[EIDXA] BPL article

[Jim Spencer]

http://pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1086859220135310.xml

Net connector worries Ham radio operators
Ham radio operators fear Net interference
Hams: Powerlined Net to hurt 2-way radio
Thursday, June 10, 2004
BY TOM BOWMAN
Of The Patriot-News
For two years in the 1960s, Bob Marzari used his amateur radio station in
Swatara Twp. to enable workers at the South Pole to talk with their
families back home.

He ran more than 1,000 phone patches using his ham radio to connect people
in Antarctica to his station, then by telephone to their loved ones in the
United States.

But his hobby of 40 years is threatened by the Internet.

If the Federal Communications Commission approves a method of transmitting
the Internet that would use power lines, Marzari would not be able to hear
the voices coming from Antarctica despite the 93-foot antenna tower in his
back yard.

Under consideration is broadband over power line, or BPL. It has attracted
national attention as a universal way to connect to the Internet. BPL
sends Internet signals to customers over power lines, and since most U.S.
homes are connected to a power line, the service would be everywhere.

But unlike broadband Internet services sent over phone lines and TV cable,
BPL radiates interference.

While BPL won't kill amateur radio, many hams, including Marzari, say it
will drastically change it.

"We don't know how strong the interference is going to be," Marzari said.

If BPL comes to Harrisburg and if the interference is as strong as it has
been in BPL trial areas, long-range communications would be impossible.

In Emmaus near Allentown, PPL is sending Internet signals over electric
lines into a trial area to determine how well BPL performs in homes and
how much interference BPL will generate.

Carl Stevenson, a Lehigh Valley ham, said he was shocked at how loud the
BPL interference is.

"It would cover all but the absolutely strongest signal," Stevenson said.

Marzari said his concern is not only for ham operators but for people
using BPL who may encounter interference from ham radios.

"When I'm on, [the Internet] is going to be unusable in a very large area
in our neighborhood," Marzari said.

In an April 26 speech in Minneapolis, President Bush called for a rollout
of BPL.

"So how is some guy in remote Wyoming going to get any broadband
technology?" the president asked. "Power lines can be used for broadband
technology. So the technical standards need to be changed to encourage
that."

Despite Bush's charge, the FCC must change the rules before providers can
link homes to the Internet using BPL. Present rules say BPL must cause no
interference to other licensed radio services. Rule changes, which are
expected by year's end, would allow some interference.

"We're trying to set up a structure whereby it's better defined what we
expect people can do without causing interference," said Bruce Romano, an
FCC spokesman.

BPL could be "the great broadband hope for a good part of rural America,"
Michael Powell, FCC chairman, said in a Feb. 12 speech.

The American Radio Relay League, ham radio's lobbying organization, claims
rural farms won't see BPL because it will be too expensive. The BPL signal
would have to be boosted every 1,600 to 1,800 feet along the power line to
amplify the Internet signal.

"You get a rural area with four, five farms. They're not going to run it
out there just for one or two people to sign up," ARRL President Jim
Haynie said. "The [BPL] industry talks about how they can wire all of
America. That's not true. It's not going to happen."

The other problem, Haynie said, is BPL will interfere with radio signals
between 2 megahertz and 80 megahertz. That includes ham radio operators as
well as public service agencies such as police, fire and ambulance
services.

"There are literally thousands of small communities out here, population
5,000 to 50,000, that use VHF low band, as they call it, for their police
departments," Haynie said.

Many midstate counties, including Dauphin, Lancaster and Lebanon, dispatch
firefighters using low-band frequencies.

"Volunteer firefighters rely on pagers, which are on the low band,"
Marzari said. "They will miss the call if they are in the area of BPL."

If BPL is deployed nationwide, Haynie said, police and fire companies
would have to move to frequencies above 80 megahertz to avoid
interference. That would mean buying new radios.

"They can't even afford to fix the potholes in their streets, much less
spend tens of thousands of dollars on a new communications system," Haynie
said.

Haynie believes that it will be the marketplace that saves ham radio
operators from the BPL threat. There will be cheaper ways than BPL to get
the Internet.

The ham radio group is endorsing WiFi. It transmits the Internet by radio
to transceivers attached to computers. WiFi frequencies offer little or no
interference to hams and emergency service crews.

Still, Haynie is frustrated by BPL. "This is the damnedest thing I've ever
seen in my life," he said. "This is the worst of anything I've ever seen
in my 30 years as a ham."

TOM BOWMAN: 272-3759 or tbowman at patriot-news.com