[Hallicrafters] Wall Street Journal Article Putting Down Hams

[Gerry Steffens]

First I should state that I have been a radio enthusiast since the late
1950s when I was in junior high.  I am still active as a radio historian and
collector with a collection nearing 300 radios.

Second I am a registered professional engineer (electrical) with a degree
related to aerospace engineering who happens to be operations manager for an
electric utility that is partnering with a small communications company
conducting a pilot BPL project on our electric system.

Our pilot project is in its infancy (not operational yet either) but we have
met with the local amateur club, had ARRL folks from Minneapolis here for
our presentations (well received) and invited the ARRL and the locals to
participate in our test.  This is a demonstration of our confidence in this
technology.  By the same token, if the pilot doesn't work as planned, we are
prepared to abandon it.  We have found nothing but good in our relationship
with the amateur community.

It should be noted that some of the earlier BPL experiments in other
countries were conducted with technology that is already obsolete.  Many
times the first applications of any new device don't work too well.
Remember when the public would rather have those "safe" gas lights than have
that dangerous electricity where electrons could escape into their house.
AND, this was fact!

I believe any of us can name several things both new and old that are banned
somewhere for questionable, incorrect or obsolete reasons.  Please recognize
that BPL too can develop and advance.

Also note that before broadband, electric utilities have been using PLC
(power line carrier) for over half a century for many applications from
analog voice communication to digital communication over hundreds of miles
for protective relays which operate circuit breakers on high voltage
transmission lines and operation of load control and data retrieval systems.
Yes the bandwidth and frequencies were different but there still exists
knowledge.

Also remember that the BPL application is low power, involving section 15.
One of our concerns is if radio transmissions will interfere with the BPL.
This will also be part of our test if we can arrange it.  As things stand,
if radio transmissions interfere, BPL is up the creek.

Enough rambling, I could go on for pages.  But please remember that like in
the early 1950s when a big beam antenna meant that you were the cause of any
and all TVI whether you were guilty or not, when in reality much of the
problem was on the site of the TV being interfered with; today the shoe is
on the other foot.  Please don't be guilty of similar accusuations. 

Cheers from Minnesota,

Gerry


Collecting & Restoring E.H. Scott,
McMurdo Silver, Hallicrafters, Zenith 
Transoceanic and any other interesting
radios since 1959
Gerald Steffens P.E.
Oronoco, MN


-----Original Message-----
From: hallicrafters-admin at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:hallicrafters-admin at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bruce Sugarberg
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2004 7:29 PM
To: hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] Wall Street Journal Article Putting Down Hams

Hello All:

Here is why I think that this article is dangerous.

1st, please read some excerpts from the article:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

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