[PBARC] Special BPL Message to Clubs

[WOLF, EARNEST G]

August 2003 

Dear Amateur Radio Club Members, 

As summer fades and we anticipate a return to the rigors of fall, you will be reinvigorating Amateur
Radio club operations in your communities.  But before you club launches its activities, I hope you
can take a moment at your next meeting and consider a disturbing and critical topic - Broadband over
Power Lines (BPL). 

BPL is a devastating threat to the Amateur Radio spectrum - especially the HF bands.  There has been
a lot of publicity on this issue - articles on the ARRL website (www.arrl.org/bpl
<http://www.arrl.org/bpl <http://www.arrl.org/bpl> >) and other ham radio sites.  Your ARRL is at
the forefront of the campaign to defeat BPL and will continue to work tirelessly to protect your
Amateur Radio bands.  And you can help. 

This summer individual hams - and clubs - have responded generously to fund ARRL's efforts to fight
BPL, and have filed comments to the FCC.  But we still need to raise an additional $55,000 to fund
the field measurements and document filings necessary to defeat this threat.  We're all in this
effort together, so I hope your club will jump on the bandwagon and support the campaign
financially. We've received club contributions ranging from $50 to $2000. If your organization has
already made a donation, thank you.  

And if your club is considering a contribution, I hope you'll do so right away.  With a contribution
of $100, $250, $500 or more, your club can join the roster of clubs that are joining the effort.
Your commitment will make a tremendous difference.  And we'll put a list of contributing clubs on
the ARRL website this fall as our way of saying thank you.

If you need more information on BPL for your club, go to the ARRL website (www.arrl.org/BPL
<http://www.arrl.org/BPL <http://www.arrl.org/BPL> >) for the full story, including copies of the
two FCC filings and a video that graphically demonstrates the interference radio amateurs would
experience from BPL.  The video can be downloaded and played at your next club meeting, and there's
a PowerPoint presentation you can use. Just follow the link above to an "Understanding the NOI" page
and a resource page where you'll find the presentation. 

ARRL President Jim Haynie calls BPL the biggest threat to Amateur Radio in decades - and hams have
lent their voices to the cause. If BPL becomes a reality, many Amateur Radio activities, like Field
Day, will be meaningless. Your club's support with a generous financial contribution now will help
fund this effort.  

Thank you for considering this request.  Contributions can be made on-line at www.arrl.org
<http://www.arrl.org <http://www.arrl.org> >, or by mail to BPL Special Spectrum Defense Campaign,
ARRL, 225 Main Street, Newington CT 06111. 

73, 
Mary M. Hobart, K1MMH 
Chief Development Officer 




--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
The reason this message is shown is because the post was in HTML
or had an attachment.  Attachments are not allowed.  To learn how
to post in Plain-Text go to: http://www.expita.com/nomime.html  ---