WHAT IS THE OTARD RULE?
And what does it have to do with you?
Back in the day, community associations and private homes were free to adopt and enforce restrictions and regulations on satellite dishes and other types of antennas in their neighborhoods. But after the enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, federal law preempted all state, local and other non-governmental restrictions regulating satellites and antennas, and thereafter the landscape for community and condominium associations was suddenly and forever changed.
In October 1996, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted the Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule (OTARD rule) regarding governmental and non-governmental restrictions on viewers’ ability to receive programming signals from direct broadcast satellites (“DBS”), multi-channel multi-point distribution (wireless cable) providers (“MMDS”), and television broadcast stations (“TVBS”).
Today the FCC has again made subtle changes to the Telecommunications Act to allow for its interpretation to include 5G antennas on private homes, which although it may sound like mere semantics is a radical departure from OTARD’s earlier intent. Whereas before, private home owners could opt to install devices (antennas, satellite dishes etc) that only received radio frequency signals, now they can install antennas (5G antennas, which is actually a mini celltower) that both broadcast and receive radio frequency signals. So, where receiving signals only effected the home owner who opted for that service, now antennas broadcasting from installation sites on neighboring homes are impacting all other neighborhood homes around them (without their permission, and often without their knowledge) and blanketing them with the microwave radiation emissions.
To understand how the proliferation of 5G antennas on private homes is designed to take hold, we need simply need to understand that in opting to install a 5G antennae on their private home, homeowners will be compensated for ‘the antennae location space’ in the same way that celltower sites are rented or leased by Telecom companies from the land owner or building owner on which they are ‘sited’ or located.
What this Change in OTARD to Allow 5G Antennas Means to Neighborhoods
What this means is that homeowners in your neighborhood who are uninformed about the biological issues associated with radio frequency microwave antennas are more likely to perceive the installation of a 5G antennae on their home in terms of an income producing benefit as well as benefiting them with better reception and faster connectivity.
Human nature is understandable, but the incomprehensible part of the 5G deployment of antennas on private homes will become evident in the terms of the leasing contract. If you have ever seen a celltower site lease you can see the fingerprints of battalions of Telecom attorneys who’s sole purpose was to make these contracts as iron-clad, as future-expansion minded, as far reaching legal-wise, and as beneficial to the Telecom companies (or whomever actually owns the antenna) as possible. The owner of the ‘rental site’ will have no recourse if ever they change their minds and want to give back the antennae, other than perhaps to go up against an even bigger and more formidable battalion of attorneys.
And the neighborhood? Living near any type of celltower reduces the value of the homes in the neighborhood, and these types of antennas, like powerlines etc., have now become disclosure items on real estate forms that a seller must provide to prospective buyers.
And we cannot calculate the value of good neighborly relations.
What about smart meters, which came before the recent FCC change to the Telecommunication Act’s ORTARD Rule, you ask? A good question, since Smart meters were the first wireless technology devices installed on private homes that broadcasted radio frequencies, without the home owners approval, and often without their knowledge.
