You wouldn't really expect it, would you? After the problems we had with our last neighbours and our aerials, you might think we would to be very unlucky if we had the same problems from our new neighbours. What are the chances?
Today we had a visit from the chief planning officer of our new housing association. He had traveled from Birmingham no less! The purpose of his visit was twofold: To sign off the aerial installation and two fences I have built; To investigate TWO further complaints the housing association have received about my FM antenna.
One of the complaints was about the noise levels generated from the Yaesu G-5500 rotator. He asked me to rotate my aerial while he stood outside, underneath the antenna, and listened to see how noisy it was. I must admit, the G-5500 does generate more than most rotators I have used, so I expected this might be an issue. After using the rotator, he asked me to sin the aerial again. I couldn't hear the comments he was making to my wife while I was inside the bungalow, but he seemed to find something amusing. Later, I soon realised that he had been laughing in disbelief that the neighbour could have made a complaint about something he could barely hear while stood right next to it! He also added that the wind chimes in his garden produce far more noise than my rotator. He was quite satisfied that the rotator was well below anything which could be considered a just cause for a complaint and, just as on his previous visit, joked that some neighbours complain about nothing and that this was such an example. He assured us not to worry about using it AT ANY TIME.
I then directed him to the cabling, drill holes in the wall, connection box and TK brackets, etc., so he could see the tidiness and professionalism of the installation. The housing association require that aerials can only be installed by a CAI registered aerial contractor and that we must also provide proof of insurance. He was completely satisfied with all that too.
IN a way, the inspector couldn't have visited us at a worse time as I had been constructing a band 1 dipole for the garden so I could monitor transatlantic TV frequencies. It was just draped awkwardly across the wooden arch, looking a bit untidy and random. No - he was not concerned about that either.
All in all, he signed everything off and was satisfied everything was in order and he commented the installation was "better than expected". We passed with glowing colours! He was particularly impressed by the fact that we had made provisions for lowering the antenna in the event of strong winds. He also stated that it wouldn't have been a problem had the aerial been twice the height above the ground!
So I can't convey enough how relieved we both are and, at last, we can put this ridiculous aerial saga to bed. Common sense prevails once again.
05-09-14 Update:
Today, we met the final neighbour. The only one we hadn't really had a good natter to. We soon discovered she was quite happy with my aerial installation and even found it all quite interesting. She was very convincing too. We had no reason to disbelieve her and could only assume one thing. Something we had suspected for a while. That our new neighbours hadn't made any complaints at all. So who did? You're probably ahead of me on this already! Could it have been our old neighbour? We since learnt that the complaints were not even signed and could have come from anybody. Hmm.
The aerial is clearly visible from the main road a hundred or so metres away. It is quite likely our old neighbour would have spotted it. Skegness is a very small town and our new home isn't that far from our old address. Considering the incessant nature of our old neighbour's complaints and the problems he caused we would not be in the least surprised if was continuing his campaign against us even now. That's the kind of person he is. What his problem is I have no idea. We never did anything to him other than help him. We used to get on well, socially. What changed we have no idea, but it looks like the problems still exist despite the fact he is not our neighbour anymore.
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