[HCRA] BPL hits WMA

[Mike DeChristopher]

A guy from Western Mass Electric stopped by today, to inform us that the
first test of BPL in New England would be, in fact, on my street.
Apparently, they wanted to test it in an area with amateur radio operators
(and there are six or seven within a one mile radius here) to make sure of
the interference.  He showed us the equipment, and are we in for a nice
surprise: a resonant dipole on 3-30MHz!

When I mentioned that I was active on all of the bands, he was somewhat
surprised, but he really jumped when I let him know that three of us in the
immediate area used around a kilowatt.  The company was assuming hams only
used five or ten watts.

He also said that they were trying to notch out the amateur bands so they
wouldn't cause interference.  Let me say that if I ever saw an ugly antenna,
it was on this electric pole.  Just looking at it shouts interference - like
a clotheshangar coming out the back of an amplifier.  They had a car driving
around with a laptop and a reciever in it, trying to "hear" the internet.

He left his card, assuring us that if we had any problems, he would be happy
to hear from us.  I'm sure that now WMA Electric has done it, other New
England companies will push for it, too.  Just a heads up (not that it will
make any difference so long as the flare is here).

Mike DeChristopher, KB1FWN