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ARRL Request to Contact Your US Senators Supporting theAmateur Radio Parity Act

KY6LA_Howard
KY6LA_Howard Member ✭✭✭
edited June 2020 in SmartSDR for Windows
Dear ARRL member, I am writing to you today because we are at a crossroad in our efforts to obtain passage of The Amateur Radio Parity Act. Our legislative efforts scored a major victory in our campaign when The Amateur Radio Parity Act, H.R. 1301, passed in the House of Representatives yesterday, September 12th. The legislation now moves to the Senate, where we need every Senator to approve the bill. You are one of over 730,000 licensed Amateur Radio Operators living in the United States. Many of you already live in deed-restricted communities, and that number grows daily. NOW IS THE TIME FOR ALL HAMS TO GET INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS! · If you want to have effective outdoor antennas but are not currently allowed to do so by your Home Owner’s Association, SEND THESE EMAILS TODAY!! · If you already have outdoor antennas, but want to support your fellow hams, SEND THESE EMAILS TODAY!! · If you want to preserve your ability to install effective outdoor antennas on property that you own, SEND THESE EMAILS TODAY!! We need you to reach out to your Senators TODAY! Right away. Help us in the effort. Please go to this linked website and follow the prompts: https://arrl.rallycongress.net/ctas/urge-senate-to-support-amateur-radio-parity-act Thank you. 73, Rick - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Rick Roderick, K5UR President ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio® Lo

Comments

  • KY6LA_Howard
    KY6LA_Howard Member ✭✭✭
    edited January 2017
    I signed it. Help ur fellow hams in HOA get antennas. Sign it today. We need to get it passed and onto the desk of POTUS before the end of the year.
  • Sergey R5AU
    Sergey R5AU Member ✭✭
    edited April 2017
    I see ANT theam is actual everywhere
  • Burch - K4QXX
    Burch - K4QXX Member ✭✭
    edited July 2018
    I signed it too.  Where I live you have to buy an older house or buy acreage out east to be able to live in a non deep restricted area.  Anything built here in the last 20-30 years is deed restricted.

  • Jlawson40
    Jlawson40 Member ✭✭
    edited March 2020
    I signed too. I don't live in a antenna restricted area but maybe sometime in the future. It's good to help out our fellow hams who have been frustrated with antenna restrictions for years. 73, John
  • KC9NRN
    KC9NRN Member
    edited July 2019
    I live in a neighborhood with no HOA however the town itself doesn't allow them, or fences, or sheds, you name it. I signed as well.
  • Ken - NM9P
    Ken - NM9P Member ✭✭✭
    edited June 2020
    Signed it...
  • Kevin
    Kevin Member
    edited December 2016
    The one place where we should be able to make our own decisions is our homes. I bought my house 4 years ago and could not find a place without an HOA or covenant of some sort. The HOA here is rather minimal but I still resent any HOA. 

    Signed. Hopefully there'll be a lot more antenna raising parties in the future.
  • Richard McClelland, AA5S
    Richard McClelland, AA5S Member ✭✭
    edited June 2020
    I signed it, too.  One of my senators (whose name isn't Bennet) insisted on me providing a telephone number, presumably for follow up fund raising calls.  I provided him the number of an old flip-phone that stays powered off in the kitchen drawer.
  • Bob G   W1GLV
    Bob G W1GLV Member ✭✭
    edited June 2020
    Signed it, too.
  • KY6LA_Howard
    KY6LA_Howard Member ✭✭✭
    edited September 2016
    Your town is in violation of PRB1. They MUST reasonably accommodate ham antennas. They will lose badly in court if they deny an antenna permit.
  • Lionel
    Lionel Member ✭✭✭
    edited March 2020
    Done, and I will call my Senators' office today.  The HOA here is fairly liberal but  in general I resent the concept of the HOA watching me.  

    Everyone needs to get on board and sign/sign and call. 
  • Ken - NM9P
    Ken - NM9P Member ✭✭✭
    edited December 2016
    It is a verification step so they can protect against people sending bogus bunches of spam emails in an effort to stuff the comment box. One of my senators in Indiana does it, too.
  • rfoust
    rfoust Member ✭✭
    edited March 2017
    I definitely signed it.
  • Jeff - AK0DX
    Jeff - AK0DX Member ✭✭
    edited September 2016
    The ARRL Web Site made this very easy to do!
    https://arrl.rallycongress.net/ctas/u... 
  • Rick - W5FCX
    Rick - W5FCX Member ✭✭
    edited February 2017
    Done.

    Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

    Rick
  • Steven Hess
    Steven Hess Member ✭✭
    edited September 2016
    Done and done. 
    I am lucky to live where there is no regulation of what I can put in the air or where I put it. 
    I can't fathom anyone moving into a place that didn't allow antennas. But people do. 
    Allowing a modest antenna set up should not be prohibited. 
  • Ria
    Ria Member ✭✭✭
    edited November 2019
    Contacted my senators (Cory Booker and Bob Menendez) via email on their website. I'll fill this out as well because I understand that ARRL has a paid lobbyist they use. My division director (and good friend) Mike, N2YBB has been pounding the pavement **** this. 

    I am fortunate in that my town has been pretty good with antennas after I had to set the land use board straight, but if I ever move out of here (likely) I want to be free to continue hamming. 
  • Lee Maisel
    Lee Maisel Member
    edited September 2016
    Done.   When the HOA's pay your property taxes and Mortgage, THEN they can have a say, but until then, **** off.
  • KC9NRN
    KC9NRN Member
    edited October 2016
    I hope so, my wife already busted our town for giving tickets for parking in our culdesac so she went to village hall for the hearing and presented them with their own rules from the town website and they agreed and let it go. It seems rules don't matter, they town makes them up as they go and it's up to us to push back.
  • David Ahrendts
    David Ahrendts Member ✭✭
    edited December 2018
    ARRL has issued a Wednesday afternoon update:

    SB QST @ ARL $ARLB032
    ARLB032 Amateur Radio Parity Act Passes in the US House of
    Representatives

    ZCZC AG32
    QST de W1AW  
    ARRL Bulletin 32  ARLB032
    From ARRL Headquarters  
    Newington CT  September 14, 2016
    To all radio amateurs 

    SB QST ARL ARLB032
    ARLB032 Amateur Radio Parity Act Passes in the US House of
    Representatives!

    "The bill is passed without objection." With those words, Amateur
    Radio history was made on September 12, when the US House of
    Representatives approved the Amateur Radio Parity Act, H.R. 1301 on
    a voice vote under a suspension of the rules. The focus of the
    campaign to enact the legislation into law now shifts to the US
    Senate. The House victory culminated many years of effort on ARRL's
    part to gain legislation that would enable radio amateurs living in
    deed-restricted communities to **** antennas that support Amateur
    Radio communication. The measure calls on the FCC to amend its Part
    97 rules "to prohibit the application to amateur stations of certain
    private land-use restrictions, and for other purposes." While
    similar bills in past years gained some traction on Capitol Hill, it
    was not until the overwhelming grassroots support from the Amateur
    Radio community for H.R. 1301 shepherded by ARRL that a bill made it
    this far. The legislation faces significant obstacles to passage in
    the US Senate, however.

    "This is huge step in our effort to enact legislation that will
    allow radio amateurs who live in deed-restricted communities the
    ability to construct an effective outdoor antenna," ARRL President
    Rick Roderick, K5UR, said. "Thanks to everyone for their help in
    this effort thus far. Now we must turn our full attention to getting
    the bill passed in the Senate."

    ARRL Hudson Division Director Mike Lisenco, N2YBB, who chairs the
    ARRL Board's Legislative Advocacy Committee, has been heavily
    involved in efforts to move H.R. 1301 forward. "This has been a
    multiyear effort that is finally seeing some light," he said. "The
    passage of the bill in the House is a major accomplishment, due to
    the hard work of so many - from the rank-and-file member to the
    officers and directors."

    Lisenco said it's not a time to rest on our laurels. "We are only
    halfway there. The focus now shifts to our effort in the Senate," he
    said. "We are beginning a massive e-mail campaign in which we need
    every member to write their two Senators using our simplified
    process. You will be hearing from President Roderick and from your
    Directors, asking you to go to our 'Rally Congress' page. Using your
    ZIP code, e-mails will be generated much like our recent letter
    campaign. You'll fill in your name and address and press Enter. The
    e-mails will be sent directly to your Senators without you having to
    search through their websites."

    The "Rally Congress" web page can be found at,
    https://arrl.rallycongress.net/ctas/urge-senate-to-support-amateur-radio-parity-act
    .

    Lisenco said getting these e-mails to members' Senators is a
    critical part of the process. "Those numbers matter! Please help us
    help you by participating in this effort," he said.

    As the amended bill provides, "Community associations should fairly
    administer private land-use regulations in the interest of their
    communities, while nevertheless permitting the installation and
    maintenance of effective outdoor Amateur Radio antennas. There exist
    antenna designs and installations that can be consistent with the
    aesthetics and physical characteristics of land and structures in
    community associations while accommodating communications in the
    Amateur Radio services."

    During this week's limited debate, the House bill's sponsor, Rep
    Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), thanked ARRL and the Community Associations
    Institute (CAI) for reaching an agreement to move the bill forward
    "in a bipartisan and very positive manner." He pointed out to his
    colleagues that Amateur Radio antennas are prohibited outright in
    some areas.

    "For some this is merely a nuisance," Kinzinger said, "but for
    others - those that use their Amateur Radio license for life-saving
    emergency communications - a dangerous situation can be created by
    limiting their ability to establish effective communication for
    those in need."

    Kinzinger said that in emergencies, hams can provide "a vital and
    life-saving function" when conventional communication systems are
    down. He also praised the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS), a
    US Department of Defense-sponsored program, comprised largely of
    Amateur Radio volunteers, that also supports communication during
    emergencies and disasters.

    Cosponsor US Rep Joe Courtney (D-CT) also urged the bill's passage.
    "This is not just a feel-good bill," Courtney said, recounting how
    Hurricane Sandy brought down the power grid, and "we saw all the
    advanced communications we take for granted...completely fall by the
    wayside." Ham radio volunteers provided real-time communication in
    the storm's wake, he said, saying the legislation was a way "to
    rebalance things" for radio amateurs who choose to live in
    deed-restricted neighborhoods by enabling them to install
    "non-intrusive antennas."

    Courtney noted that he spoke recently with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler,
    and said that Wheeler "strongly supports this legislation."

    Leading up to the vote, Rep Paul Tonko (D-NY) also spoke in support
    of the legislation, calling it a commonsense approach that would
    build "fairness into the equation for Amateur Radio operators" in
    dealing with homeowners associations.

    The earlier U.S. Senate version of the Amateur Radio Parity Act, S.
    1685, no longer is in play, and the Senate is expected to vote by
    unanimous consent on the version of H.R. 1301 that was adopted by
    the House on September 12.
    NNNN
    /EX
  • KY6LA_Howard
    KY6LA_Howard Member ✭✭✭
    edited September 2016
    Unfortunately it can get quite expensive before you can get before a judge to explain the rules to a town... But if you do get to court, case law heavily favors ham antennas because Federal Law preempts local council ordinances. Unfortunately the smaller the town, the more likely they are to ignore Federal Law until the courts force them to obey.
  • Rick - W5FCX
    Rick - W5FCX Member ✭✭
    edited February 2017
    From what I've read, we signed our rights away to the HOA when we bought the house. Will be interesting to see if FCC has any real **** and willingness to stand up for our rights.
  • KY6LA_Howard
    KY6LA_Howard Member ✭✭✭
    edited January 2017
    The FCC will do little or nothing but issue a PRB1 type rule which applies to HOA. It will be up to you nd the courts to make sure the HOA obeys the law.

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