[FLham] HAMS PLEASE READ - spend a moment of your time to do something VERY important for Ham Radio

[Jim White, K4OJ]

I just went to the FCC web site and found that only 142 comments 
regarding BPL (Broadband over Power Lines) had been filed form Florida. 
  You can see who has filed on the web site by requesting a search by 
state... I recognized some of my fellow club members, but not enough of 
them :-(

This level of apathy among the Amateur Community stinks!  I am going to 
hope that most of you simply are unaware of this situation as opposed to 
not giving a damn that your hobby will come to an end should this issue 
pass and as such will pass along the following information so you as a 
Florida Ham might help save our hobby from ruination.

Broadband over Power Lines is a proposed system to use existing power 
lines as a pipeline for broadband signals - i.e. a way to access the 
internet.  While this sounds like a great idea since everybody has power 
lines in their neighborhood please read on to see why this will spell an 
end to Amateur Radio.

If you are unsure about this topic and want some more background go the 
ARRL site at:

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/08/08/2/?nc=1

There is all kinds of stuff there including links to studies on BPL, 
etc. - MOST importantly, the ARRL sent a roving ham into a neighborhood 
where this technology is being tested... he had a transceiver in the car 
and there are movies you can see of what he saw AND HEARD while driving 
these streets. Summarizing - he found interference across the entire ham 
HF spectrum which rendered it totally uselss...click on "View the BPL 
Video" - if you have not seen this, you will not believe your ears and eyes.

Now, once you have seen what this will mean to you as a ham, realize 
that this is truly a time for us as hams to step up to the plate and do 
the right thing...

Let the FCC know by flooding their electronic in-box on this matter just 
how bad an idea this is.  It is easy to do - here is how to you can 
stand up and be counted:

We are in the 21st century - use your computer browser to surf on into 
the FCC site where you will find an opportunity to participate by making 
an entry on the EFCS - Electronic Filing Comment System - in moments you 
can be composing a note to the FCC that tells them what a bad idea BPL 
is!  Click on:

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/

Your on the FCC page, now - in the Upper RH portion of the page you will 
see a button labeled

Submit A Filing  (click on it)

This will take you to:

http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/upload_v2.cgi

Where you submit your comment on the matter...

The first box is the only difficult one to fill in - the number you need 
for this is:

03-104

The balance of the form is easy to fill out, you will be asked easy 
stuff like your name, etc... and then, most important type in your

COMMENT

PLEASE DO THE RIGHT THING THIS WEEKEND, take a few minutes to go to the 
FCC site, lets act as a group on this and show the FCC that we care and 
will not be QRMed out of existence.

Amateur Radio is this countries source of Communications First 
Responders, BPL will render their frequencies useless.

Go to web site - lets all watch as the numbers of Florida hams who care 
about the future of ham radio speak out and show the FCC that we took a 
few minutes of our time to get their attention as to how this was a very 
VERY bad idea.

PLEASE REPOST THIS MESSAGE FOR YOUR LOCAL HAM CLUBS MEMBERSHIP!

Thank you - now go to those web sites!

73,

Jim White, K4OJ