My story of putting up EAntenna DELTA7B 7-Band Delta Loop

Prologue

Since the summer of 2024, I have had a Hy-Gain AV-14AVQ Four-Band antenna installed on the roof of my two-story house.

It blended in very well, no one in my neighborhood complained about it. That antenna is not ideal, it is a compromise antenna and it picks up a lot of noise. I was motivated by US8IIK and decided to try out delta loop. US8IIK said a lot of good things about it, so I decided it's time for an upgrade.

Purchase

The EAntenna DELTA7B antenna was out of stock on DXEngineering, so I got it on WIMO.

To my surprise, it got delivered from Europe in only three days.

Since this antenna is directional, I needed to buy a rotator with it. After some research, I went with YAESU G-800DXA from Ham Radio Outlet. It was an expensive purchase, but I thought that it would last longer and I might reuse it in future projects.

Assembly

My dad welded a square mounting plate to a 2 inch pipe so that I can mount the rotor to it. You will see it in the pictures down below. What I had to do was to mount the pipe on my roof. The approach I took was to drill the roof, put in the pipe through the roof, secure it in the attic, and then seal the area where it goes through the roof.

On the roof, I moved away the roof tiles, cut piece of the 2x4 that supports the top tiles, and drilled the hole in the roof.

Once I inserted the pipe, I used 2x6 which I bolted to the roof trusses, and then tightened the pipe to those 2x6 with u-bolts.

I then sealed it around the pipe with FortiFlash.

This is how it looked once I put it all back together.

I then installed the rotor, assembled the antenna, routed the coax and rotor cable through the pipe, zip tied the choke, and mounted the antenna. Here are some pictures.

Here is a picture of my shack with rotor controller.

Result

Firstly, the antenna looked massive! My wife immediately complained it was ugly. I didn't expect it to look so big! You could see it from far away.

The rotor and antenna performed very well! I enjoyed it a lot. It does pick up less noise than the vertical for sure. I was very excited about the project completion, but then something happened...

The Problem

...Three days later, someone knocked on my door early one morning. It was Code Enforcement Inspector from the city of Roseville. Someone called and complained about my antenna.

During our conversation, I explained what it is and found out that he knows what ham radio is, and he dealt with ham radio operators before. He said that according to the city code, my antenna could only be 5 ft above the roof. He said I needed to take it down, and there was absolutely no way it would stay. Once he left, I started researching the city ordinance.

In the City of Roseville, single-family residential zones (such as R-1) have a maximum building height of 35 feet. This 35-foot limit is the baseline for structures in typical residential neighborhoods.

Roseville's municipal code provides specific allowances for antennas (e.g. ham radio or TV/radio receiving antennas) installed at homes. According to Roseville Municipal Code Section 19.34.020(B)(5):

• Ground-Mounted Antennas (Residential) – 35 ft height limit. In residential districts, ham radio antennas (and similar home receiving antennas) can be up to 35 feet tall when installed on the ground (essentially matching the normal building height limit).

• Roof-Mounted Antennas (Residential) – Up to 15% over building height limit. If mounted on a rooftop, an antenna may exceed the zone's height limit by up to 15%. For a typical 35-foot height district, 15% equals about an extra 5.3 feet. In other words, a roof-mounted antenna on a house in a 35-ft zone could reach roughly 40 feet total height (35 ft * 1.15 ≈ 40.25 ft). The code requires at least a 5-foot setback from any property line for these antennas.

Solution?

I first emailed the director of Building Division in the city of Roseville. I explained that I am federally licensed and that this is for emergency communications. This didn't work; the city simply doesn't care. My second email asked: What if I find licensed antenna installers for them to verify it is installed well? This didn't work either.

I then emailed ARRL. They routed me to Bart Jahnke, W9JJ, which I did. He pointed me to the ARRL PRB-1 Package which didn't help much, because at the end of the day, I have to oblige the city ordinance. He also proposed we take the city to court. He said we could go there from the point of them limiting my right for emergency communication. But from what I understood, this is a very expensive procedure. So... I just took down the antenna and sold it! But first, I emailed the director of the Building Department and asked if it's okay to install a horizontal antenna which will not extend beyond the roof line, and he said it should not be a problem. So I ordered Mosley MINI-33-AW. I'll see how that goes with the Mosley antenna.