wrote

I am curious, though, about some things that seem pretty common in
amateur discussions about HOAs and CC&Rs.

It seems to me that a lot of amateurs insist on a new house, or at
least a newer house, meaning something no older than 10-20 years.
Older homes are simply off the radar, for some reason. Is it just me,
or is this a real trend? What's behind it?

==================================

In my case, I like nice and new because it's nice and new and clean,
everything's under warranty, uses the "latest technology," it was built with
my choice of its internals, including having coax run through the walls from
the roof to my "shack" area.... and I could live with relatively stealth
antennas. Why? Because the house itself is for me more a priority than is
ham radio.

As for CC&R's, I knew it all going in, and I knew that I would be working
with an HOA that is not run by a bunch of... I won't use the term.... I
would *never* live under a regime like that. While it's a 200 home
development, they are fairly flexible in what you can and cannot do. As I
said earlier, I have had an MFJ Hi-Q Loop mounted in my backyard for 10
years, and no one has ever said a word. It works very well, as evidenced by
all the DX I've worked with it. I had a Diamond 2m/440 antenna (40") mounted
on the roof, also as visible as possible.

An HOA can be fired. If the majority of homeowners want to throw them all
out and change the CC&R's they can. (I know, not likely, but the point is
that it can be done.)

So while there are choices, there are choices. Choose wisely.

Howard N7SO