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1-4 of 4 messages
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a happy ending after an hoa removal order
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by W5DC on August 5, 2009
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On July 31, I made a slightly off topic post in the insanity of cc&r's / hoa's thread about my successful attempt to get my home owner association's approval of my HF antenna after previously getting an order to remove the antenna. I put up the predecessor antenna after getting interest in ham radio re-stirred by one of my grand-daughters. The original antenna used a vaulting pole section left over from my early 1970s vintage cubical quad and larger, much more visible wire. I wanted something effective for DX, especially for 40 and 20 cw that would still work OK on 10 and 15. I didn't do the WARC bands initially because I'm using a Yaesu FT-101E which didn't have them although it can and will be modified to support them. I'm posting this in the hope that it may give some useful suggestions to other hams who suffer hoa and zoning limitations.
See:
http://vibrotek.com/w5dc/w5dcant.html
An corrected version of the original post follows:
I just successfully went through the approval process with my townhouse hoa. I put up an antenna that's close to invisible with the exception of an 11 ft. long fiberglass pole that's the upper support for the lower frequency bands of the antenna that is lower than my chimney and lower than the ridge of the roof. The antenna is a mainly vertically polarized parallel dipoles with the elements made from #26 stranded copper clad steel. Wind survival is a major consideration as I'm in one of the windiest parts of Boulder, CO on a ridge at the southern end of the city. Hurricane force winds throughout the winter are the norm here and some winters, we have winds in the 120 mph (200 km/hr) range, sufficient to blow windows out of cars parked on the nearest street outside the complex. I chose a vertical antenna because there is no prospect of getting a horizontal antenna of any height approved, at least for now. Being on a ridge, it's downhill for miles from JA east to South America but severely uphill toward Australia (1 km higher peaks 1.5 km west). So far, the only strong VK that I've heard is VK7XX in Tasmania.
I put up the parallel dipoles up first and in their original configuration, they were not nearly as neat as the original configurations. The antenna feed points exit from my shack on the upper of three floors of the townhouse. The upper sides of 40 through 20 meters go to the fiberglass pole and 40 and 30 meters go back to insulators connected to the opposite side of the house but still out of sight of my immediate neighbors. Insulators for the higher bands are attached to the eaves of the house. All insulators are painted to match the house. The lower parts of the antennas go down to and through my deck about six inches from the outside wall and then fan out under the deck, out of sight unless you stoop down below the deck.
I gave them two more alternatives. The second alternative was a pair of end to end 23 ft long fiberglass marine antennas. There's an existing somewhat similar example of a marine CB antenna that's survived for the last 20 years, long since abandoned; removing it would involve standing on top of a 24 foot ladder on uneven ground.
The third choice was a collection of verticals by HyGain, MFJ, Cushcraft, and Butternut, all of which are ugly as hell compared to the barely visible parallel dipoles and even the marine antenna. All of the commercial ham verticals would have required guying to have a chance to survive which was not a point in their favor and not at all practical on the side of the house that the antenna is on. Besides, that leaves the somewhat enclosed patio on the other side of the house for a small, rotatable, 2 element yagi sometime in the future.
So now, I have an antenna that I'm successfully using for DXing that was moved, seconded, and unanimously approved by the board. A lot of work was involved but that plus diplomacy worked. This is probably about the best ham radio location within the city limits of Boulder for low angle HF DXing except to the west where nothing withib the Boulder city limits meets that description. There are some good possibilities in the next two cities to the east except the fanatic, hoa Nazis reign supreme there.
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RE: a happy ending after an hoa removal order
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by WB5JEO on August 11, 2009
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An excellent lesson in the diplomatic art of getting the power to buy in through participating in making a choice. I wonder how many hams have lost out by making it a contest of wills with someone who held all the cards. They got to exercise their control in a case-by-case way and actually got to do something positive, which is probably pretty rare in enforcement.
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RE: a happy ending after an hoa removal order
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by N2EY on August 12, 2009
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WB5JEO:
I'm glad it worked out in this case.
But it must be understood that all cases aren't like this one. In fact, I suspect most aren't. It all depends on the exact wording of the rules, and those are not the same everywhere.
In some cases, the rules state "no external antennas" - period, no exceptions other than the OTARD rules. And the HOA folks know the OTARD rules and that they don't cover ham radio. A ham can ask but has no rights nor leverage other than to move away.
In some cases, any change, waiver or exception requires approval of 100% of the owners. Try getting it! All it takes is ONE person saying no, and the HOA's hands are tied.
In other cases, the no-antennas rule is part of the deed to the property, and the HOA has no authority to waive it or change it.
Yes, how you ask is important. But many times that won't matter because of other factors.
73 de Jim, N2EY
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RE: a happy ending after an hoa removal order
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by WB4TJH on September 28, 2009
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By directly asking the HOA about outside antennas, you might make yourself a target for close scrutiny from that point on by the HOA nazis. I would adivse finding out about the HOA antenna regs in a more clandestine way, by studying the HOA rules and regulations in detail on paper. If it's then clear outside antennas are forbidden, then go ahead and put up a stealth antenna, and tell NO ONE what you are doing or what you have done. I like the end fed halfwaves, because of their ease of installation and the fact that they work so well with little, or no compromise. They also don't need radials to do a good job. Out of sight, out of mind.
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