Illegal to ban antennas/satellite dishes?

[WildaBeast]

A guy I worked with a few years ago is ham radio operator, and at the time I was working with him he and his HOA had a little disagreement about the big antenna he put up behind his house. If I remember correctly he just ended up moving, and this prompted another coworker to comment that if he had choose to fight it he would have been in the right, because the FCC has a rule that says no local government or other organization can make a rule that would prevent someone from accessing the public airwaves, and this has been successfully interpreted in the past as saying they cannot prevent someone from putting up an antenna or satellite dish. Is this true?

[AnglRdr]

I don't know about the interpretation of the law, but satellite dishes and ariel antennae would not fall into the same catagory, since one facilitates access to broadcast airwaves and the other facilitates access to subscription-only airwaves.

[Nick Theodorakis]

Originally Posted by WildaBeast

A guy I worked with a few years ago is ham radio operator, and at the time I was working with him he and his HOA had a little disagreement about the big antenna he put up behind his house. If I remember correctly he just ended up moving, and this prompted another coworker to comment that if he had choose to fight it he would have been in the right, because the FCC has a rule that says no local government or other organization can make a rule that would prevent someone from accessing the public airwaves, and this has been successfully interpreted in the past as saying they cannot prevent someone from putting up an antenna or satellite dish. Is this true?

The FCC takes very seriously the right of people to receive transmisson over the airways, according to this faq. Transmitters are a more complicated story. Here are the regulations regarding amateur radio transmissions.

Nick

[diddy]

Originally Posted by WildaBeast

A guy I worked with a few years ago is ham radio operator, and at the time I was working with him he and his HOA had a little disagreement about the big antenna he put up behind his house. If I remember correctly he just ended up moving, and this prompted another coworker to comment that if he had choose to fight it he would have been in the right, because the FCC has a rule that says no local government or other organization can make a rule that would prevent someone from accessing the public airwaves, and this has been successfully interpreted in the past as saying they cannot prevent someone from putting up an antenna or satellite dish. Is this true?

I think that you are generalizing a bit too much. Satellite dishes aren't public, since the satellites are privately owned. Plus a private housing associations can reject satellite dishes on roof tops. I am sure that large antennas can be restricted since the yards are owned and maintained by the association. If they reject it and you install it anyway, you can get kicked out/evicted.

[diddy]

Hey! AngleRidr provided a better explanation than I did. Spanked.

[WildaBeast]

Originally Posted by AnglRdr

I don't know about the interpretation of the law, but satellite dishes and ariel antennae would not fall into the same catagory, since one facilitates access to broadcast airwaves and the other facilitates access to subscription-only airwaves.

The link Nick posted states that the rule does, in fact, apply to both.

The rule applies to video antennas including direct-to-home satellite dishes that are less than one meter (39.37") in diameter (or of any size in ffice:smarttags" />lace w:st="on">Alaskalace>), TV antennas, and wireless cable antennas.

It does look like it wouldn't apply to ham radio, though. Plus they do seem to allow size restrictions.

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by AnglRdr

I don't know about the interpretation of the law, but satellite dishes and ariel antennae would not fall into the same catagory, since one facilitates access to broadcast airwaves and the other facilitates access to subscription-only airwaves.

I don't know about the US but in Europe there are a number of channels on satellite that are free. I have a dish and decoder which I own, I don't pay a penny in subscription, and there are about thirty channels which I can legitimately watch for nothing.

[Elwood]

Yeah, I remember this from training in retail sales days. Many HOA's attempt to ban satellite dishes, but the FAA expressly such policies. Some policies only mention rooftops and residents sometimes try to have it both ways by mounting the dish on a pole in a less conspicuous location such as the back yard, but by law they can mount it anywhere on their property.

Though the association would not have a legal leg to stand on, my guess is that it would be more trouble than it is worth to fight an HOA. If the members take the association policies seriously, one may when legally or on principle but lose Amateur radio towers, OTOH, can be HUGE. My uncle had one, but he eventually took it and the enormous terrestial TV antennae down under the realization that "there are a lot of storms in my area, I live at the top of a hill, and maybe attracting lightning isn't a good idea.

Personally, there is no way I would ever, EVER live in a neighborhood with an HOA. I will take the decaying property in my 'hood over that any day.

[hambubba]

PRB-1 goes a long way in helping explain and correct the problem.

Basically, if the HOA rules change after you put up an antenna, there is a federal preemption that overrides the HOA. In some cases, the federal preemption allows "reasonable accommodation"; a radio amateur can work with his HOA to put up some kind of antenna, but usually not a 500 foot yard-eating monster.

If you sign a deed containing covenant restrictions against antenna structures, though, you're pretty much screwed.

[Nick Theodorakis]

Originally Posted by Elwood

Yeah, I remember this from training in retail sales days. Many HOA's attempt to ban satellite dishes, but the FAA expressly such policies. ...

ITYM "FCC," not "FAA" (unless the satellite dish is tall enough to impinge upon airspace).

Nick

[Troberg]

I don't know about the US but in Europe there are a number of channels on satellite that are free.

Not only that, there is a lot of other cool stuff apart from TV that you can get. We used to play around with connecting recievers to computers to recieve weather maps from satellites. There's probably a whole lot of other cool stuff you can recieve as well.

[Joostik]

Legislators over here (Netherlands at least, not sure about European Union regulations) have ruled the "Free Reception of Information" to be a basic right (IIRC it's in the international declaration of human rights). Therefore homeowners cannot forbid occupants to put up antennas or satelite dishes. They can only ask to place them in a less visible place. Sometimes the dishes are "mobile", so they are theoretically removed when not in use (which of course in practice means never).

[diddy]

At least with my HOA, they require approval (I am guessing that its pretty much approved) so that they can tell you the requirements on how visible it can be. Satellite installers shouldn't have an issue putting it in a not-so obtrusive spot.

[Troberg]

Legislators over here (Netherlands at least, not sure about European Union regulations) have ruled the "Free Reception of Information" to be a basic right (IIRC it's in the international declaration of human rights). Therefore homeowners cannot forbid occupants to put up antennas or satelite dishes. They can only ask to place them in a less visible place. Sometimes the dishes are "mobile", so they are theoretically removed when not in use (which of course in practice means never).

I've also seen requirement for professional installations for safety reasons, as they tend to catch a lot of wind and can do quite some damage if falling from a high position.