[R-390] Manassas BPL

Rbethman rbethman at comcast.net
Sat Jul 10 22:34:04 EDT 2004


Yeah!  BUT I'm the one living with it!

Bob - N0DGN

Bob Camp wrote:

> Hi
>
> An awful long time ago I had some exposure to "carrier current 
> broadcasting". This is a wonderful idea where you transmit AM directly 
> into a building's power system in order to provide a listening 
> experience for all the occupants.
>
> The first thing you find out is that power lines were not designed as 
> RF transmission lines, even at AM radio frequencies. The impedance 
> between the conductors is well below an ohm at RF. You need to feed a 
> lot more into the lines than you might think to get anything useful to 
> happen.
>
> The next amazing thing was that after you got all that power in there 
> it would pop up all over the place. We would get hot spots as much as 
> a couple of blocks away. This happened at power levels that just 
> barely covered the building that was our target. Multiple feeds to the 
> building made things even more exciting. Nulls and peaks all over the 
> place.
>
> If it's that tough to control at 500 KC then it's going to be a whole 
> lot harder to control at 30 MHz. The primary and secondary power 
> distribution systems were never intended  to be part of an RF system 
> in the first place. Anybody who has ever had a RFI complaint into them 
> can tell you just how good they generally are at RF.
>
> The cable company runs a system that is designed from the ground up to 
> be RF tight. Finding their carriers floating around in free air is 
> awfully easy. It doesn't even take a R390, you can do it on a rice 
> box. Even with that kind of system they have an awful time tracking 
> down problems as well. The power company won't be any better.
>
> The one hope is that the combination of complaints and competition 
> will make this a system that nobody ever makes any money off of. If so 
> it will die out. Remember the woodpecker back in the 1980's - it died 
> eventually. If this thing interferes with what you want to do on HF 
> COMPLAIN ABOUT IT TO THE FCC. The guy that comes around every couple 
> of years looking to get re-elected to the House of Representatives 
> might also be a good one to talk to. This is especially true if 
> elections in your area tend to be closely contested.
>
> Boy .. this has me going even harder than the ballast tubes ...
>
>     Take Care!
>
>         Bob Camp
>         KB8TQ
>
>
>
> On Jul 10, 2004, at 9:57 PM, JamesMiller wrote:
>
>> As I understand BPL (which isnt much) it comes right to the wall outlet.
>> That's the sell feature, your internet comes in on the same plug as 
>> power.
>> So it may be in your house.  I wonder if a heavy duty RF filter 
>> across the
>> power main coming into the house wouild help?
>>
>> Yje ARRL is trying to fight it and needs support. www.arrl.org
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Rbethman" <rbethman at comcast.net>
>> To: <R-390 at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2004 8:54 PM
>> Subject: [R-390] Manassas BPL
>>
>>
>>> Well, I've used the R-390A and <groan> a TS-930SAT to narrow it down.
>>>
>>> The bursts show s-5 on the Kenwood at 1.616Kc.  At 29.6Mc it doesn't
>>> move the needle so much as it IS a constant audio pop.
>>>
>>> The results are the same on the R-390A.  I just used the Kenwood to
>>> provide S Units for description.
>>>
>>> As I have said before - I live in the part of the city that the 
>>> power is
>>> UNDERGROUND.
>>>
>>> I've put up to 5 rf toroidal chokes on both radios power cords with NO
>>> effect at all.  It is definitely radiated!
>>>
>>> Now where is riley Hollingsworth's email address.  I know I've seen
>>
>> it......
>>
>>>
>>> Bob - N0DGN
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> <                      Bob Bethman - N0DGN
>>> +-------------------------------+----------------------------------+
>>> | N0DGN AMRadio Manassas, VA    |    REAL Tube Radio and AM        |
>>> +-------------------------------+----------------------------------+
>>> |       Manassas Radio - Home of Homemade Kielbasa & Pirogi        |
>>> +-------------------------------+----------------------------------+
>>> | Bob Bethman                \\\|///     " The absence of a danger |
>>> | rbethman(at)comcast.net   \\ ~ ~ //      signal does *NOT* mean  |
>>> |                           (/ @ @ /)      that everything is OK " |
>>> +-------------------------oOOo-(_)-oOOo----------------------------+
>>> |               <http://home.comcast.net/~rbethman>                |
>>> | 1 BC-610I w/BC-614I,1 T-213/GRC-26 w/BC614I 1 '51 Collins R-390A |
>>> | 1 '67 EAC R-390A, Heathkit DX-60, Apache, Mohawk, SX-101, HT-32A |
>>> +------------------------------------------------------------------+
>>> |           Amateur Astronomer - Celestron Nexstar 8               |
>>> |             12" f5 Dob coming soon!  Being built                 |
>>> |                  Meade ETX-60 (Got it back!)                     |
>>> |               38 Deg 46.8' N - 77 Deg 28.5' W                    |
>>> +------------------------------------------------------------------+
>>> |   Opinions expressed are that of my own and do not necessarily   |
>>> |         coincide with or represent those of ANYONE else          |
>>> +------------------------------------------------------------------+
>>>   ALL E-mail received and sent scanned by AVG & Norton Anti-Virus>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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-- 
<                      Bob Bethman - N0DGN
+-------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| N0DGN AMRadio Manassas, VA    |    REAL Tube Radio and AM        |
+-------------------------------+----------------------------------+
|       Manassas Radio - Home of Homemade Kielbasa & Pirogi        |
+-------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| Bob Bethman                \\\|///     " The absence of a danger |
| rbethman(at)comcast.net   \\ ~ ~ //      signal does *NOT* mean  |
|                           (/ @ @ /)      that everything is OK " |
+-------------------------oOOo-(_)-oOOo----------------------------+
|               <http://home.comcast.net/~rbethman>                |
| 1 BC-610I w/BC-614I,1 T-213/GRC-26 w/BC614I 1 '51 Collins R-390A |
| 1 '67 EAC R-390A, Heathkit DX-60, Apache, Mohawk, SX-101, HT-32A |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
|           Amateur Astronomer - Celestron Nexstar 8               |
|             12" f5 Dob coming soon!  Being built                 |
|                  Meade ETX-60 (Got it back!)                     |
|               38 Deg 46.8' N - 77 Deg 28.5' W                    |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   Opinions expressed are that of my own and do not necessarily   |
|         coincide with or represent those of ANYONE else          |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
  ALL E-mail received and sent scanned by AVG & Norton Anti-Virus>





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