[FARC] Fwd: [DCBA] BPL - K2DH on the Debacle in New York

[Scott Galbraith]

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Take the time to really read this and note the documented subterfuge.

At 8:56 AM -0400 4/22/04, Brian, AF4K wrote:
>
>Pass the word!
>
>------- Forwarded message follows -------
>
>Dave Hallidy, K2DH attended the Yates Amateur Radio Club located in Pen Yan,
>NY, the other night and here is his summary. Please read the whole
>summary  as there are parts very revealing! You might remember that
>Dave went to Pen Yan at the end of March to check  if what the NY
>Times said was true that there was no BPL interference in Pen  Yan.
>Dave also made an audio recording of what he heard (see the  Rochester
>VHF Group's web site, http://www.rvhfg.com/ .) Dave also encourages
>everybody to submit a comment to FCC but remember  it must be
>submitted by May 3!!!  Best part is that the comments can be  made
>on-line! Dave or I can email  you the correct proceedure.  You may
>also  review some of the 400 comments made and steal or emebelish
>those  comments.
>
>73,
>Tom, kv2x
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Dave Hallidy [mailto:k2dh@frontiernet.net]
>Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 12:40 PM
>
>"All-
>I visited Penn Yan again last night (Tuesday, April 20), at the
>invitation
>of the Yates Amateur Radio Club.  It was their monthly meeting, and
>the topic was the BPL trial currently being run in the city of Penn
>Yan.
>
>The primary speaker was Rick Ayers KB2DMK, a Penn Yan local who had
>been involved in the testing, both pre- and post-deployment, to
>measure any interference.  Rick's report of his findings will be
>available later, possibly as early as late today.  Also speaking at
>the meeting were Dave Simmons KB2ITN (the ham who was quoted in the
>Wall Street Journal article on March 23 as being satisfied that there
>was no problem with interference in Penn Yan), and a representative of
>DVI- Data Ventures Inc (the service provider in Penn Yan) named John
>Loew (or Low, or Lowe- he never gave me his card or spelled his name).
> John's responsibility at DVI is business development, he is not a
>technical person.
>
>When my wife and I got to Penn Yan, we had the receiver on in the
>truck, and could, as we expected, detect the BPL interference just as
>it had been on my previous visit- over S9 on 24.9MHz as I drove to the
>meeting location (a church near the trial area).
>
>It should be noted here that Simmons and Loew arrived at the meeting
>at least 20 minutes late, together, and came in during Ayers
>presentation.
>
>Ayers explained how he measured the interference, how he had gone to
>Allentown, PA (unannounced) to measure it there and get a comparison
>to the levels seen in Penn Yan, and that, after all his work was
>completed, he concluded that there was a serious interference problem
>in Penn Yan.  Rick was asked questions by a number of the members
>present, and did his best to answer them all.  He then turned the
>meeting over to Loew and Simmons, who basically stated that they were
>confident that the new "notching technique" from Amperion would solve
>all of the interference issues.  Several people asked them questions,
>including me- I asked Loew why there was no experimental license for
>the Penn Yan trial, and he said he had been concerned about that, but
>that it was an Amperion question- I agreed.  I also asked if the
>Amperion boxes had Part 15 compliance stickers on them, and if so,
>where they were located.  Loew and Simmons replied that they thought
>so, but weren't sure where they would be, probably on the inside.  I
>reminded them that FCC states that the stickers must be in a
>"conspicuous location" and that inside the box wasn't such a location.
> Loew stated that the people should not be concerned, they (DVI) were
>committed to an interference-free system in Penn Yan.  He was then
>asked what people could do if they felt they needed to complain to DVI
>about interference so that it could get taken care of.  His reply was,
>"You can call the Operations Center."  When asked for the phone
>number, he replied, "I don't have it- call me instead."  and GAVE US
>HIS CELL PHONE NUMBER!  I asked him  how the company expected to make
>any money supplying this service to the rural customers (there were a
>number of people from well outside the city present), and his reply
>was "WE NEVER STATED THAT WE WOULD BE  SUPPLYING BPL TO THE
>FARMERS
>SPREAD MILES APART- WE'RE DEPLOYING THE  SERVICE IN SMALL CITIES
>AND
>TOWNS."  I then reminded him of FCC Chairman Powell's statement when
>the NPRM was released "I am optimistic and welcome the day when every
>electrical outlet will have the potential to offer high-speed
>broadband and a plethora of high-tech applications to all Americans."
>His comment was (this is beautiful!) "I read Chairman Powell's
>statements every day- he never said that."
>
>Several members then started asking me questions (they had been to our
>club's website and heard the recording there), and I did my best to
>answer them.  My main point in being there was to make sure that these
>people, if they had experienced interference, would lodge complaints
>to the FCC, and to make sure that they understood the importance of
>commenting on the NPRM.  So my thrust was there.  But I did offer to
>let anyone who hadn't heard the interference yet, come out to my truck
>after the meeting and I'd give them a demo.
>
>At this point, the topic had been pretty well covered, so the meeting
>officially ended.  I asked for their business cards, Simmons gave me
>his, but Loew "Didn't have any."  I gave them mine.  Simmons and Loew
>got up to leave, but Simmons was cornered by several members who
>wanted to ask more questions.  Loew quietly slipped out the door.
>Ayers and I answered a few more questions, then it was time to go.
>
>We went outside and those that were left wanted to see my mobile setup
>and hear the interference.  Guess what?  IT WAS GONE!!!  THE SYSTEM
>HAD  BEEN SHUT DOWN, either in the time before Simmons and Loew got to
>the  meeting (maybe why they were late), or when Loew slipped out the
>door at the end. Everything was gone, completely.  Interestingly, this
>explains why I got an email from a ham who went to Penn Yan last
>Saturday (4/17) and found nothing, yet another person (this one from
>Harris Corp) was there on the same day and heard everything just as I
>had reported it.  I think this action speaks even louder than the
>interference about just what is going on here, and does not present
>the BPL providers in a positive light at all.
>
>I was able to convince several people to lodge formal complaints to
>the FCC about the interference they had experienced, and I believe
>they will.
>
>I'm sure there's more to come from this.
>
>Dave Hallidy K2DH"
>
>
>------- End of forwarded message -------
>
-- 
73 de Scott Galbraith
N3OK, Frederick County, MD
FM19ji
ARRL, QCWA 30013, GERATOL 2198, PVRC
NAVMARCORMARS - NNN0OPY, NNN0GAW
National Communications System SHARES
mailto:scottg@n3ok.com