On 19 Apr 2004 05:45:27 -0700, Cathy James wrote:
Greetings all,

I am planning to move to the western suburbs of Minneapolis soon, and
would like to know if there are any communities that I should
specifically "look at" or "avoid" due to restrictions on ham radio
antennas or other issues.

Even apart from ham radio issues, I prefer rural to urban, but commute
time to the areas on the west side of downtown is an issue preventing
me from being too far out. Mound is probably the western limit of
what I am willing to consider.

Right now I am looking at Mound, Champlin, and Maple Grove. My
realtor is generally helpful, but amateur radio is a mystery to her
and I do not think she is used to getting such requests.


73,

Cathy (N5WVR)

Cathy: this doesn't answer your question, but might give you some food
for thought. If amateur radio and antennas are very important to you
then I think you are making the wrong decision about suburbs. I moved
from a city into the country a few years back; not only did I not have
any hassles putting up antennas but I could not believe the difference
in how QUIET all the bands were. Cities are full of QRN: in fact, it is
unbelievable how much QRN is generated by thousands of appliances, power
lines, computers and cars. I went from a continuous S4-5 background
noise level to maybe S1 on 160-20 metres. It made a HUGE difference to
the pleasure of amateur radio. I was able to work stations I could not
even hear in the city. It was a revelation. You could test this for
yourself with a mobile HF setup if you have access to one.

These days it matters little what suburb you move into - there will
always be someone who does not like tall "ugly" structures "in their
neighbourhood".

Good luck with your decision.

Larry VE7EA

--
********************************
to reply via email remove "fake"