[Hallicrafters] Wall Street Journal Article Putting Down Hams

[Bruce Sugarberg]

Hello All:

Here is why I think that this article is dangerous.

1st, please read some excerpts from the article:
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the nation's vocal but shrinking population of ham-radio operators, or 
"hams" as they call themselves, are stirring up a war with the utility 
industry over new power-line communications.

The FCC and the utilities say new technologies have eliminated the 
interference and accuse the hams of exploiting the issue for their own 
gains. "We haven't seen the sun darken and everything electrical turn to 
white noise and haze during a deployment," says Matt Oja, an executive at 
Progress Energy, whose test Mr. Powell visited. "This is a fairly vocal 
group that has been whipped into a frenzy by their organization."  (ARRL).

The controversy comes at a sensitive time for the hams. Not too many decades 
ago, ham-radio operators were on the cutting edge of communications 
technology. In the age of e-mail, wireless Internet access and cellphones 
that double as walkie-talkies, many operators worry that their hobby will 
fade away.  Aging hams, who built crystal radio sets as kids or were radio 
operators during World War II, are dying. Fewer youngsters are replacing them.

Hams always have been a quirky bunch. They haunt a series of short-wave 
radio frequencies set aside for them by the federal government in the 1930s.

Ed Thomas, the FCC's chief engineer, says the commission has spent a year 
listening to the hams' concerns about power lines and is getting frustrated. 
"Why is this thing a major calamity?" he says. "And honestly, I'd love the 
answer to that."

Con Ed says its system in Briarcliff Manor doesn't interfere with the hams 
and maintains that, in two years of testing, it hasn't received one complaint.
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If you know nothing about ham radio, what impression do you get of hams in
general:  That they are a bunch of trouble-making old dinosaurs, standing
in the way of progress, for no good reason.

Nothing is really said in the article about the public services that hams
provide.  Or about how hams are considered a vital part of Homeland Security.

If you know nothing about BPL, what impression do you get of the FCC and
Utilities:  That the only thing they are guilty of, is trying to make things
better for all of us.

Nothing is said about how the government's own Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) has come out against BPL.  Or that BPL has already been tested
and banned by several countries around the world, such as Austria.

73, Bruce Sugarberg WA8TNC