The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2017

[Reptile]

The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2017 was introduced in the US Senate on July 12, marking another step forward for this landmark legislation. Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) are the Senate sponsors. The measure will, for the first time, guarantee all radio amateurs living in deed-restricted communities governed by a homeowner's association (HOA) or subject to any private land use regulations, the right to erect and maintain effective outdoor antennas at their homes. The Senate bill, S. 1534, is identical to H.R. 555, which passed the US House of Representatives in January.

"Amateur Radio continues to be a critical part of our emergency communications operations," Wicker said. "Mississippians learned firsthand after Hurricane Katrina how Amateur Radio operators can provide a resilient, distributed network to first responders and disaster relief organizations when other communications tools fail."

cont...
http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-parity-act

This would be great for people who live in condos so they can have antennas.

 

[blindfire]

The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2017 was introduced in the US Senate on July 12, marking another step forward for this landmark legislation. Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) are the Senate sponsors. The measure will, for the first time, guarantee all radio amateurs living in deed-restricted communities governed by a homeowner's association (HOA) or subject to any private land use regulations, the right to erect and maintain effective outdoor antennas at their homes. The Senate bill, S. 1534, is identical to H.R. 555, which passed the US House of Representatives in January.

"Amateur Radio continues to be a critical part of our emergency communications operations," Wicker said. "Mississippians learned firsthand after Hurricane Katrina how Amateur Radio operators can provide a resilient, distributed network to first responders and disaster relief organizations when other communications tools fail."

cont...
http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-parity-act

This would be great for people who live in condos so they can have antennas.

Yup...and as the article from the ARRL pointed out, this is the 3rd year running that they've tried to pass this.

The problem is, some shit-head Senator from Florida keeps blocking it because he's in bed with the HOA lobby.

 

[DispositionMatrix]

http://qrznow.com/arrl-posts-amateur-radio-parity-act-faqs/

 

[dixiejarhead]

awesome!

 

[UJay]

http://files.constantcontact.com/40babb3f001/33cd2339-f54b-4523-a2f0-5d786cd111b6.pdf

http://cqnewsroom.blogspot.com/2017/08/cq-white-paper-pros-and-cons-of-amateur.html

There is more to it from the opposing side.........

 

[jar]

Why should the government come in and invalidate contracts that people freely entered in to?

 

[northny]

Why should the government come in and invalidate contracts that people freely entered in to?

As an amateur radio operator I agree with this. If you don't like HOA rules, don't buy into one. But Fed govt shouldn't be stepping in.

 

[cockpitbob]

Why should the government come in and invalidate contracts that people freely entered in to?

This is a tough one. I'm a little on both sides of the fence.

My brother and his wife have always lived in very nice, planned neighborhoods with lots of CC&Rs to keep the houses and yards uniform and looking nice. They pay extra for that and if I were them I'd be really pissed if someone erected a 60' tower bristling with antennas right next to me after some federal law got changed.

On the other hand, the .gov didn't give us hams valuable bandwidth so we could have a hobby. Decades ago they decided it was good for the nation to have people with communication equipment and skills distributed all over the country in case of a disaster (natural or military). Granted, it is very rare that we do more than just offload or back-up some work for some .gov agency, but that's because we managed to get through things like the Cold War without the SHIF. One recent example, though, is when the bombs went off at the Boston Marathon, the phones basically stopped, but the 250+ hams spread across the 26 mile course kept comms going and were critical in getting 30,000 cold, half naked runners stopped and into shelter and transportation.

I used to live in CA and have seen thousands of people living in vast expanses of what I call "condo concentration camps". Areas of incredible population density. If the SHTF they would absolutely want a way to communicate(medical emergencies or just status updates to loved ones outside the affected area). But that takes antennas.

I haven't studied the bill but it does say things like:

...an HOA may establish reasonable written rules concerning height, location, size, aesthetic impact, and installation requirements.

Fortunately there's a whole sub-science of stealth antennas. There are many books and articles on making antennas that don't show or that blend in (mostly written by people living with HOA restrictions). Personally, my antennas are nearly invisible. They are just long skinny lengths of black wire going from a corner of the house up to a tree. I also have an antenna in the attic. Some people will insulate their gutters with short plastic sections and use the gutter as an antenna. There are ways.

I think the concept of the law is OK, but both sides will need to compromise.

 

[neum69]

Why should the government come in and invalidate contracts that people freely entered in to?

As an amateur radio operator I agree with this. If you don't like HOA rules, don't buy into one. But Fed govt shouldn't be stepping in.

+1

 

[jar]

One recent example, though, is when the bombs went off at the Boston Marathon, the phones basically stopped, but the 250+ hams spread across the 26 mile course kept comms going and were critical in getting 30,000 cold, half naked runners stopped and into shelter and transportation.

And how much of that with home based fixed antennas? I'm guessing 99% of it was on 2m/70cm mobiles and handhelds.

If the bill protects some antenna rather than any antenna, I don't have much of a problem with it. A decent VHF/UHF vertical isn't more obtrusive than the 18" TV dishes that I think are already protected.



Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

 

[cockpitbob]

And how much of that with home based fixed antennas? I'm guessing 99% of it was on 2m/70cm mobiles and handhelds.

If the bill protects some antenna rather than any antenna, I don't have much of a problem with it. A decent VHF/UHF vertical isn't more obtrusive than the 18" TV dishes that I think are already protected.



Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

Yup, it was all 2m/70cm handhelds and mobiles(bouncing off repeater antennas high up on buildings), but of course the Marathon bombing is just an isolated example that happened to use VHU/UHV gear.

Again, I haven't read all of the bill, but it does give HOAs some control to "...establish reasonable written rules concerning height, location, size, aesthetic impact, and installation requirements." Some hams will bitch they still can't have a 90' tower beside their town house and some HOAs will try to prevent any ham activity at all because the HOA committee has HOA-nazis think it will interfere with their TVs and crash their computers. Both sides will need to compromise.

BTW, like I said earlier, there are many ways to reduce the footprint of the antenna. This is such a big thing with hams you can even buy a 2m/70cm antenna that looks like a vent pipe