[AMRadio] BPL, ARRL on NPR Morning edition Tuesday

[John E. Coleman (ARS WA5BXO)]

In Kathryn, ND. Where my wife is from, there is no cell phone available
because of the Sheyenne river valley.  They are too low to get reception
from Valley City, ND.  They do have land line telephone service and electric
power.  I believe it is a political and financial thing of which I have a
brain blockage for understanding.

John, WA5BXO  

-----Original Message-----
From: amradio-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:amradio-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Geoff
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 10:15 AM
To: Discussion of AM Radio
Subject: Re: [AMRadio] BPL, ARRL on NPR Morning edition Tuesday

John E. Coleman (ARS WA5BXO) wrote:

>What I don't quite understand, is why it is easier or cheaper to do
>broadband over power lines than over phone lines.  Phone lines are already
>balanced lines with a tighter EM field.  Why wouldn't that be better? 
>
>John, WA5BXO
>

Because not everyone these days has a home phone.  Cell phones are the 
'in' thing.  That, plus people like Vonage, Time-Warner and other VoIP 
folks who are selling their digital phone service to those who have 
high-speed internet, means you don't have to have a phone at home, 
anymore.   Long distance charges are basically a thing of the past 
nowadays, with the advent of cell phones, and digital VoIP stuff.. the 
internet.

I've thought about that - install it on a laptop, get a cellular modem 
for said laptop and when you're down for the day, if you're traveling, 
you can sit down, crank up your laptop and your webcam and have a live 
video conference with the spouse-mate, or whomever.

EVERYONE however, still relies on electricity in their homes, so that's 
why the big push is on to get everyone (as much as possible) on 
high-speed internet.

I think that it should be noted that sending voice over RF started (of 
course) with that group of Amatuers back in the days of Edison, Feseden, 
Watts, Tesla and others.  After the video thing started, Hams started 
trying to figure a way to do it over radio.  Now, thanks to the 
groundwork laid out by Hams, most "Instant Message" chat programs 
available (MSN, Yahoo!, ICQ, AIM, are the top four popular) allow you 
Voice and Video, at the same time.

The technology is here - it's just trying to be implented across the 
nation without regard to the rest of the spectrum.

I personally don't see why the Satellites don't carry the broad-band 
signals, since they've got cameras that can see pretty much in your 
house, from 22,500 miles in the air.  It wouldn't be anything to 
'piggy-back' the digital broad-band signal to whoever has a recieving 
device, anywhere on the planet.

There's no need for money to be involved in Internet access, anymore.  
It can be done over the air, just like radio... it just needs to get a 
bit higher in frequency.

Keep it up in the 5.4 to 9.5GHz range - that way there's plenty of 
bandwidth for spread-spectrum stuff, and there's no threat to HF 
communication.


---
73 = Best Regards,
-Geoff/W5OMR


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