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YOU
CAN
HELP
US
CHANGE
THE
LEGAL
RIGHTS
OF
AMERICAN
HAMS
BUT,
WE NEED
YOUR
HELP
TO
PASS
THIS LEGISLATION!!!
The ARRL is focused on reducing legal restraints on the ability of
American Amateur Radio Operators to engage in the active practice
and enjoyment of Amateur Radio.
One of the most insidious and increasing threats to the survival of
Amateur Radio and our ability to serve our communities and Nation,
as we are required to do by Federal regulation, is the proliferation
of private land use restrictions that prohibit the installation of
outdoor antennas and that sometimes actually deny Federally licensed
Amateurs from operating any amateur radios, regardless of where
their antennas are located — in their attics, hidden in trees, or
mounted on their vehicles.
Federal law — since 1996 — has guaranteed to every American — except
Amateur Radio Operators — the right to erect antennas outside or on
their residences for the purpose of TV reception, satellite TV and
internet access, wireless internet access and even wireless internet
redistribution. But Amateur Radio operators are denied the equal
right to erect comparable antennas.
Since 2005 Federal law has also guaranteed to every American the
right to proudly display the American Flag by installing flagpoles in
their yards. But, despite that right to install vertical poles in
their yards — American Radio Amateurs are denied the right to use
those vertical flagpoles as vertical antennas.
We believe the denial — to licensed Amateur Radio Operators — of the
rights guaranteed to all non-Amateur Radio licensed American
homeowners — the right to install antennas on the land they own — is
without justification and should not be permitted to continue.
To eliminate these private land use restrictions, the ARRL has
worked over the past several years with our elected officials to
draft Congressional legislation — H.R. 1094 in the U.S. House of
Representatives and S. 459 in the U.S. Senate — that when passed
will extend to all Hams the right to operate from their homes and
the right to install antennas on the land they own. We have
bipartisan support for this legislation.
How can you help?
By sending a letter to your Representative and
Senators asking that they co-sponsor and support H.R. 1094 and S.
459.
How can you send these letters? It is easy.
Go to —
https://send-a-letter.org/hoa/
Enter your call sign and click on “Send My
Letters”
and your letters will be delivered to our
Washington legislative team
for hand delivery to your Representative and
Senators.
Does your individual letter matter? YES.
Your Representative and Senators need to know that the passage of
this legislation is important to you.
Your letter could be the difference in whether we are able to pass
H.R. 1094 and S. 459.
Go to —
https://send-a-letter.org/hoa/ — and help us by
sending your letters to your Representative and Senators.
For ease of access to
https://send-a-letter.org/hoa/ point your phones at:
Click Here
for Club Letter Information and Form
Frequently Asked Questions....
FAQs
Regarding
ARRL’s Legislation:
H.R. 1094,
S. 459
Who
Are The Primary Opponents
of Removing The Prohibitions On
Amateur Radio?
CAI, the Community Associations Institute, Inc. This national
organization, with chapters in every State, is the political
voice of home owner associations (“HOA”), HOA management
companies, HOA law firms, and developers. It is rabidly
anti-Amateur Radio.
Will the passage of the Legislation
negatively impact real estate interests? No.
·This bill gives Hams the same privileges that were granted to
homeowners in 1996 by Congressional action — the right to erect
TV antennas, satellite TV dishes, and wireless internet antennas
— and in 2005 by Congressional action — the right to erect
free-standing flagpoles. The legislation merely extends those
same rights to Hams.
·Twenty-nine years of the right of American homeowners to erect
antennas and supporting masts, towers, and related equipment on
the outside of their residences has proven the installation of
antennas exterior to residences does not adversely affect the
quality of life in the residential developments, safety, or home
values.
·The legislation includes specific language preserving
traditional regulation by national, state, county or city,
building and zoning codes.
Why aren’t we attempting to pass this Legislation
state-by-state?
The Federal Communications Commission preempts the
regulation and use of all radio frequencies. It is the reason
that cellular telephone service, broadcast radio and television,
satellite communications, GPS services, police, fire, and
military communications are all regulated by the FCC. Amateur
Radio has been a voluntary federal service since the Radio Act
of 1927. Radio waves know no state boundaries. Homeowner TV and
wireless internet antennas were granted relief from HOA
restrictions in 1996 (47 CFR § 1.4000). Homeowners were granted
relief from HOA restrictions against flag poles in 2005 (4 U.S.C.
§ 5 (note). Effective, uniform relief for Amateur Radio, will
have to come at the Federal level.
Does this Legislation break contracts between community/HOA
associations and homeowners? No
Private land use restrictions, also known
as CC&Rs or deed restrictions are conditions that are
impressed upon the land and are not subject to being removed
by either private citizens or community associations. The
documents that create these restrictions specifically
prohibit the elimination of the restrictions by
negotiation.
Approximately 80% of new homes are constructed in
developments that are burdened by deed restrictions that prohibit Hams from
installing antennas on the outside of their residences. This means that it has
become more and more difficult for a potential purchaser to find any alternative
housing in newer neighborhoods with access to quality schools, which are close
to places of employment and that have reasonable access to shopping. There are
entire cities that are entirely HOA controlled. (Examples: The Villages, FL, and
Foster City, CA – see Hotz v. Rich, 4 Cal.App.4th 1048 (1992)
Homeowners, contrary to the claims of
the opponents to this legislation, cannot negotiate away the
anti-Ham prohibitions.
Private land use restrictions have been stricken by
government on many occasions. Examples of CC&Rs that were
declared unenforceable by state and federal law include:
Prohibitions on the display of the American flag
Prohibitions on the erection of free standing flag poles
Prohibitions on the installation of solar panels
Prohibitions on the installation of energy efficient roofing
shingles
Prohibitions on the installation of rainwater collection
systems
Prohibitions on the installation of composting
Prohibitions on Xeriscaping (desert landscaping – little
water)
Prohibitions on the installation of certain types of turf
Prohibitions on the presence of certain makes/models of
automobiles
Prohibitions on the installation of clotheslines
Prohibitions on the right to display political signs
Prohibitions on the installation of standby electric
generators
Prohibitions on the installation of satellite TV dishes (for
TV and internet)
Prohibitions on the installation of exterior WISP (Wireless
Internet Service Provider) masts/towers, antennas
Prohibitions on the installation of VHF/UHF TV masts, towers
and antennas
Can community associations/HOAs grant variances from the
recorded deed restrictions? No.
As noted, the documents that create the
restrictions prohibit the governing associations from
modifying the restrictions, except by amending and
rerecording the deed restrictions after approval of a super
majority of the residents of the housing development.
•This was the reason Congress in 1996 ordered the FCC to
create the OTARD (the “Over- The-Air-Reception-Device”)
rules that render unenforceable all restrictions on the
installation of TV antennas, satellite dishes, and wireless
internet antennas.
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