Homeowners association pressuring to remove dish!

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The funny thing i that i have had for almost 4 years now!!!! The thing is that we use to have a different HOA and they swith to a different one. I received a notice a year after i put it one and the guy was nice to send me a form so i can have it as long it was not to visible from the outside; so i lowered it down more and he said it was fine to have it. My error was to never ask him for a written confirmation of this. Now the new HOA is saying that i have to bring it down. I am going to send them an email tomorrow telling them that i can have a 1 meter dish per the FCC but they might have their own rules.

that would almost be a grandfathered rule there. I know the old HOA president originally tried to invoke a one dish rule (which was retarded as at the time Minneapolis locals needed 2 dishes) and they had to be either on the deck or on the edge of the roof which was fine and that if you had more you were grandfathered.

I showed the FCC rules which shot down his one dish rule. A few folks had 2 dishes for locals or Int'l channels and I had 5 at the time :)

Now the only rule is still on the deck or on the edge of the roof (not at the peak)
 
I will take pics. I tried to talk to them to see if i can lower it down more even tuching the ground so i can keep it and they said no. I replied to them asking them up to what i can have as i was going to see of even buying a smaller to get the signal and they said no. The only ones that i am allow is the regular ones like dish or directv.

You did a good job of hiding it behind the fence and trying to not let it stick out.
If they did not specify size, numerically, but said you can have a "regular" one like dish or directv, just have a big ol Dish 5000 decal made for it!

Good luck- hope you get this resolved and get to keep your dish.
 
You may try to camouflage it by painting your house brick pattern on the upper part of the dish. Sort of what this owner did:

close%2Bup%2Bof%2Bdish.jpg
 
I can tell you my story about satellite dishes and the HOA here. We had to have little BS things like, 2 working smoke detectors, a carbon dioxide detector and they did come to see if they were installed and working. Remember here, I own this house and property! They I guess as the HOA have rights they can squeeze by and get by with also! When I moved in here back in 98, the guy that was over the HOA gave a two piece of paper “Rules for being in here” so to speak. It had on the first paper NO SATELLITE DISHES. I was subscribed to DirecTV then & on a contract! I was aware of the FCC Telecommunications Act of 1996 Section 207 since back then I installed them! I had an apartment in town that said the same thing about dishes and put one up according to the helpful rule of Section 207. There was a short stink rising then on having it but when they seen the FCC was on my side they backed off. It was a pizza size then though, 18’.

Now moving back to the time I moved in here, I was putting it out in plain view, still the same size in 98 and the HOA came over while I was setting it up and said, “NO WAY, YOU CAN”T HAVE THAT HERE OR ANYWHERE”! I showed them that I in fact could and a small argument ensued and I asked them if they wanted to take on the government on this issue. I have Section 207 printed and always eager to hand out! That stopped that! I have now 2 500’s up, my 80CM, a 300 up and I have right now, my 3ABN 90CM up right now horribly set up in plain view on my driveway! I have a temporary 8 footer up as well! The reason for the 8 foot now is I am going this spring to 10 foot and the dish is about the same in looks, getting them used to seeing that one but this spring, it will miracously grow to 10ft due to the April showers! :D

We have had 5 different HOA idiots here through the 11 plus years since I have lived here and I have been already been confronted about the dishes (one DN 500 and my Fortec 80CM) in plain sight mounted to my out building at the end of my driveway (picture in my avatar), so far, I have noticed that most of these idiots would not know what a CM or a METER was by looking at it and I have gotten by with all of them! The 8 footer see I am not covered by that Telecommunications Act but they never seem to put what the Section 207 says into what they see size wise! I was asked once what size is that dish there, I play stupid and say, I don’t quite know, I think about one meter? They are always satisfied with that and leave! I have not been bothered in awhile though but the bud can not be seen from the road at all unless you come over onto my property and go around back!

I always mount these out of the way and not easily accessible! All of mine are out of the way, kind of hidden but mounted to my building or house. My neighborhood has 7 other people now that has subscriber providers now (DNet and Direc) & one of my neighbors has a Fortec Star 80CM I put in last year because of mine and the hobby and it is right out front in plain sight on a pole because of my win over the HOA! So I am the Robin Hood Satellite Dish Dude here that whipped out the wet towel and cracked the HOA on the a$$!


Good luck with it, tell us what goes on from here and if you find a solution! I will follow this one for sure! Just tell them you don’t know the size but you would guess it is a meter and see if that slides! Play dumb with it you never know what could jump off from there! Not much of that dish is peeking over that fence, just get a taller fence, and make it tight where not to see though the cracks and I would tell them to bite me! They would play hell coming onto my property to measure it!

:eureka Maybe some Satellite Sales establishment can offer HOA Fib stickers to place on the back of the dishes we have that say's it is a 1 Meter! Tell those Idiots, "See, it says 1 METER"! "Sorry Ice, no reference to you!" :D These days, who is gonna know unless they measure! Just a thought and what could it harm to try! :devil:

Yes I too am getting tired of being penalized for having dishes myself for over 14 years!

Next time, I will send out my Snorting Killer Pug on them! :D

Iceburg: I was able to keep my 6 footer up even before I became the president of our HOA :)
There You Go Tony!!

Anyways jlrpes,

GOOD LUCK!!

Picture 1: HOA Fib sticker

Note: 2nd picture is for fun & I found it on the Net like Anole's Dish Addict picture in post #11! Not a picture of my house or setup! :) :haha

Picture 3: MS Paint of fence higher! Might be an option!


I respectfully apologize if I offended anyone that is a current HOA President here that chimed in on this discussion with their thoughts and suggestions that helped! I referred to the Idiots in this post as the ones I have dealt with in the associations I have lived in so far and not any current ones that may be a member here! I see if you are a member of a HOA here and you are a member of The Satellite Guys, you got to have a couple dishes up yourself! Very Cool!

Kevin
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I think I would write to the HO and say "If they look in their records for 2004 they will see they have already granted approval for this dish and you want to hear no more on the matter or you will sue for harrassment. If it is just a question of improving aesthetics then I am quite happy to plant, paint to disguise it more. That is a matter we can discuss." Of course you might like to copy it to the FCC.
 
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......
Are you speaking of a 2.4m dish as in 8 feet? If so, you're screwed. Unless you live in Alaska where there is no limit, the limit you are protected under is 1 meter (39.6666667 inches)

......

Sorry... WAY off topic here.....
I'm not being picky about a fraction of an inch here, but I'm really curious where the fractional part of your number above came from? When I saw that, I knew it wasn't the real number, ie the conversion factor is something closer to 39.37 , but that .6666667 thing suggests that you use some fractional approximation to generate the number, something like the 22/7 people use to approximate Pi .
Started playing around with the numbers, and the only thing I could come up with is 119/3 , but that seems to be as hard to remember as the actual number.
So I'm just curious re what memory device (I assume some fraction) you use to generate the conversion factor?

Sorry for being off topic. To get at least part way back onto topic, the reason that HOAs have so much power over people is that the home-owners have given them that power by signing a contract, so the problem is self inflicted to a large extent. I would first take a look at the contract signed when the property was purchased, but it's likely that it has some mechanism by which the HOA can change their rules. I would never (again) buy a place covered by an association, one of the reasons I moved to a small town in the woods and quickly put up my 7 dishes before the town could try to generate zoning ordinances to simulate what the HOAs do.
 
Originally Posted by FTABman0:
...and I have right now, my 3ABN 90CM up right now horribly set up in plain view on my driveway!


Haha.

Originally Posted by FTABman0:
I have a temporary 8 footer up as well! The reason for the 8 foot now is I am going this spring to 10 foot and the dish is about the same in looks, getting them used to seeing that one but this spring, it will miracously grow to 10ft due to the April showers! :D


Here I thought I had hit upon an original idea. I have a 7.5 footer, but am trying to score a 10 footer, for the same reason. You rock, dude!

Originally Posted by FTABman0:
Maybe some Satellite Sales establishment can offer HOA Fib stickers to place on the back of the dishes we have that say's it is a 1 Meter! Tell those Idiots, "See, it says 1 METER"!


Can somebody tell me the history on this, is the 1 meter FCC size due to someone like Primestar's lobbying? Who argued for that size in the first place? Just curious.
 
Originally Posted by FTABman0:


Originally Posted by FTABman0:
Maybe some Satellite Sales establishment can offer HOA Fib stickers to place on the back of the dishes we have that say's it is a 1 Meter! Tell those Idiots, "See, it says 1 METER"!


Can somebody tell me the history on this, is the 1 meter FCC size due to someone like Primestar's lobbying? Who argued for that size in the first place? Just curious.


That is a good question! I really don’t think it was during the Primestar years, this almost sounds like that is goes back to the 80’s with the BUD’S were the most popular! Think about it, how the little pizza sizes sprouted up when everyone wanted one. I would say this is the start of home satellite reception with a dish & 2DTV Era when the big boys (bud's) started to get planted!

Big dishes, think about it, having one of those back in the day would have giving you all the bragging rights. I remember growing up I had an Uncle with a huge mesh style and how he had cool things to say about it when us all were still on 3 or 4 channels terrestrial OTA UHF!

Back in the day, scrambling and encryption was not heard of much then because BUD Systems were expensive to own and the size of the dish was unheard of! But the more people heard that there were cool things up there to watch with them, they started to sprout up everywhere! And then it started to grow and encryption had to be thought about.

Everyone Wants One! That is why I think HOA rules were made, the BUD's started it all!

Face it, this was the grandfather years of the start of FTA, think about it!

The Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule SUX!!

Maybe someone here knows what started the HOA in including dishes in the rules of the association! Toucan, I would like to know that myself! :hungry:

Here I thought I had hit upon an original idea. I have a 7.5 footer, but am trying to score a 10 footer, for the same reason.
:( We both can take credit! :)

You rock, dude!

Toucan thankx for the kind commits! ;)

B~Man
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Does anyone know up to what size of Dish i can have on my back yard? I have a 2.5 dish on my back and i got a letter from my HOA advising that i have to bring it down or i will be receive a fine. They do not specify up to what size of dish i can have; of the people from the HOA told me that i can onl have one of the small ones. Any advise of what i can do? Any websites that i can see where i can forward to them advising that i can have a dish on my backyard as long as it is not visible from outside?

Jlrpes,

I read most of the responses here in this thread, had to skim a few, but I did not run across the subject of your HOA contract that you originally signed.

Pedrogarcia has elluded to this, however in his comments.

If there was a rule set forth in the original contract that you signed when you moved in that prohibited this, then you are likely in the wrong. Just because you were able to set up this dish and no one complained until now, does not allow you grandfather rights on the issue.

However, if there was no mention of it then or up to the time that the dish was installed, and you did not sign any contract beyond then that included a statement regarding this particular issue, and they just want to enforce something new NOW, after the fact, then you can tell them to hire a more competent attorney as they are going to lose. They cannot make up new rules for you to abide to after you have signed a contract.

If you have signed some sort of renewal agreement or contract each year since "back then" you better re-read everything that you signed. You may have damaged your case without knowing it if you did not read every item thoroughly and signed anyway, they may have you on a technicality if that is the case.

The law is the 1.0 meter size limit, which you are exceeding, but only if you entered into a legal contract that had specified that they would enforce that limit and you agreed to it.

Consulting with a lawyer to review your most recently signed contract would be a wise move on your part. Get the jump on the HOA before they jump on you.

AcWxRADAR
 
The funny thing i that i have had for almost 4 years now!!!! The thing is that we use to have a different HOA and they swith to a different one. I received a notice a year after i put it one and the guy was nice to send me a form so i can have it as long it was not to visible from the outside; so i lowered it down more and he said it was fine to have it. My error was to never ask him for a written confirmation of this. Now the new HOA is saying that i have to bring it down. I am going to send them an email tomorrow telling them that i can have a 1 meter dish per the FCC but they might have their own rules.


I sit on an HOA board in COlorado, while I can not speak about Laws in all 50 sattes since they vary many are simliar. Here if they have not brought htis to your attention for 4 years to bad for them. You have 12 months then it is Grandfatyherd and not a thing HOA can do.

I would 1st appeal to the Board not the management Compnay (assume thats who sent the notice) explaine it has been there for 4 years. Probably they will drop it.

If they don't drop it ask the Board for a variance. Mean whiel talk to an attorney and see what the laws are regarding gradfather time in your state.

Chances are you just got a new inspector and they saw it and made issue, or could be a new homeowner say it and compained.

Good Luck
 
That is a good question! I really don’t think it was during the Primestar years, this almost sounds like that is goes back to the 80’s with the BUD’S were the most popular! Think about it, how the little pizza sizes sprouted up when everyone wanted one. I would say this is the start of home satellite reception with a dish & 2DTV Era when the big boys (bud's) started to get planted!
]

OTARD was part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 so its been around for 14 years now
 
Never live anywhere with a HOA, but a little town not far from me has one. A man put a tennis court in his back yard. The HOA said no no. The owner said sue me.

Turns out the HOA did not have the money to sue and the owner would not pay the fines.

The tennis court is still there. The man who owned the house sold it and moved.

If I lived in a HOA I would run for president under the slogan " I will terminate the HOA"
 
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Maybe you could find a sign painter to paint the top of the dish in a way that makes it look like the back of your house, so as to make it hard to tell where the house ends and the dish begins.

Another thought would be to find some sort the large bush you could plant in front of your fence where the dish pops up from behind it in a way that will hide the dish but not affect the signal.

Though it's one of the HD DirecTv dishes, I just noticed a neighbor that has one that is just barely visible behind the dish, along the side of his house.

From the street, no one would even know there is a dish there.

I would love to find a way to put a dish up. My problem is that most of my backyard is a pool and it is raised much higher than ground level. If not for that big pool, I might find a way to dig a small pit to put this dish in. Our HOA limits the height of your fence, but, my solid vinyl fence was already in place. The only size dish I might be able to hide would be a 4' which does not seem like it would be worth it.
 
A long time ago I saw someone "conceal" a large dish by placing a large umbrella behind it so that unless you actually climbed to the top of the fence, it appeared to be a patio set with a sun umbrella over it.
 
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