[ARRL-OK] BPL interferes with Disaster Communications

[Lloyd Colston]

In the "We tried to tell you" department,

Following is Open Source

January 14, New Scientist — Internet noise threatens short-wave
radio emergency
communications. Short-wave radios have been used to communicate
news and
emergency-related information during disasters around the world,
including the recent Indian
Ocean tsunami and the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in
the U.S. However, plans to
deliver broadband Internet signals to homes and businesses down
main electricity cables, in
competition with telephone lines, could cause interference that
will drown out the faint signals
from distant short-wave transmitters, rendering the radios
ineffective for emergency use. Power
companies in the U.S. and Europe are pressing ahead with the
technology. The downside is that
the packets of Internet data pulsing down unshielded main cables
makes the cables behave like
aerials that send short-wave interference beaming out over a
wide area. The U.S. government
gave the go-ahead to broadband over power line (BPL) technology
in October 2004. The
European Commission is close to approving its own version. A
solution for the interference is
for Internet service providers to provide filters for their
household equipment, but radio
amateurs fear that the rules will allow the filtering to be
lifted if it is having a serious effect on
Internet access speeds.
Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6866





Lloyd Colston    Mayes County Emergency Management
Pryor, OK  USA    http://www.mayescem.us
   
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