I, too, am in an HOA with a strict "no antennas" rule, and I, too, have a radiant barrier blocking RF in the attic. I home-brewed a DX Commander clone (search YouTube for "DX Commander") and put it up in the back yard. I don't think anybody who's not a ham recognizes it as an antenna. It just looks like a 31-foot fiberglass telescoping pole standing up in the yard. (I used a Jackite pole from Amazon, which is typically used for flying bird-shaped kites, as I understand it. You'll see these poles set up along the seawall in Galveston, with various kites/windsocks attached to their tops...)
It's been up for months, and nobody's said a word to me about it. My goal is to get DXCC on 100 watts on SSB before delving into CW and digital. I've talked to hams in a bunch of DXCC entities, and, so far, I have 36 LOTW confirmations and 2 QSL cards for my efforts. It'd be more if I had more time to operate... Moral of the story: sometimes it's best to ask for forgiveness (if you have to) than to ask for permission... -Jeff, W5JEF ...I also have a cheap weather station that I intend to mount on top of the PVC pipe housing my Ed Fong VHF/UHF antenna. I'll put it up, and can claim that it's a weather station and not an antenna. There are ways to get things up in the air, even in an HOA... ________________________________ From: bapt...@comcast.net <bapt...@comcast.net> Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2022 9:49 PM To: w5sv.d...@gmail.com <w5sv.d...@gmail.com> Cc: 'CTDXCC' <ctd...@lists.kkn.net>; tdxs-l...@tdxs.net <tdxs-l...@tdxs.net>; 'BRAZOS VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB' <bvarc@bvarc.org>; gree...@hotmail.com <gree...@hotmail.com> Subject: RE: [BVARC] Ham Radio in an HOA Thank you for your comments, Dave. And I really enjoyed listening to Bob Heil on the Zoom call tonight. I’m just getting settled in Bryan, TX, and I’m also struggling with HOA restrictions on external antennas. One thing I did not know (coming from Northern Virginia) about Texas is the aluminum foil that lines my attic roof sheeting (“heat barrier”), which turned a huge, functional open space into an RF “vault.” We do have a six foot, wooden fence around the property line, so I could install a longwire/dipole along the top of the fence but suffer from a minimal height, or I could install metal gutters and tune them, or a “flag pole” vertical is a possible third option… There are no trees on our 1/4 acre lot. Oh, and I’m not sure if I should drill and penetrate the house’s exterior, stone wall… or use some sort of antenna-coax “pass-through” connectors in a window opening. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. 73’s, Kevin / N4RMF Bryan From: BVARC <bvarc-boun...@bvarc.org> On Behalf Of David F. Reed via BVARC Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2022 7:11 PM To: CTDXCC <ctd...@lists.kkn.net>; tdxs-l...@tdxs.net; BRAZOS VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB <bvarc@bvarc.org> Cc: David F. Reed <w5sv.d...@gmail.com> Subject: [BVARC] Ham Radio in an HOA Greetings all; I just thought I would give a quick report on my operating within an HOA with restrictions… As you might guess, my antennas are severely compromised (mostly using a terminated folded dipole in the attic while trying to get permission for an external Carolina Windom)… My serious DXing is by remote base, but I have re-discovered digital modes (primarily FT8); barefoot (expecting amplifier back from repair at the mother ship next week), I have managed to work some 40 countries in the last few months. Just thought it might be worth sharing; I encourage other frustrated DXers in HOAs to give FT8 a try - definitely not for ragchewrs though… 73 de W5SV - Dave
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