Thanks, Dan:

I have been on since the days when Boatanchors were new rigs!  :-)

I have an R5 that I was going to put up about 6 feet off the ground. Of course this is a 1/2 wave antenna and does not need radials. I asked about the ground rods as I thought that perhaps I could put up a 1/4 wave that covered 40 and just use the ground rods as I do not have room for radials. I suspect, however, that the R5, with perhaps a PAR end fed 40M antenna would be a better choice.

I agree what you say about most antennas will work. In all my years I have worked a ton of DX...even getting 3Y0PI, with antennas that I just put up!

OH, without starting a flame war...my biggest letdown was as an OP of a station (EMARC)in the Bay Area. I was able to use a KW to a QUAD. I could not even tune up without being called for hours! When I got home, I would always have a bad headache. At that station, if I did hear some DX and called and it did not come back, I felt cheated!

I was proud to show some of the hams at work my 3Y0PI QSL when they knew that I was using an R5 on the roof of my house. One of them told me not to even bother when he heard I was going to try working them with my R5! As they say, a bumblebee can fly because it does not know that it is not supposed to be able to!

Randy...

Just wonder about this quote...

>>>Not bad for 100w and no radials just four ground  rods down 6’.

Do 4 ground rods work at all? It seems they may, but I never heard of that.

Yes, I agree. Also some say thanks and do not indicate which of the suggestions helped. However, just saying thanks at least shows he read the reply(s).

Well, I agree that talking to the Lawyer next door...a Real Estate Atty. no less...would be a bad idea. I think I am going to try an old R5 Vertical a few feet off the ground and see how well it does. I may just let it go at that!

As I have said, I still have to live here and even if I could get away with a tower after all, I have 2nd thoughts!

Well, the ones I am talking about have several helpful tips and NONE of them are "snotty". I would give example(s), but I do not want to single anyone out.

Well, I hope they got what they were looking for.
I asked for help on a TM-731a issue and when I found it on my own after a few days I did a reply that I figured it out.

I keep seeing this and wonder why some people post a request for help, get several well thought out suggestions (that have taken some of us time to compose) and then never come back?

At least they never post a reply to their original request letting us know that they have seen and read our suggestions. I think this happens far more than it should. I think that most of us are not looking for even a Thank You, but would at least like to know that our help was even seen!

I DO have a copy of the CC&R's but they do not show just who to contact. Any names are no longer here, and there is no active HOA any more.

I built this and it is GREAT!

http://www.wa5vjb.com/references/Cheap%20Antennas-LEOs.pdf

Well, I did check as you can see online (in Oregon anyway) if there is an active HOA. I put names in for some of the areas around us and saw them. BUT, when I put ours in there was nothing. We do not have a way to mail them anything.

K8AC

Thank you.

Yes, we do not have an HOA any more, and the County just about rubber stamps Tower requests if they are <60 feet and if they fell they would still be on your own property.

I think that what I am going to try is to put up my old Cushcraft R5 antenna about 8 feet off the ground on the side of our house. It will be in wooded space and we are separated from our neighbor on that side by a large semi dense green space. In fact, if the R5 Vertical works OK, it may be fun to just call it good and forget about the Tubular Type Tower. Some have said anyway that they are not too sturdy anyway!

Well, what has been said is true, but my main concern is that we have to still live here. I would not want to do anything major that would get the neighbors upset.

Still, regarding the County vs. the HOA or CC&R's go, the County did approve the use of a building for a small business on a neighbors property. They limited the number of cars, etc, but the CC&R's are very specific that this is NOT allowed in any way!

Clint, I had the same reaction when I first went to the site looking for LEO info. I remember the old days of the Big Sats. Perhaps, in order to make the info more current, the "older" stuff can be put in a "clickable"  archive. In that way, people looking for further info can go there, but the current sats, and how to work 'em, should be what someone sees when they first go to AMSAT site.

Thank you, Jim.

Our CC&R's do expire in 25 years which is not far away. It does say something about them renewing for 10 years thereafter, but will need to read them again. I expect a tower would lead to issues, but I would think that a simple dual band 2m/440 ground plane would be OK, or at least someone would voice a concern before trying to go to court.

P.S. Our next door neighbor is a Real Estate Atty, and because of the trees he would not see an antenna, but I do not want to bother him about this.

WX7G

I do understand what you are saying, and we did sign these when we bought our homes. In our case I think the CC&R's were just given to us.

However, my big complaint is that in every case where we had CC&R's in all the states we lived in, the ONLY thing they ever enforced was NO ANTENNAS!.

We have had CC&R's that said you could not park on the street, could not leave a car in the driveway while changing the oil, could not even leave your garage door open, could not have barking dogs, and could not run a business out of your house. All of this was done and ignored...BUT just try to put up even a TV antenna (Arvada, Colorado) and they came down on you! OH, I forgot one...Arvada again...no cloths lines.

I understand why some neighbors would not like a 70' tower to look at with an 11 el HF Beam, but some holler at even the smallest antenna of any kind.