Larry Gagnon wrote:
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.

I have lived in the countryside (1 acre lot, well, septic system, yagi
on roof for TV reception) for years and loved it, but I fear that the
commute time in the Twin Cities will be significantly longer per mile,
and I am not willing to buy into 1 hour+ commutes each way. What
good does it do to get quieter living space (both radio and sound)
if all my free time gets taken up by the commute?

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".

Well, I wasn't planning to put towers up. But I am hearing horror
stories of people who have been hassled just for stringing a few wires
around their yards. I also have personal memories of causing QRN
to the neighbors back when I lived in an apartment, and that experience
was negative enough to push me out of the HF spectrum for a few years.
I am just now getting back in. (Those consumer lamps that are switched
on and off by touching them think that a passing wave on 15 meters
is a hand touching them and telling them to turn on...makes CW very
interesting to the lamp owner. I fixed that problem by putting chokes
on the neighbor's lamp cords, but I'd hate to do that for every neighbor,
and the problem still existed on 40 meters.)

Getting back to Minneapolis: I would appreciate it if someone
living in the area could give me some very specific guidance on
issues such as "how far west do I have to go to escape the worst QRN",
"how far do I have to go before the area feels rural," and "can I
get a rural feel with a commute to downtown of less than 1 hour
each way". I am in a position where I will probably end up buying a
home without living in the Minneapolis first (coming in from out of
state), and I do not want to make a mistake.

Cathy (N5WVR)