Hi,

I should begin by stating that I'm not an amateur radio operator, however I
have been putting some serious consideration into taking up the hobby.
There are two groups in my area, one at the University that I attend - the
other a city group, and I have collected various information from their
respected web sites. I plan on attending some upcoming events to see what
its all about, get a feel for the community, and then hopefully become
involved.

I do have some background in RF, however. I was in the military and worked
with microwave (SHF) satellite and troposcatter terminals. I'm familiar
with basic component electronics, multiplexing techniques,
modulation/demodulation techniques, up/down conversion, signal amplication,
antenna gain (at least for parabolics), bulk encryption techniques, test
equipment (made much use out of signal generators, spectrum analyzers,
o-scopes, multimeters, attenuators, etc). Basically, I have familiarity
with everything that was required to bring up the systems I used and keep
them running. I'm more familiar with the properties of SHF than HF though.
We had HF equipment as well, but they were worked by people who had training
for HF equipment specifically. Some of the properties of HF came across to
me as being almost "black magic", since I didn't have familiarity with it.
The HF guys regarded HF as much of an art as a science. :^)

In the 1980's, while I was young, I had some introduction to amateur radio.
My neighbor was a big ham and, since I was a little Tandy/Commodore computer
geek at the time, he showed his radio equipment. At the time, I guess,
packet radio was the new emerging thing? I was really impressed and thought
packet radio was really neat. I knew then that I wanted to eventually get
involved. (He was majorly involved with ham. He was one of the main
FidoNet hubs for local BBS's in the area and brought the feeds in through
his equipment.)

I was just doing some reading and came across an article about BPL, which of
course I found to very alarming. Naturally, I take the amateur radio side
on the BPL issue. From what I have read so far, the power companies have
been able to use strong arm tactics to try to get BPL to go forward with
inadequate testing. The very arrogant comment made by the United Power Line
Council describing ham operators as "armchair amateurs who still use vacuum
tubes" speaks volumes for their professionalism (none). I'm inclined to
believe that the knowledge and professionalism of the ham community
outweighs the power utilities by an unmeasurable factor.

I really do want to become involved in the hobby and hate to ask this
question, but does BPL really have the potential of "destroying" HF amateur
radio? As someone that is just entering the hobby, should I put
consideration in changes that may be occuring in the near future when I do
start purchasing equipment. (I'm sure I'll learn all this as I attend
meetings, begin studying for licensing, etc, but was curious for now.)

Also, I was thinking (I'm not familiar with FCC regulations yet), but if the
power companies are modulating an intelligence (internet), putting it on a
carrier, putting that signal on unshielded power lines (which, in essense,
become antennas), then that sounds like "radio" to me? Shouldn't the power
companies be required to have a radio license to do BPL?

I plan on becoming actively involved on the BPL issue, once I become more
knowledgable. If the BPL threat is as serious as I have been reading, the
people making decisions on allowing it to go forward need to seriously give
it more consideration. Of course, its all about $$.

Thanks!
-Eric