RadioBanter - View Single Post

July 10th 03, 12:52 PM

(N2EY) wrote in message . com...
(Brian Kelly) wrote in message . com...
(N2EY) wrote in message

Where is the NTIA in all this?

Waiting for the right moment. Or totally oblivious.

There was an earlier discussion on this topic. The ARRL petition for
ham ops on 60M was submitted well before the WTC towers came down. We
agreed that the reason that the NTIA finally piped up was probably
because 9/11 was a wakeup call for all federal agencies and they went
back and reviewed their homeland security assets and tightened 'em.

They sure got their knickers in a twist
about hams having broad access to 60M because of the potential
interference to vital gummint HF comms from us.

Right - but they waited until AFTER all the comments were in and it
looked like FCC was gonna give us 150 kHz and full power. THEN they
spoke up, directly to FCC.

Above.

Prolly same thing going on now. If FCC stops BPL because of the work
of ARRL, IEEE and others, NTIA doesn't have to lift a finger.

BPL is not the same
kind of threat to the gummint itself than it is to us?

NTIA isn't going to admit that sort of thing right out in public
unless they have to.

They already did that to some extent ref: The NTIA 60M maneuver. But
this BPL thing has to be another whole level up from their
perspective. Some of it might be underway behind closed doors. We
dunno.

Hams are not
the only users of HF, in fact we're close to being bit players
overall. What about the SWL's? All the gummint time & frequency
standards stations? All the HF military comms we don't know about? The
commercial PACTOR users?

Some of them are commenting. The IEEE Power Relaying committee did a
really good comment that recognized the need to protect hams and
others from BPL. There are also interesting safety and electrical
noise issues as well. Example: The access BPL systems use a bypass
filter to allow the signals to go around the pole pig, which is very
lossy at RF. What if the bypass filter develops a short, and tries to
put several KVs to ground through YOUR meter service? What about
electrical noise (besides the BPL signals) on the primary side getting
fed to the secondary side?

They're all vaild what-ifs but don't expect Powell, Inc. to bother
getting all wrapped around techo details like leaky filters and
insulators.

I doubt that the piles of objections to BPL posted by individual hams
will carry much weight in the decision process. We're a lousy 0.2% of
the national population and a big percentage of that tiny constituency
can't operate below 50 Mhz.

Heavy hitters like the IEEE weighing in against BPL is another whole
story however. I think the fates of BPL and HF ham radio will hang on
the coat tails of The Really Big Guys like the IEEE, NTIA, the spooks,
etc.

The ARRL did one helluva thorough job in their comments package and
are to be congratulated for that effort. Unfortunately there is a
question about ARRL clout.

Question for Phil: At what point can opponents of BPL take it out of
the hands of the FCC and into the Federal courts? I'm thinking in
terms of the ARRL taking it to the wall and laying on the expert
witnesses Powell Jr. can't brush off like he can at this stage.

I'd say that sort of thing is a really, really, REALLY good way to get
the FCC seriously ****ed off at the BPL opponents (personally) and the
ARS in general. Even if such a case actually got to court, it would
have a one-in-a-google chance of winning. And if it was actually won,
FCC could make life VERY difficult for the winners, or the winners'
service, in a zillion different little ways.

Don't believe it. Administrations come and go on regular 4/8 year
cycles, the top end of the FCC empire comes and goes accordingly. We
might **** off the transients at the top but screw them, they'll be
long gone shortly.

The pros within the FCC we normally deal with are there forever and
know BS when they see it. Professionals who hold grudges ain't
professionals. They don't take being dragged into court in civil cases
personally, it's just another business proposition they get paid to
handle. Engineers, hams and neighbors get ****ed off when they get
sued. Lawyers and regulators don't.

Trying to "go over the FCC's head" is a last-ditch
nothing-left-to-lose desperation move, I think.

If this isn't a last-ditch nothing-left-to-lose situation I dunno what
is.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Phil.

73 de Jim, N2EY

w3rv