4/17/2012  8:00 PM EDST   - 738 signatures now on the petition

By all means, don't sign it if you feel that way. You can still go to the FCC site and file formal comments if the issue concerns you.  I doubt you'll have to worry about spam from them.

BTW - we have 738 signatures as of 8:00 PM EDST Tuesday 4/17/2012

So, what have you got to lose?  Things can't be any worse for hams living in HOAs than they already are.  Why not sign the thing?

Your setup should work fine.  I suggest you begin  by making all wires a bit on the long side and then adjusting them by beginning with the highest frequency band first and then going to the next highest band etc.. 

There is now an online petition at Change.org to ask the FCC to void existing outdoor antenna prohibitions made by developers and homeowner's associations. Those of you who do not wish to submit formal comments on this matter (GN Docket 12-91) to the FCC may support the petition by a very simple process of going to the site listed below and signing the petition.  It is important that the FCC receive your response(s) by May 17, 2012.  Please take a minute to at least make this effort to improve amateur radio. Encourage the hams you speak with on the radio and in other online forums like this one to do likewise. If you have the time and interest to submit formal comments to the FCC on this matter, by all means do so. So far 600 of your fellow amateurs have signed the petition.

http://www.change.org/petitions/federal-communications-commission-void-antenna-restrictions-by-homeowner-s-associations-and-developers
 
 
 

4/16/2012  1:00 PM EDST

     600 petition signatures

Monday 4/16/2012 1:00 PM EDST...

    600 Signatures 

K5LXP - ".07% of US hams.   More people care about code vs no code."
Democratic government is not mob rule and always doing what the majority want.  It's about doing what is right.  For example, I think they did the right thing about the code and I operated almost exclusively on CW for 50 years.  I always valued CW but never sought to impose my values upon others.  I'm sure many die-hard CW operators opposed the rule change but I still peronally think it was the right thing to do. If people want to continue to operate CW the rule change certainly doesn't prevent them from doing so.

K5LXP - " If PRB-1 is extended to include HOA's you're only going to get "reasonable" accommodation"..."
What's wrong with "reasonable"?  You want to get "unreasonable" accomodations?  Be reasonable!!!
Reasonable" accomodation is a giant step up from none at all..  You gotta take what you can get.

BTW - the petition is nearly up to 600 signatures this  Monday morning at 10:30 AM EDST.

Just an update on the petition.  We've had over 400 signatures as of Friday night at 10:30.  If you have not signed the petition and wish to do so, you may visit the site listed below.  You may include an optional comment when you sign the petition.  If you've already signed the petition, thanks for your support. Please contact others who you feel might at least consider signing.

http://www.change.org/petitions/federal-communications-commission-void-antenna-restrictions-by-homeowner-s-associations-and-developers

Just an update on the petition.  We've had over 400 signatures as of Friday night at 10:30.  If you have not signed the petition and wish to do so, you may visit the site listed below.  You may include an optional comment when you sign the petition.  If you've already signed the petition, thanks for your support. Please contact others who you feel might at least consider signing.

http://www.change.org/petitions/federal-communications-commission-void-antenna-restrictions-by-homeowner-s-associations-and-developers

KJ6TJX QUOTE - "On one hand you have an argument the "government", aka HOA (a pseudo government), shouldn't have the right to restrict me from any antenna I want.  But to do this, you ask another "government", aka the FCC, to eliminate the covenant [read: agreement] you made when purchasing the property or signing a lease." 

You're only a single individual and realistically  don't stand much of a chance against either the government or the psuedo-government.  Although they exert many of the powers of a "government" HOA's have been deemed NOT to be governments  by the NJ Supreme Court - which is as high in the court system as I think the issue has gone to date.  (Imagine that, New Jersey setting precents in the field of law!) If you are to have any influence at all you will probably have to choose sides - and then you won't have very much influence anyway!

This is not to say that HOA's are not ultimately created by government.   They exist only because the real government  permits (and encourages) them to exist.  They have come about for a number of reasons - most of which deal with government.  Local governments love them because they get to hand off so many of the expenses and hassles of providing streets, lights, sidewalks, sewers, water, trash removal etc. to private corporations (HOA's and Developers).  The nice thing for local governments is that they still get to TAX HOA residents who already pay for these things on an ongoing basis  As Dire Straits might say about local governments ... "They get their taxes for nothin and their streets for free."  Of course the folks living in HOA's wind up paying twice as much!  Fair is fair I guess since folks who send their kids to private schools still wind up paying school taxes in addition to tuition at the private school.  Much of this  is done under the guise of "separation of church and state" but the end result is the same...some poor slobs wind up paying twice as much!  The ironic thing is that many folks think living in HOA's is better  because they think their  local government is doing a bad job on crime prevention, the streets, sidewalks etc.   When you think about it, the government is actually doing a GREAT job of extracting the maximum  amount of cash from its "beneficiaries."  As a friend of mine said many years ago..."Be damn glad your government's inefficient...if you really got all the government you were paying for, you wouldn't be able to stand it!"  Perhaps governments are becoming more "efficient."

Of course at this point the whole thing is a done deal and a large majority of homeowners don't' really have much of a choice in the matter.   Those who parade out the tired old argument that "you didn't have to move into an HOA, you had a choice," should be accorded the same treatment as their patron saint, Marie Antoinette - after a fair trial  - of course.

Life is a matter of choices and often those choices boil down to between bad and worse.  BTW, did you bother to tell the FCC how you feel on this issue?

Old people I can understand but kittens?  What about puppies and babies?

They may pay even more attention to petitions signed by voters than voers!

Bruce:

I'm sure the FCC will give far more weight to carefully considered, rational, coherent comments on the issues that concern them than to other things - such as a petitions or the usual raving rants from the lunatic fringe(s).  However I think the FCC  will pay attention to petitions if they receive enough signatures.  Ultimately the FCC study will be reported to Congress since it's being done at the request of Congress - and I think we can be pretty sure our public spirited legislators will understandably  pay more attention to petitions from voers than will the bureaucrats at the FCC.

I think all of us in amateur radio have an important stake in this -even those living on 10 acres in Idaho with multiple 100 foot towers and no antenna restrictions for miles in all directions.   I am naive and optimistic enough to think that if we all pull together there's a chance that we might just be able to accomplish something.