[EIDXA] Fw: Contact the White House

[Jim Spencer]

Have you written the President, Senators and Congressman????  If not, please
do so soon.  This is VERY IMPORTANT if we want to see ham radio survive.

73, Jim

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Spencer" <jlscr@mchsi.com>
To: "EIDXA" <eidxa@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2004 4:00 PM
Subject: Contact the White House


> From www.arrl.org:
>
> ARRL Calls on White House to Withdraw Support for BPL
>
> NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 27, 2004--The ARRL has appealed to President George W.
> Bush to withdraw his support for broadband over power line (BPL)
technology
> and focus his administration's attention on "more suitable technologies"
> such as wireless broadband access. The League also has issued a call for
> members to support Haynie's request. Bush, in an April 26 speech at the
> Minneapolis convention of the American Association of Community Colleges,
> advocated changing technical standards to encourage BPL deployment in the
> US. Speaking on behalf of ARRL's membership, President Jim Haynie, W5JBP,
> told Bush that while the League supports universal and affordable
broadband
> access, BPL is the wrong direction to take.
>
> "Power lines were designed to transmit energy," Haynie said in a fax to
the
> White House. "They were not designed to transmit broadband signals, which
> are, in fact, radio frequency signals. The broadband signals radiate from
> power lines and cause severe interference to radio reception."
>
> Haynie said test sites throughout the US and elsewhere have amply
> demonstrated BPL's potential to interfere. "You may have been told
> otherwise; if so, you were misinformed," Haynie said, directing the
> president's attention to the BPL page on the ARRL Web site.
>
> Bush, in his speech, told the community colleges gathering that there need
> to be technical standards to enable new broadband technologies such as
> high-speed communication over power lines. "Power lines were for
> electricity; power lines can be used for broadband technology," Bush said.
> "So the technical standards need to be changed to encourage that."
>
> The president's comments reflect the current White House technology
agenda.
> The policy, spelled out in "A New Generation of American Innovation,"
> includes an apparent reference to a not-yet-released study by the National
> Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency of the
> US Department of Commerce. The NTIA's BPL study was due for public release
> this month.
>
> "The Department of Commerce is developing the technical specifications
> necessary to enable the widespread and responsible deployment of broadband
> over powerlines (BPL)," the White House policy states. "Having conducted
10
> million measurements of BPL systems, the Department of Commerce will be
able
> to chart the clear technical path forward for BPL to coexist with other
> critical uses of spectrum. Once deployed, BPL has the potential to turn
> every electrical outlet into a broadband pipeline."
>
> In his Minneapolis speech, Bush suggested that BPL could offer a means to
> supply broadband services to rural dwellers, a prospect that the League
and
> others claim is not economically feasible.
>
> "BPL is sometimes touted as a solution for rural areas," said ARRL CEO
David
> Sumner, K1ZZ. "It is not." Sumner explained that BPL signals carry only a
> few thousand feet down a power line and then must be repeated. "This
> requires a lot of hardware and will not be economical in areas with low
> population densities."
>
> President Bush in his speech also expressed his administration's continued
> support for the FCC under the chairmanship of Michael Powell and "his
> decision to eliminate burdensome regulations on new broadband networks'
> availability to homes." He also called for opening up more spectrum to
make
> wireless broadband "more accessible, reliable and affordable" and for no
> taxes on broadband access.
>
> In its BPL Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in ET Docket 04-37, the
FCC
> has proposed amending its Part 15 rules to adopt new requirements and
> measurement guidelines for so-called "Access BPL" systems. The comment
> deadline is May 3; reply comments are due by June 1.
>
> Haynie said that the ARRL supports bringing broadband service to Americans
> at lower cost, but BPL is "an inappropriate technology with far greater
> disadvantages than advantages."
>
> A Call to Arms
>
> In direct response to the Bush speech, the ARRL is asking its members to
> support Haynie's request for the White House to withdraw its support for
BPL
> technology. "Using power lines to distribute broadband services is a bad
> idea that should not be encouraged," said Sumner. "Federally licensed
> Amateur Radio operators need to tell him so--and also need to enlist their
> Members of Congress in reversing this bad administration policy. It is
> important for radio amateurs to get the facts across to the White House as
> well as to our Congressional representatives and senators."
>
> The ARRL Web site provides an information package explaining how members
can
> contact the White House and members of Congress to express their views on
> BPL deployment and why they need to do so.
>
> "Do it now!" Sumner urges in his call to arms. "We need thousands of
> responses from all parts of the country, right away, if we are to make an
> impression."
>
> For additional information, visit the "Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) and
> Amateur Radio" page on the ARRL Web site. To support the League's efforts
in
> this area, visit the ARRL's secure BPL Web site.
>
>
>