BPL comes into your house at the power company service box. Even if you don 
not connect to it. 
 
FACT: The Cedar Rapids deployment has a WLAN link from the pole.  The wires 
carry the 2-80 MHz. How does that go from 2-80 MHz --into-- the house?  
 
Umm..."rf propagation"??  I thought you designed antennas...you don't know 
THIS? 
 
 It creates S9++ signals from 2 to 80 MHz. 
 
FACT: Sure, if you drive your 1972 Nova with 'HAM ON BOARD' sticker (for 
example)  under the power line, this is a consistently true statement. 
Otherwise, there are some, few,  circumstances in which an unacceptabel (pun 
and sic intended) level of 'hash'   
 
Hmmm...ok, this is for "rural internet access."  "Looking out the window, what 
do I see?  A POWER POLE!!"  Oh, 50ft away or so from the house.  Hmmm...BPL at 
50ft....??!!?? (Oh, and the car is a T5 Volvo...5 spd manual, of course...no 
stickers...just speed & style) 
 
 Based on assumption, the number of hams affected nation wide is 
in the hundreds.  
 
Of thousands?  Last time I checked, most houses had powerlines SOMEWHERE in the 
general vicinity. 
 
 FACT: Sure, if very nearby and unfiltered, this could be a problem. However, 
the FCC rules require filtering for RFI mitigation in such circumstances.   
 
See above.  Ever tried to get the bloody power companies to fix an arcing 
insulator?? 
 
 FACT: A vocal minority of hams want to 'kill BPL'. As opposed to working 
with 
the power companies to fix the problem.   
 
Hmm...Germany and Japan are a "vocal minority?"  Both tried it, and discarded 
it due to interference.  THAT "fixed it," but good. 
 
WLAN (mebbe 5.6 ghz or so? W/a cable feed?) is a good idea, tho.  PLC is not. 
Duke Power (Duke Energy) is working on some trials.....I unwittingly drove thru 
one neighborhood w/PLC and later realized that I had done so....interference 
ranges from S5 to S9+ on my mobile.  The houses are not much farther away from 
the PL than my mobile.  Empirical data says that interference would be present 
there, also.  I had shut off the mobile as I wished to save my ears.  Thought 
something had started arcing nearby.  Heh...and just wait 'til the sunspot 
cycle starts back upwards.... 
 
A 
 
 
		 
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
	
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