In the past few days, we hope many of you have seen the video from U.S.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) praising and endorsing Amateur Radio (Link
below, but please read this information first). ARRL’s Washington team
has been working hard in the background to generate support for the
Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act which will bring relief to the
thousands of Ham radio operators who live with antenna restrictions in
private neighborhoods. Both licensed Amateur Radio and GMRS operators
have generated almost 160,000 letters to elected representatives in
Congress on behalf of this legislation. If you haven’t yet done so,
you can send letters of support easily by simply clicking on
https://send-a-letter.org/hoa/

Sen. Cruz’s video is designed to encourage support to bring the bills up
for a vote before the end of this session of Congress. By bills, we
mean the identical versions of the bipartisan Amateur Radio Emergency
Preparedness Act in the U.S. House of Representatives (HR 1094) and the
U.S. Senate (S 459). In his video, Sen. Cruz cites the splendid work
done by Hams in emergency response in his state of Texas, but we need to
raise awareness to our federally elected officials about the highly
effective response from the Ham community to Hurricane Helene damage in
western South Carolina, Virginia, and especially North Carolina. An
estimated 35% of all U.S. housing is now under homeowner associations,
but at least 65% of new construction is being built with HOA covenants
and restrictions (Sources: Foundation for Community Association
Research; Realtor.com) Antenna relief remains the #1 issue for
discussion at ARRL Roanoke Division forums, especially in heavily
populated areas like northern Virginia near Washington, DC, the
Tidewater, metro Charlotte and the Triangle and Triad regions of North
Carolina and Charleston, South Carolina. For many Hams who must live
near work, most affordable housing choices are in neighborhoods with
homeowner associations.

This is where you can help move these bills to the next level. Go to
Congress.gov and enter your address. This will bring up links to email
or call the offices of your two U.S. senators and your House
representative. Whether you call or write an email, please state
something like, “On behalf of the hundreds of federally licensed Amateur
Radio operators in your district, I want you to be aware of the recent
video by Senator Ted Cruz supporting the tax-free, volunteer community
work licensed Amateur Radio operators undertake in providing
communications in times of disaster. To this end, I hope you will
support and become a co-sponsor of bills HR 1094 or S 459, the Amateur
Radio Emergency Preparedness Act. Thank you for your consideration.”
The link to Sen. Cruz’s two-minute video is:

Even if you live in a neighborhood without antenna restrictions or you
do not participate in emergency communications, many of your fellow Hams
do, and they need your support. More importantly, emergency
communications is the key link to gain support of elected officials for
successful passage of this vital legislation. Please share this email
with your club members and fellow Hams, even those who are not ARRL
members. Let’s work together to ensure that Hams in vulnerable
subdivisions and neighborhoods because of antenna restrictions can be
able to respond effectively when needed. Thank you for your attention
and support.

73 de
Dr. Jim Boehner, N2ZZ
ARRL Roanoke Division Director

Bill Morine, N2COP
ARRL Roanoke Division Vice Director