from the drake list... our hobby is being threatened with extinction.
pass this around to as many hams and hobbyists as possible ...... take
time to write your congressman TODAY !
Write your congressman via
http://www.house.gov/writerep/


Jim
WA8SDF


----------
From: w5htw
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 20:42:58 -0600
To:
Subject: [Drake] BPL

Regarding the BPL problem. Below is a copy of the letter I have
forwarded to my own state representatives. Because they are politicians
(as they should be) and not engineers or technicians, I have tried to
keep it in a form they will understand without having to resort to
technical teams to help them. I have, though, tried to be realistic,
and not to overstate the case. Panic rarely accomplishes much. While I
feel it is unlikely BPL will go into service in its present state, it is
still possible extensive interference could occur. It needs to be
investigated more, in its next, upgraded form, to see if it can coexist
with other communications. I doubt that it can, but I do believe it has
to be approached with an open mind. That must be on our part, as hams,
as well as on the part of the FCC and the power companies.

What I say is true about many rural companies. Noise on their lines
would make them unable to establish digital communications. It would be
a bust. Yet I believe rural America is where such a technology is most
needed. For example, where I live, DSL will not be available for many
years in the future, if, in fact, ever. I can either spend huge bucks
for slower satellite internet access or remain with dialup. Many urban
companies also will not be able to upgrade their lines to data quality.
If BPL is approved in any format, it could be years and years in the
implementing of it. By then some new technology may have replaced the
concept entirely.

But we must look at the enemy we know, rather than the enemy we can
imagine. For that reason I have submitted the following. Feel free to
use, edit for your own use, add to, subtract from, etc.

Thanks

Ed, W5HTW


Dear (I substituted my own senator/congressman):

Before the Federal Communications Commission is an issue called "BPL."
That is Broadband over Power Lines. It is a proposed internet access
scheme that allows cheap and easy internet access by broadband
techniques over ordinary power lines. This system is being tested in
several areas of the nation now.

BPL would be allowed under Part 15 of the FCC Rules and Regulations.
This part governs unlicensed devices that transmit radio signals or may
cause harmful interference. On your computer, on your answering
machine, on your television, your tape recorder, etc., there is a
statement that indicates the device has met the requirements of Part 15
of the FCC rules, and is in compliance. In addition, the statement
reminds you that the device must not cause harmful interference to
communications, and must accept any such interference without complaint.

BPL, as proposed, and as being tested, will radiate harmful interference
to nearly every communications device known, throughout the radio
spectrum from about the low end of the standard AM broadcast band,
through the low end of the VHF communications range. Though it will do
this radiating under Part 15 rules, it will do so at such close
proximity, that is, the power lines in your home and your office, and
those lines leading to your home and office, that no matter how low the
power, it has the potential to affect every form of radio device
currently in use below the UHF range.

This includes your television, your AM and FM radio (even in your car,
for as you ride along the road, the power lines near you may override
any radio station you would normally hear!) your wireless devices, such
as your cordless phone, and may even cause interference to things like
your garage door opener! While the primary radiation frequency of BPL
will only extend up to 80 Megahertz, harmonics may extend to three times
that easily, especially at very close ranges, such as found in the home.
This could render home reception of AM and FM radio stations nearly
impossible.

As an amateur radio operator of more than forty-seven years, this
concerns me, and hundreds of thousands like me, for our hobby and
service stands to be seriously disrupted. We do perform a public
service, as mandated by the FCC rules (Part 97, governing Amateur
Radio.) That could be critically curtailed.

Equally damaging, though, could be the effect on High Frequency
communications used by the military, long range aviation, and maritime
use. To some lesser extent, VHF communications by Public Safety
(police, fire and ambulance) radio operating just above this region (and
in some cases still in the region of 30 to 50 MHZ) could also be affected.

BPL has been declared, by Kathleen Abernathy, Commissioner of the FCC,
as a "Broadband Nivrana." Ms Abernathy is a politician, not an engineer
or technician. She is an attorney. What she sees is the potential for
rapid income for the power companies, and easy access by everyone, to
the internet. In other words, a massive dollar sign.

What she does not see is that the power companys, such as our own
Central New Mexico Electric Cooperative, do not have lines that are data
quality, and the expense of upgrading these power lines is immense.
Very few rural companies can afford it, so it will not be the "Nirvana"
Ms. Abernathy predicts. Instead, it will only be useful initially in
the best of the power companies, with the latest of equipment, and the
cost even then will be astronomical. Thousands of filters will be
required on each line, to separate signals, to keep them isolated from
each other as well as from line noise, and to make the lines data-worthy.

Those of us in the communications business or hobbies (and I have been
in both) find BPL to be the worst possible threat to all forms of radio
communication, including life-saving systems. Tests being conducted are
making radio reception even on a standard car radio on the streets, for
blocks around the test area, virtually non-existent. We believe the
National Association of Broadcasters will also resist BPL, and some
others who are doing so include aviation services and the NTIA.

Please help us prevent BPL from becoming a reality, at least in its
present form.

Thank you for your attention to this.

Sincerely,

Ed Brooks
Estancia, NM





_______________________________________________
Drake mailing list

http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/drake