed under zoning restrictions could be built. We have friends outside our HOA, but within our town that have a very nice home ($750,000 wish). 200 yards down the street is a trailer with a man that does small engine repair at his home. It is a complete crap show and drives down their home value. My HOA prevents all that type of nonsense. But...and it is a giant but....I can't put up a 75' tower with a giant yagi. My guess is my neighbors don't want to see a tower and a yagi. I do want to have a big tower with a yagi. It isn't as black and white as some would claim.
Yep, there are always tradeoffs and risks, whichever place one lives. In my neighborhood one had better be accepting of livestock and parked trailers and other stuff that goes with rural living. It doesn't affect property values because rural properties aren't in the same market as suburban ones, and people who would freakout over rural activities aren't going to live where they are allowed anyway.
Well written! For those who want that tower/beam but can't have it... think about installing a stealth W5GI Mystery Antenna. You'll discover that a tower/beam won't add all that much to your signal and your HOA will be happy...
First step is to divorce your wife who was the real reason you moved into an HOA. Men know better or at least they should know.
Hi People Peter VK3TQ / VK2LD Last year I managed a large retirement village with 310 people and 215 Homes in Victoria Australia . It was a big and very active village with the demographic at age 69. What you have to do is be open and honest. I was sympathetic to hams and assisted them with ideas, because in many respects it wasnt the community managers but the home owners commitees and grouchy home owners that would object, so going covert was a really good idea, and I asssited many with covert white stink pipes into dual band antennas etc. One thing could be to change your expectations of what you want to do. Maybe operation on high power 160m might be a stretch, but seriously there are plenty of resouces on the net to build covert antennas, particularily VHF & UHF, If you like talking to people overseas why not go digital and have a hotspot on D-Star, DMR & Fusion. Yeah its not the same but your new home is not the same , what about a 10m dipole or a long wire around your fence in the back yard, flagpoles can be a winner too, nothing like a patriotic ham with a 20m vertical in the front yard, have you also considered that many ham antennas just happen to look like TV antennas, your VHF or UHF Yagi could be a TV antenna My motto is FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT ! Don't worry about it till you get there and maybe you will be suprised. The thing is to have realistic expectations, I have two mates, VK3s in retirement villages and do really well, but some of the negative and fatalistic attitudes on this list are not correct, but still, open yourself to going mobile, there are NO HOA agreements in an RV 100 miles away. You need to think outside the square. Being a member of a local club with a station, an area where there are many repeaters, painting your antennas with gel coat to camoflage them. Just have a go Chin UP and adapt and overcome !! 73 Pete VK3TQ
Thanks, Bryan. Very sensible post in response to my video. Quin, K8QS Subscribe to "Ham Radio Perspectives" YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3MJT8o8-XMxF8XROf7Q5GA/videos
There seems to be a kind of "Anti-HOA Correctness" among many hams, suggesting that HOAs are inherently bad, evil, freedom-killing, and a veritable menace to democracy (even though people decide to live in them, and the freedom to "gather" in a community is a wonderful liberty). I've also noticed that the anti-HOA-gang comments often indicate that these folks have not even viewed the video on which they are commenting. Tom and I created the video to provide insights for those who would likely be moving by choice or necessity to an HOA. Quin, K8QS Subscribe to "Ham Radio Perspectives" YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3MJT8o8-XMxF8XROf7Q5GA/videos
Not just confined to amateur radio and antennas but many people simply don't want to live in a atmosphere of excessive restrictions on property that they own, living next to 'busybodies' who can NOT mind their own business etc. That is not liberty but oppression.
Agreed, Dan. But I have found the same problem every place I have lived where the houses were close together -- not just HOAs. Humans are busybodies by nature. Quin, K8QS Subscribe to "Ham Radio Perspectives" YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3MJT8o8-XMxF8XROf7Q5GA/videos
Granted I haven't lived in *every* HOA, but the ones I've lived in (and the ones my friends live in) haven't been anything like that. I can have antennas, so can a friend of mine in another neighborhood (I can count 3 from the street). Also, virtually all of the standards in those HOAs are ones I'd adhere to without an HOA. I keep my yard neat, my house in reasonable condition, and choose paint and decor that fits neighborhood norms. My neighbors mostly keep to themselves on matters of landscaping, yard decoration, paint, etc. Though we all step in and help each other maintain yards when life keeps us from doing things ourselves (when my oldest daughter was born, one of my neighbors mowed my front yard so I didn't have to, I've mowed both of my neighbors' yards when they were otherwise unable to). Some folks create their own problems though. I had a neighbor, long since gone, who would intentionally "break the rules" just to thumb his nose at the HOA. Dead tree the HOA says needs removing? Nope, it's staying now. Etc and so on. That has been my experience as well. Non-HOAs have their own busybodies. The closer you are to others, the worse it gets. The only solution is to have a large buffer of land around you. Chris
How can they or you possibly know that? Home value is whatever someone will pay for it, and unless they're trying to sell it for what is appraised as "Fair Market Value" based on nearby comparables and find they cannot sell it because of the guy with the trailer, they can't possibly know if their property value has been impacted. It's a "guess," and often a very wrong one.
