ATX SMT LOW CIVIL OP ON APCH TO EKA.

Narrative

A HOME OWNER NEAR EUREKA MURRAY ARPT CLAIMED THAT I WAS TOO LOW DURING MY APCH TO LNDG. I HAD JUST DEPARTED ARCATA ARPT; 11 MI AWAY. 8 MI OUT I SWITCHED TO MURRAY UNICOM FREQ AND RPTED MY POS AND INTENTIONS. UNICOM WAS NOT MANNED AND NO ONE ELSE SEEMED TO BE ON FREQ. AS I APCHED FOR A R DOWNWIND FOR 29; I SAW AN SMA X ON A R XWIND AND INQUIRED ABOUT HIS INTENTIONS. THERE WAS NO RESPONSE. BY HIS DISTANCE OUT; I DECIDED HE WAS DOING A R XWIND DEP AND CONTINUED IN ON MY DOWNWIND AT TFC PATTERN ALT (807 FT MSL) KEEPING HIM IN SIGHT. I CALLED IN ON DOWNWIND. AS I GOT ABEAM THE NUMBERS; AN SMA Y RPTED R BASE. I LOOKED; DID NOT HAVE HIM IN SIGHT AND INQUIRED AS TO A MORE EXACT POS. THERE WAS NO RESPONSE. MY XMITTER HAD WORKED FINE AT ARCATA. I CONTINUED MY DOWNWIND FURTHER TO ASSURE PROPER SEPARATION FROM HIM. ON FINAL; IT WOULD BE INTO THE SUN AND HE WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO SEE. I WAS ON EXTENDED DOWNWIND WHEN I SAW MY TFC ON FINAL. DUE TO RISING TERRAIN ON DOWNWIND; I WAS FLYING CLOSER TO THE GND WITHOUT DSNDING BUT WAS STILL AT A SAFE ALT. I LANDED AND WAS THEN INFORMED THAT A HOME OWNER SAW MY 'N' NUMBER AND CLAIMED I WAS TOO LOW. HAD COMS BTWN THE PLTS BEEN BETTER; THIS SITUATION COULD HAVE POSSIBLY BEEN ELIMINATED. SINCE THERE IS NO REG REQUIRING COM RADIOS VFR OR REQUIRING RPTS IN UNCTLED ARPT TFC PATTERNS; PLTS OFTEN IGNORE THE RADIO. HAD I KNOWN THE POS AND INTENTIONS OF BOTH THESE ACFT; I MAY NOT HAVE HAD TO EXTEND MY DOWNWIND SO FAR. IN ADDITION; AT A FEDERAL LEVEL; HOMES SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO BE BUILT WITHIN 2 MI OF ESTABLISHED ARPTS.