Here is a pair of pics, showing what is a common means of mounting antennas - be they for "Dish TV," "Quadravision," HAM radio, whatever.

I have been told that attaching things to the chimney is a code violation.

What code?

John,
Regardless of it being a Code violation, attaching things (especially antennas) to a brick and mortar chimney, is just plain stupid.
Having said that, quite a few houses over here in NZ wear the Low band VHF antenna (think 5 elements and each element over 3 ft long), as well as the mast to hold it up in the air, usually 1"-1 1/2" galvanised steel.
Often these things are never guyed at all.
But, the torsional forces on the bracket and the strapping are huge in high winds, not to mention the actual wind resistance of the antenna itself.
Chimneys of this sort were NEVER built with the idea of having something attached to them in mind, after all it is a chimney, first and last.

Whenever I see a chimney mounted antenna (of whatever type) it just makes me think that the guy that installed it, just didn't care about his work.

I mean, I've worked on these antenna's, the soot and rubbish that comes out of the chimney, makes things even worse.
There is always a better option.

BTW John, You'd never see a Ham attach any antenna worthy of the name to a chimney, it just isn't done.

I had a few reasons for starting this thread.

As us clear from the picture, the installer arrived well prepared to hang his stuff from the chimney .... that sure looks like a store-bought strap and clamp arrangement.

Yet, I recall a few years back someone posted a link to a code that specifically addressed the issue, and the practice was clearly prohibited. I'm not able to find that link

BTW, it's been a very long time since 'chimneys' were really chimneys around here. That is, the vast majority - this is an example - are used to vent modern furnaces and gas-fired water heaters. This particular house does not have a 'fireplace' or any means to burn wood. It does, I believe, vent an oil furnace.

Indeed, some of the trendier places have completely fake 'chumneys,' tacked on for appearance alone.

I wonder if the same prohibition would apply?

I would imagine it would, any element of a building fake or whatever would still need to conform to earthquake laws and the like.
You might say "we don't get earthquakes here", no part of the world is immune from earthquakes.

I have seen a chimney (like the one you posted)fall over and through a roof, it landed on a couch, where the people were sitting an hour before, before they went to bed, it fell through the floor as well, taking the couch with it.
You are really only depending on the quality of the mortar.

Here's something to cause a stir...this is what's on my own house:
http://cool386.tripod.com/digital/gore1s.jpg
Despite the enormous size of the VHF aerial (3m boom length) it only weighs about 3kg. The UHF aerial above weighs less.
It's been up for about 14 years and despite strong winds, sometimes more than 100km/h, there's only a slight lean in the mast. One piece of advice I was given long ago was never to use water pipe for a mast with a chimney mount...the reason being that water pipe has no flexibility and transfers any stresses in high winds straight to the chimney. Gal tubing or proper aerial mast being of thinner walled construction bends slightly and absorbs the energy. It's important that the aerial mount is the weak point; not the chimney.
Chimney mounts have always been very popular here but it really depends on what kind of chimney is used, and what is attached to them, as to whether they are a good or bad thing.
I can't see the chimney in the pic at the start of the thread being under any stress given the small aerial and short mast. However, the particular mount does look flimsy.
One really bodgie installation I worked on was a 20 foot guyed mast. The guy wires had simply been passed through holes drilled in the tiles and wrapped around the timber beneath. Not a screw eye to be seen.

TV antenna mounting kits were sold for a long time around here that specifically were made to mount on brick/masonry chimneys. They look (from memory) like what you have in the pic; metal 'corner' pcs and banding with a means to tighten.

As they were readily sold with 'old style' TV antennas, they must have been 'legal/approved' once upon a time. As TV antennas; the 1-1 1/4" pipe with the array of rods have become rare, cable a nd dishes are the norm.

That said, I'll have to keep an eye on the dishes, and look if there are any antenna kits still around.

Edit:
Second look at the pic....sure looks like that's the design intent of the installed mount; now the packaging/mfg instructions come to play. Domestic mfg or China??

Monday/Tuesday, I'll ask one of the Building AHJ's about this.

John.,

It will be in the IBC/IRC codes and many local area probited to add antennas due safety reason of chimeny flowage some case it will affect it.

I know quite few satalite dish installers done that but seems they are stay away now.

Merci,marc

I would agree this would fall under local codes. Deed restrictions are more likely to restrict this although all TV receiving antennas are exempt from deed restrictions by the feds. But, like all codes, most are only enforceable at inspection, and most antenna installations are not inspected. Like others stringing phone, and other stuff from the service mast, when it comes to the inspectors attention is when we do a service upgrade or such.

In Louisville, no permit is needed for a tv antenna, satellite dish, etc. It is a code violation to attach anything to a chimney, however. Not sure how this is enforced (probably on a case by case basis, if it is reported). Under Federal law, Direct TV discs, antennas and other radio/TV receiving devices are permitted, but must be safely erected or attached to a structure.

I asked two Building Inspectors today....
Neither are aware of any code violation for a chimney mount antenna.

I was curious about that myself because about 99% of the TV antennas I have seen were on the chimney. It is really the only substantial thing to hang an antenna on if you don't want to be drilling holes in the roof.
I grew up in the suburbs where rabbit ears were not that effective so everyone had an antenna on the chimney.
The one I had in Southern Md had a 10' stick of rigid on the chimney mount, a rotor and then another 10' EMT above that with an antenna mounted on it. There were guy wires on the rotor mount. I could get the Redskin games from Richmond on that rig (blacked out in Md).
That was long before cable.

OK, re-reading this thread & looking at the pics again.

The 'antennas' that I reference are not 'dish', but the old fashion beam/boom for VHF/UHF (I think). They are becoming scarce with cable/dish & digital TV now.

I could see a 'dish' interfering with the chimney airflow, but not the 1 or 1-1/4" pipe mast.

The law is the law, but if the brickwork of a chimney is in good condition, the additional wind load imposed on it by an antenna, adding perhaps 5% to the total area, will unlikely be the cause of failure. If a stack is in poor condition, it won't need an arial to get it to fall into bed with you!

A plain chimney pot would impose far more stress - [ it's amazing how big a chimerney-pot is when you climb up and get close!]

Here's a big ol yankee pot, up close!

http://img2.timeinc.net/toh/i/g/0208_chimneypots/installing.jpg

And here's some Victorian monsters from England, nigh on 5 feet tall!

http://www.brightonfireplaces.com/images/two-large-chimeney-pots.jpg

What sort of antenna IS that anyways?

Cliff,
That looks like a Wi-Fi (2.4GHz) antenna, I could be wrong too, could be 5.8GHz.

Believe me Alan,
No-one knows chimneys like firemen do, it seems to be here once winter kicks in, the rate of chimney fires go "through the roof" (so to speak).

Bad(damp) wood, lack of chimney cleaning, bits of the flue that have become seperated (after the rivets rusted out).

We've seen it all, usually on a great night of freezing cold rain and a nasty southerly wind off the Antarctic.

I believe the antenna is the latest incarnation of 'quadravision,' an alternative to cable or satellite TV.

By comparison, this would be a 'wi-fi' antenna:

I was looking at all sorts of WiFi antennas in the Cyberguys catalog. They do seem to come in all shapes. When we were dabbling with the idea of a community WiFi hub I was browsing web sites looking for ideas. They even had plans for converting digital satellite dishes for a directional antenna that would work for 10 miles or more if you had LOS.
You did almost as well with a coffee can.

Mike we had a 'cannon pot' on our house in Gloster England in the seventies. It was a 5 footer, perched atop a massive 12-foot stack to get some 'drawer', as the house proper overshadowed it.
Mrs B wanted it down. Mr B was, quite frankly, terrified half to death of the idea of going up a ladder and looking at it, let alone lifting it off.

I met an amiable cogenital lunatic one evening in the pub. He said he "could get her down, old butty, no sweat", and the next day he turned up with a rickety old ladder, climbed up, pulled the bloody thing onto his shoulder and climbed down again all in about 10 seconds flat! When praised to high heaven by Mrs B for his courage, he winked and admitted that he'd sunk eight pints of Jummy's best bitter beforehand, and promptly collapsed in a giggling stupor. Those were the days!

I sold the pot for a fiver to some herbert who grew strawberries in it.

Alan,
I am going to have to revive the US vs UK vs AU common english language thread again.

What is "no butty", "Jummy's best bitter", and "herbert"?

Larry,
'Old butty' is a Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire miners' expression, and simply means a friend or colleague. Forest coal mining was kept as simple as possible, the shaft or 'gale' always went uphill, as there were no pumps. A 'butty' was the little car, running on simple wood or cast-iron rails for the day's coal, which of course also ran out of the mine by gravity! Iron ore was also mined. The 'butty' eventually became the man who shovelled the coal into the car.
Before mechanisation [ ], the coal or iron ore was hauled out in a butty box on your back.

Could this be the derivative of the word 'buddy'?

Traditionally, light was provided with a candle stuck in a clay pipe clenched in the teeth. This sort of mining had been going on for at least 800 years.

See the section on Free Mining here;

http://www.clearwellcaves.com/freemining.html

The candle and the butty-box is clearly visible in the 15C engraving.

'Jummy' Simmonds was the legendary landlord of a tiny pub at Shortstanding. He was also a Free Miner and the funniest man I have ever met. The bar was only 3 foot long! Jummy would bring a battered tin jug to your table and pour your drinks like a waiter. Best Bitter is traditional real ale. A bit of a misnomer here, for as Jummy only ever had one oak barrel open at a time, it was also his worst! No refrigeration, so it was at the same temperature as the bar, although a wet sack might be draped over it if it got a "bit too 'ot." [ie over 100 degrees!] He's still alive, BTW.

A 'herbert' is a person: the expression is a bit milder than calling someone a geek or a raw prawn.

OK, I'll bite. What is a "raw prawn"?

Strine, Larry, a strange form of English used by our wild colonial cousins Down Under in Oztralia.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/his-mandarin-is-fine-but-struggles-with-strine-20090610-c3ng.html

Can't understand most of it myself, but 'fair suck of the saveloy' sounds fun!