[EIDXA] Good News

[Jim Spencer]

This is great news!

73,  Jim


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Gary Pearce KN4AQ
To: BPLandHamRadio at yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2004 5:05 PM
Subject: [BPLandHamRadio] Progress Energy Decides: No BPL (for now)



Progress Energy released a memo to employees yesterday (Wednesday) stating
that the company has decided not to roll out a full-scale BPL operation at
this time.  I confirmed the memo with the company's PR department.  They had
nothing to add, and said that they would probably not be sending out a press
release, but that the contents of the memo were correct.

The memo doesn't give any specific reason for not going forward with BPL.
It quotes Lisa Myers, vice president of Energy Delivery Solutions, saying
"Overall, this has been a successful test for us. We have gathered valuable
information about broadband over power lines and its potential.  The BPL
sector, like so many high-tech sectors, is advancing quickly and we will
continue to be involved as BPL evolves."

The memo prominently mentions ham radio complaints and the recent FCC
decision that the Progress Energy trial was not creating harmful
interference, saying:

Nationwide, BPL has met with vocal opposition from amateur or " ham" radio
operators who are concerned that the service will interfere with the radio
frequencies they use. Some complaints were filed with the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) during Phase II by ham radio operators using
mobile equipment in search of BPL signals.

"Our trial has been conducted strictly in accordance with existing FCC
limits and measurement procedures," said Matt Oja, director of emerging
technologies, Energy Delivery Solutions. "The technology we selected allowed
us to address all complaints by changing the settings to mitigate
interference."

In addition to the extensive test performed by Progress Energy, the FCC
itself recently took field measurements at the company's sites and approved
the chosen methods for dealing with interference complaints.

The Amperion system notched the ham bands, but like the Home Plug system
before it, the notches were not infinite, and weak signals could still be
heard when close to the power line.

Hams have disagreed with the FCC's conclusions, and especially warned that
those conclusions were drawn from a very small trial, and there would
undoubtedly be bigger problems in a full roll out.  How much that potential
for interference influenced the Progress Energy decision is unknown.  Likely
it was one factor among many.

This is the third decision by a utility or municipality to forgo BPL, at
least for the present, following Alliant Energy in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and
the village of Penn Yan, New York.  Interference complaints from hams were
cited as factors in those two cases.  Both Allient and Progress Energy are
keeping their options open and may consider BPL again in the future, while
Penn Yan is investigating a wireless system.

73,
Gary KN4AQ

__________________________________________________________________________
       Gary Pearce KN4AQ        editor, SERA Repeater Journal
       Cary, NC                 www.sera.org
       919-380-9944             kn4aq at sera.org
       kn4aq at arrl.net
        AOL/Yahoo Instant Messanger: KN4AQ




  a.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.