N5FDL Amateur Radio

ARRL Web reported on Thursday that Pennsylvania has become the 27th state to enact a version of the federal prohibition against overzealous regulation of Amateur Radio antennas, known as PRB-1:

On Wednesday, October 8, Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell (D) signed into law a bill that guarantees radio amateurs the right to erect antenna support structures up to 65 feet without the need for a Special Use Permit. The bill passed in the House with a vote of 196-1; it passed in the Senate with a vote of 49-1. The new law is scheduled to go into effect December 8, 60 days after signing.

This is a wonderful thing and I don’t want to take anything away from the hard work that made it possible. Pennsylvania’s ARRL members have done something very important.

But, we need to go farther. We need a PRB-1 that nullifies deed restrictions that prohibit or restrict our antennas. I know of only one jurisdiction with such a law and it is badly needed elsewhere. Where I live, my city is perfectly happy to approve an tower up to 70 feet tall, provided the concrete work meets their spec.

So, while my city would approve the antenna, I am pretty sure erecting a tower would violate a covenant attached to my deed. Who would enforce that restriction is a bit of a mystery to me. We don’t have a homeowners’ association, the usual mechanism for bringing “adventurous” property owners into line.

Maybe my neighbors would sue me, but probably not. Nothing has been said about the weather station and VHF/UHF vertical mounted on a pole attached to the peak of my roof. If I were more interested in getting a tower installed, I’d explore all of this.

The ARRL has spent a lot of time and money battling the threat from Broadband Over Powerline (BPL) Internet distribution by electric utilities. I don’t question that turning the power grid into a giant longwire is a bad idea. But, it’s not nearly the threat to Amateur Radio’s future that the inability to get an HF antenna into the air is proving to be.

Or maybe, the combination of small lots and deed restrictions have already done all the damage they can do. I can’t imagine that the “talk to the world” aspect of Amateur Radio is very interesting when a would-be new ham realizes that an 80-meter dipole just won’t fit on a .11 acre lot. At least, not without a bunch of antenna wrangling and the final result isn’t likely to be very pretty or efficient. (Yes, I’ve tried).

I don’t ever see a decent tower and beam going up at my house, only partially because of whatever restrictions I’ve already agreed to. It’s just as important that my two-story home so fills my lot (and there is no alley to buffer it from backyard neighbors) that any big antenna is going to be pretty hard to dress-up into neighborhood acceptability.

As a result, I don’t do much on HF and likely won’t. My interest in Amateur Radio will survive the affront of not having “real” hamming as much of an option. But, with the siren song of the Internet attracting our youth—“Isn’t ham radio just like instant messaging?” I was asked by one young man—the near impossibility of getting a decent connection of copper and aluminum into the air is a problem our hobby doesn’t need.

Given the political realities, I don’t see the FCC or even Congress trying to nullify antenna provisions in private real estate contracts. But, when the opportunity presents itself this is something we can push—probably with at best limited success—at the state and local level.

If you have ideas for solving this problem, I’d love to hear them.

(Here’s a link to the ARRL’s Deed Restrictions page, in case you’re interested).