[HoustonHam] BPL report on the 10:00 o'clock news July 21

[Bill Buoy]

Your newscast on the 21st at 10:00 did an admirable job of presenting the
upside of Broadband over Power Line (BPL), but you made no mention of the
significant downside. The omission of significant facts when reporting on
new technology is misleading, especially for the general public who
frequently have limited understanding of how technology in our society
works. BPL is anything but the rosy picture you painted in this newscast.

This technology relies on sending radio frequency signals over transmission
lines that are designed and maintained to send signals much lower in
frequency. Under these conditions, the power transmission line behaves like
an antenna for the radio signals. Antennas radiate - they send the signal
off into the ether.

These 'leaking' signals can and do cause interference to licensed radio
services, including aviation, amateur radio, fire, safety, broadcast, and
commercial two-way services. When this occurs, the entity (CenterPoint, in
this case) will be required to take any and all steps necessary to eliminate
the interference, up to and including turning the system
off until they are able to operate it without causing interference. This is
because BPL is an FCC Part 15 service and the services that it is
interfering with are licensed services.

There are a number of alternative technologies that are much better at
providing low-cost wideband internet access. These include WiFi, cable, DSL,
and Fiber channel. These competing technologies are also non-polluting,
where BPL has been proven to be a polluter of the radio spectrum in many
trials throughout the world and in the US. Most of these trials ended when
it became obvious that the interference problems were too expensive to solve
or reduced the system capability to the point that it was no longer
competitive with the technologies mentioned previously.

There is an excellent introductory page on the ARRL website,
<http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/>, that has extensive information as
well as links to trials that have been conducted elsewhere. ARRL Laboratory
Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, has conducted extensive research on the various BPL
technologies. I am sure he will be able to discuss the options and
alternatives with you. I urge you to visit the link, then contact him at the
ARRL and learn more about this technology
and why it is not a good idea.

I suggest you review this material, then broadcast a follow-up piece that
presents all the facts. BPL is a flawed technology being pushed by a few for
their own benefit. There are several competing technologies that truly could
provide low-cost broadband access. Do the research, redo the broadcast, and
do your community a real service.

Respectfully,
Bill Buoy
N5BIA
Houston, TX

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