[QCWA] It's official... we are secondary.

[THOMAS WEBB]

QRMing the BPL operation would be emotionally satisfying, but it might prompt the FCC to retaliate by placing more restrictions on amateurs.

Tom Webb  W4YOK
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Robert N Meyer 
  To: Discussion of QCWA 
  Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2004 8:39 PM
  Subject: Re: [QCWA] It's official... we are secondary.


  Don't panic, people.  We've all been hearing how BPL causes interference 
  to our service.  Well, guess what, IT GOES BOTH WAYS!

  Their big network of wires not only operates as a transmitting antenna, 
  but it acts as a receiving antenna.  The local radio club (Rochester, 
  MN) got TOGETHER with the local power company to do co-operative 
  testing.  They taped signals off the air while the power company 
  switched things on and off.  Did it cause interference?  Oh, yeah.  It 
  even totally blocked WWV.  No suprises there.

  What was very interesting, and what I had heard nothing about before, 
  was the effect of ham radio on BPL:

  A 25 watt 40m signal transmitted 2 blocks away into a mobile vertical 
  caused a complete (100%) blockage of packet flow on the BPL network!  A 
  10 watt 80 signal in a multiband dipole 65' away completely blocked BPL 
  network traffic.

  Think about that!  A kw into a beam would probably block BPL for miles 
  in whatever direction the beam is pointing.

  You can see more details at:
  http://www.io.com/~nielw/BPL/RF_susceptibility.htm

  -- Bob Meyer, KB0GT
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