RadioBanter - Fight the BPL

Dave Shrader wrote:

Hey! Is this the new 'strategy' to get around PRB-1??

That is 'Create so much HF noise that the hams will close up shop and
take those ugly things down.'

Deacon Dave, W1MCE

[SNIP]

Given FCC head commissioner Michael Powell's basic orientation -- he
used to be a lawyer/lobbiest for large media company's, and he
recently has turned the whole radio industry over to the Clear Channel
folks -- where do you think he might come down in this controversy? I
suspect he'd be much more aligned with the BPL'ers than with a bunch
of crummy hams polluting nice neighborhoods with their antennae.

Bob
k5qwg

Dave; I'm not a ham but my comment could be; "And in the best
tradition of amateur (radio) some hams will find an ingenious
way/s to continue the original purpose an interest in
communicating and technology". Although it might have to be a
bird's feather dipped in some dark liquid substance to inscribe
on something called papyrus or parchment or .... ? Right? However
it does sound serious.

An example of such ingenuity.
I recall a magazine article, about 50 years ago, about a UK
amateur who received the 200 kilohertz (well it was kilocycles
then!) BBC programme signal. Filtered out all the modulation and
used it as a rock stable input to a heterodyne VFO.
He allowed the 'Variable' portion of his VFO to run continuously,
unkeyed.
But he 'keyed' the 200 Khz, or a harmonic of it, plus or minus
the variable frequency inside the VFO etc., I forget the exact
details, as drive input to his transmitter/PA.
Very stable 'VFO' when your frequency source was the main Long
Wave BBC transmitter of that time; and he wasn't 'stealing'
anything; just receiving the 200 khz. signal like anyone else!
Good luck to all. Gotta read up some more on this BPL thread.

Even as a non-amateur my opinion is that regulatory authorities
in all countries have already all fallen down on the job.
Pollution (RFI) from day to day devices such as lamp dimmers,
microwave ovens, even shavers and food mixers is rife and
uncontrolled. So we'll never know that some unfortunate soul died
because an ambulance could not communicate when someone, maybe
myself, decided at that critical moment to make some a snack
using in my 'electronically' timed; toaster. Or something equally
frivolous?

Terry.

PS. Again off a bit OT. But talking about interference to radio
antennae and radio frequencies, HF et al! I recall meeting an
electrical power engineer who was then pushing the idea of a
single wire plus ground/earth power system. His idea, since at
that time and now, many communities here are adjacent to the sea,
was to use a cheaper 'single wire' transmission system and the
Atlantic Ocean as the other conductor!
Some 'fried' fish and uncomfortable sea mammals I reckon?
But do they not use such a single wire/ground system,
occasionally in some remoter parts of Australia? Maybe someone
could comment on the potential (pun intended!) for interference
with radio transmission/reception, down under?