Subject: [NEXTEL-1] KD4RAA-K4JDR Rptrs Progress Energy BPL - N&O Story Followup]

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 15:38:31 -0400

-------- Original Message --------
From: "Todd Ellis" <[email-masked]>
Subject:  FW: [KD4RAA-K4JDR Rptrs] Progress Energy BPL  - N&O Story Followup

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Pearce KN4AQ [mailto:[email-masked]] 
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2003 1:20 PM
To: Cary ARC; FARC Mailing List; KD4RAA Repeater Group; NC ARES Leadership;
OCRA Mailing List; RARS Mailing List; TEARA Mailing List; Triangle Hams
Subject: [KD4RAA-K4JDR Rptrs] Progress Energy BPL - N&O Story Followup

Triangle area hams:

The News and Observer ran a story in today's Business section about 
Progress Energy's plan for a larger BPL test.  The story is on-line at:

http://newsobserver.com/business/story/2962650p-2716401c.html

I wrote a reply (copied below) to the author, Johnathan Cox (and also to 
Paul Glister, who writes a column in the Connect section on 
Wednesday).  Then I had a follow up telephone conversation with 
Johnathan.  He said he's been getting a lot of e-mail from hams about the 
subject today (you guys are sharp, and faster than me).

He is very interested in our story on this, and in Amateur Radio in 
general.  He had no idea there about this downside to BPL, and little idea 
how extensive Amateur Radio was (about 3000 hams in the Triangle, 18,000 in 
NC, and 700,000 in the US).

He said he would talk to his editor about a follow-up, soon.  No promises 
(there never are), but from his interest level I'd say chances are very
good.

73,
Gary KN4AQ

================================

Hello, Johnathan and Paul,

I am the Public Information Officer for the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society, 
the largest Amateur Radio group in North Carolina, and editor of the 
Repeater Journal, a regional Amateur Radio magazine covering the southeast.

There is a wrinkle to Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) that hasn't gotten 
much attention outside of the technical press.  BPL has the potential to 
interfere with high frequency radio services, such as Amateur Radio, 
Shortwave Broadcast Radio, international aviation communication, business 
and industrial radio users, and even government and military radio systems.

Here's how: BPL uses radio frequency energy in the 3 to 80 MHz range to 
carry the data over the power lines.  These frequencies cover the entire 
portion of the radio spectrum that supports long-distance radio 
communication.  The BPL radio energy is carried over power wires that were 
not designed to carry and contain that kind of energy (not shielded).  The 
power wires actually act as an antenna, and radiate - transmit - the radio 
signals into the air.

Anyone nearby trying to receive communications within the spectrum covered 
by the BPL signal will hear it, usually as a raucous hash or buzz 
(something like you hear on the phone line when you make a dial-up Internet 
connection, or sometimes sounding like a Geiger counter measuring a big 
chunk of uranium).  The signal may be strong enough to obliterate the 
station you are trying to receive.  And it is "broad" - it covers the whole 
spectrum.  You can't tune away from it.

Use of this high-frequency radio spectrum may be considered "legacy" by 
some, as they point to the vastly greater communications capacity of fiber 
optics, satellites and other technology designed to carry communications 
around the world.  But that technology isn't available everywhere, and it 
can fail.  Amateur Radio routinely uses high-frequency spectrum to handle 
emergency communications during disasters, when all other systems are down.

The "wireless" connection that Progress Energy plans to use is a 
development I'm not familiar with.  It MAY limit the radiation by keeping 
the BPL signal off of some local wiring.  But BPL doesn't use the 
"high-tension" high-voltage power lines to distribute its signal over long 
distances.  It uses the medium and lower voltage neighborhood lines to 
distribute it locally.  I'd have to see a more complete description of the 
Progress system to know if the wireless connection mitigates the potential 
for interference.

Progress Energy did not notify or work with the local Amateur Radio 
community during its Wakefield test, and the test was complete before we 
learned of it.  But our national organization, the ARRL, has monitored the 
airwaves in other test areas and found that significant interference did 
exist - it was not theoretical.  In many cases the interference rendered an 
Amateur Radio station useless, unable to receive any but the strongest 
signals from other Amateurs around the country or world.  We look forward 
to analyzing the larger Progress Energy test about to begin.

A debate about BPL can rapidly descend into technical mud-slinging, 
incomprehensible to anyone without an advanced degree and experience in 
this specialized field.  Amateur Radio has people with this experience, and 
we make the technical arguments at their highest level.  But the bottom 
line, understandable by all, is that if you turn on a receiver and can't 
hear anything over the noise, then BPL is a problem.

You can see some short on-line videos of actual interference tests, and 
some BPL industry produces video, at:

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/#Video

You can see the overwhelming technical data on the problems with BPL at:

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/

We are concerned that, in their zeal to promote the capabilities of BPL, 
the FCC and the power industry are deliberately sweeping these problems 
under the rug.  So far, the general press hasn't caught on to the problem 
much, either.  BPL could provide significant public service (although there 
are competing technologies that could do as good or better job of 
distributing broadband access without polluting a valuable natural 
resource).  But it comes at a price.  Amateur Radio operators and other 
high-frequency spectrum users feel the price is too high.

Please feel free to contact me for more information or an interview.

Sincerely,

Gary Pearce KN4AQ
116 Waterfall Ct.
Cary, NC 27513
919-380-9944
[email-masked]

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