Antenna Hidden in Christmas Light Skirts HOA Rules
For all their supposed benefits, homeowners associations (HOAs) have a reputation for quickly turning otherwise scenic neighborhoods into a sort of prison-like Stanford experiment, as those with even the slightest power often abuse them. Arbitrary rules and enforcement abound regarding house color, landscaping, parking, and, if you've ever used a radio, antennas. While the FCC (at least as far as the US is concerned) says that HOAs aren't allowed to restrict the use of antennas, if you don't want to get on the wrong side, you'll want to install an antenna like this which is disguised as a set of HOA compatible Christmas lights.
For this build, a long wire is hidden with a strand of otherwise simple lights. Although it may seem simple at first, there are a few things that need to be changed on the string light in order to make both the antenna and the disguise work. First, the wires of each bulb were removed to avoid any coupling of the antenna to the light string. Cutting the wires turns what is essentially one long wire that might resonate with the frequency of the antenna into many short sections of wire that won't have this problem. It also solves the problem of accidentally lighting bulbs while transmitting, as RF energy from the antenna could otherwise be transferred into the light chain and attract the attention of the aforementioned HOA.
Testing of this antenna looked surprisingly promising while on the ground, but when the chain and antenna were attached to the roof face, performance decreased slightly, likely due to the metal drip edge or gutters. Still, antenna creator [Bob] aka [HOA Ham] has had excellent success with it, making clear contacts with other ham radio operators hundreds of miles away. We've also shared another one of [Bob's] HOA compatible builds below that hides the HF antenna in the roof ridge vent, and if you're looking for some other great antenna builds, check out this one which uses a single transformer to get wideband performance from an otherwise short HF antenna.
For all their supposed benefits, homeowners associations (HOAs) have a reputation for quickly turning otherwise scenic neighborhoods into a sort of prison-like Stanford experiment, as those with even the slightest power often abuse them. Arbitrary rules and enforcement abound regarding house color, landscaping, parking, and, if you've ever used a radio, antennas. While the FCC (at least as far as the US is concerned) says that HOAs aren't allowed to restrict the use of antennas, if you don't want to get on the wrong side, you'll want to install an antenna like this which is disguised as a set of HOA compatible Christmas lights.
For this build, a long wire is hidden with a strand of otherwise simple lights. Although it may seem simple at first, there are a few things that need to be changed on the string light in order to make both the antenna and the disguise work. First, the wires of each bulb were removed to avoid any coupling of the antenna to the light string. Cutting the wires turns what is essentially one long wire that might resonate with the frequency of the antenna into many short sections of wire that won't have this problem. It also solves the problem of accidentally lighting bulbs while transmitting, as RF energy from the antenna could otherwise be transferred into the light chain and attract the attention of the aforementioned HOA.
Testing of this antenna looked surprisingly promising while on the ground, but when the chain and antenna were attached to the roof face, performance decreased slightly, likely due to the metal drip edge or gutters. Still, antenna creator [Bob] aka [HOA Ham] has had excellent success with it, making clear contacts with other ham radio operators hundreds of miles away. We've also shared another one of [Bob's] HOA compatible builds below that hides the HF antenna in the roof ridge vent, and if you're looking for some other great antenna builds, check out this one which uses a single transformer to get wideband performance from an otherwise short HF antenna.
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