Please Write Your Congressperson Regarding HR4969 ASAP
A significant and growing number of Amateur Radio operators living
outside the protection of PRB-1, the Federal law that provides limited
preemption of state and local antenna zoning ordinances, are unable to
install even the most modest of outside antennas. They are effectively
precluded from using their license privileges at home because PRB-1 does
not extend to private deed restrictions, such as CC&Rs and HOA rules.
In much of our Division and elsewhere, finding housing near work,
schools and medical care without such deed restrictions is increasingly
difficult if not impossible to find. An ARRL-sponsored bill now up for
consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives, HR4969, would, if
passed, direct the FCC to extend the reasonable-accommodation
protections of PRB-1 to these Amateurs. Like PRB-1, HR 4969 would not
give Amateurs the right to put up whatever they wish. It would simply
require HOAs and other private land use regulations to extend
reasonable accommodation to Amateurs wishing to erect antennas. As is
the case under PRB-1, what constitutes reasonable accommodation will
vary on a case-by-case basis.
We have a very short time window to secure the benefits of this
legislation, and we need every licensed Amateur, whether or not an ARRL
member, to help by asking his Representative to support and co-sponsor
this bill. You can find a sample letter that you can customize or send
as is, adding just your Representative’s name and your own name and
address, on the ARRL Web site. Just click on the HR4969 banner on the
home page; then expand the “How Can I Help” section and click on
the link to the sample letter. Other sections on the same Web page
will help you find your Congressperson’s name and an ARRL address to
send your letters for hand-delivery to your Representative’s office.
You’ll also find talking points and other information on the same
page.
If you can obtain an appointment to meet the Representative or his /
her staff locally during the August Recess, please let Vice-Director
Marty Woll N6VI (n6vi(a)arrl.org) or me (n6aa(a)arrl.org) know, and one of
us will try to accompany you to such an appointment and help you
prepare for it. Your letters will also help open the doors for
possible office visits by ARRL officials in DC during the final
pre-election Congressional sessions in September. When you send your
letter, please take an extra moment to send Vice-Director Woll either
an electronic copy or a short note indicating that it has been sent and
stating your Congressional district or Representative’s name. If your
Representative accepts e-mail input from constituents, you can use that
in addition to (but not in place of) a printed letter. Put your ZIP
code in the header and indicate the subject as “Telecommunications
– Please Co-Sponsor HR4969.” You can add the text of your written
letter in the body of this e-mail message.
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ARRL Southwestern Division
Director: Richard J Norton, N6AA
n6aa(a)arrl.org
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