CB Antenna Restrictions For Australia?

 

(Dec 04)

 

It has always been acknowledged that when cultural changes in the United States of America are implemented, Australia usually follows suit. In fact, the same can be said about a number of other countries around the world. The USA seems to lead the way by example.

 

The situation may not be any different when it comes to radio communications. If the USA has adopted a policy or procedure regarding radio operations, it seems that Australia is not far behind from also adopting it as well. A typical example would be the issue of Broadband Power Line technology, which is another issue for another article.

 

But what exactly prompts The ACBRO Team to discuss the issue of USA trends being adopted by Australia? Read on, with thanks given to Dru, ACBRO 520, for alerting The ACBRO Team to the matter of Home Owners Associations (HOAs) that currently exist all over the USA.

HOAs are national consumer alliance membership organization that is for homeowners what the AAA, NRMA or RACV are for automobile owners. HOAs help homeowners and aspiring homeowners stretch a limited budget to achieve a greater quality of life. HOAs deliver a membership service to homeowners and aspiring homeowners that expands their purchasing power, provides reliable resources in case of a household or home repair emergency, helps them make more informed decisions, and represents their key interests in both the public and private sectors.

Slowly but surely, all over the United States, radio operators who buy into a new home have been hit with compulsory membership in Home Owners Associations (HOAs) and/or forced into unfair agreements to accept the banning of all external antenna’s within their home’s property, in affected areas.

 

For example, it is now legally necessary to establish an HOA when building a new housing development or estate in Fairfax County, Virginia (a suburb of Washington, DC, with more than 1,000,000 residents) or virtually anywhere in the state of Colorado. Most of these HOAs ban external antennas.

 

In some areas, banks mandate HOAs and not the law, who deny financing to builders who do not participate in or establish an HOA. This has had the end result of creating a legal precedent of banning all antennas within new HOA controlled housing estates.

 

Currently in the USA, about 40% of all Americans live in HOA controlled neighbourhoods, nearly all of which ban external antennas. Radio operators living in an HOA controlled area have come to realize that being a part of a HOA for all its benefits, and it does have a lot of advantages, also severely restricts property rights. One comment provided to ACBRO from an American Citizen living in a HOA controlled home has summed up the situation; “If you're going to pay almost 200,000 bucks for a house you want to enjoy, you're sure as hell not going to put up with an uninformed person telling you that you can't put up a "CB antenna." Another comment by an American simply labeled the managers of HOA’s as “…Nazis…”

 

Australia has a similar situation existing although not as restrictive. Some new estates and housing developments require the homeowner to comply with various restrictions imposed by council and estate managers, being placed on the homeowner who intends to erect an external antenna. One radio operator residing in a new housing development north east of Adelaide was told that the intended antenna to be erected had to be painted black so that the antenna could be camouflaged and was restricted to only being allowed to erect one antenna only on the property.

 

Another radio operator has reported to The ACBRO Team that they were not permitted to erect an antenna any higher than the roofline of their home. (By the way, the same radio operator was also informed that they were not allowed to install a reverse cycle wall air-conditioner that has the rear of it protruding externally from the wall, if the protruding part becomes visible from the roadway while standing outside the front of the house.)

 

Although, the authorities that are in Australia have not got to the point of completely banning external antennas, ACBRO ACTION readers have to ponder whether or not the trend in the USA will eventually become a reality in Australia. So far, Australia has seen certain restrictions being imposed on external antennas in various parts of Australia where a new development or housing estate exists that just falls short of banning antennas altogether.

 

But why are such bans and restrictions being imposed in the USA and Australia respectively? For many reasons that include maintaining environmental aesthetics, reducing or eliminating “unsightly antenna farms” in backyards and eliminating interference problems to neighbors as a result of antenna radiation.

 

The current Australian experience regarding the restrictions imposed on external antennas in various areas of Australia are beginning to sound so very familiar to the USA experience. Are we to eventually follow the USA trend? AA