[Drake] BPL

[Jim]

Write your congressman via
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Jim
WA8SDF


> From: w5htw <w5htw@att.net>
> Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 20:42:58 -0600
> To: Drake@mailman.qth.net
> 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
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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