[SMCARA] BPL in St Mary's??

[Clarke, Tom VX-20 OPS]

I happened to glance at the newsletter in my last SMECO bill and what to my surprise did I read, that SMECO is considering BPL for St Mary's.  I am afraid the FCC is hyping this BPL business as a "money maker" for power suppliers and the siren song of increased revenue may be hard to fight.

We need to keep on top of this and if they do decide to experiment, make sure we have a lot of information not rhetoric, to convince the powers to be (pun intended), that there is no economic advantage in pursuing BPL.  Economics, not the specter of interference will be the deciding factor unfortunately.

I think I will see what kind of materials the ARRL has to offer.  Direct contact with SMECO will also keep the interference factor on the table.  Especially important will be case studies involving municipalities and companies that have considered and rejected BPL.  Cedar Rapids comes to mind.

73 de  Tom/W4OKW