ARRL's newsletter is a day early...they comment on Alliant Energy's
withdrawal of their pilot project (seems that as expected the noise couldn't
be notched out.)

at any rate, here's a link to the UPLC press release from June 22:
http://www.uplc.utc.org/?cbr_v=dcb&n...nten tbrowser

please note the swipe at the amateur radio community in paragraph 3

-- perhaps , author of the press release, would like
to hear from all of you who read QST, QEX and or AMQRP.

here's the relevant part of the missive from the ARRL:

==UTILITY CUTS SHORT BPL TRIAL THAT WAS TARGET OF AMATEUR COMPLAINTS

Alliant Energy has called an early end to its broadband over power line
(BPL) pilot project in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The "evaluation system" went
live March 30, and plans called for keeping it active until August or
September. Alliant shut it down June 25. Ongoing, unresolved HF
interference from the system to retired engineer Jim Spencer, W0SR, and
other amateurs prompted the ARRL to file a complaint to the FCC on
Spencer's behalf demanding it be shut down and the utility fined.

Alliant Energy's BPL Project Leader Dan Hinz says the ARRL complaint
"certainly was a factor" in the utility's decision to pull the plug
prematurely but "not the overriding factor." The main reason, he said, was
that Alliant accomplished most of its objectives ahead of schedule. The
primary purpose of the Cedar Rapids evaluation was to gain an
understanding of BPL technology and what issues might be involved in a
real-world deployment, Hinz explained. But, he added, regulatory
uncertainty and other unspecified technical issues also factored into the
choice to end the pilot early.

Hinz said Alliant is "moshing the data" to compile a written evaluation of
the Cedar Rapids pilot, but the company has no plans at this point to move
forward with BPL. Alliant did not partner with a broadband services
provider, and it has no other BPL test systems in operation. The system
used Amperion BPL equipment.

According to Spencer, five fixed Amateur Radio stations within proximity
of the BPL evaluation system and two mobile stations formally reported BPL
interference on HF. "The radio amateurs and Alliant Energy cooperated by
sharing interference information," he said. "Alliant Energy turned the BPL
evaluation system off twice to allow collection of extensive BPL frequency
and signal level data--with and without BPL." He said Alliant and Amperion
tried various "notching" schemes to rid amateur frequencies of the BPL
interference with only limited success.

The system included both overhead and underground BPL links to feed 2.4
GHz wireless "hot spots" for end user access. Hinz said the area's
topography presented some challenges, especially with the wireless links.
"I think in the end, we actually over-challenged ourselves with this
specific pilot location," he said. And, despite "substantial progress" in
mitigating interference, Alliant decided at this point that "it wasn't
worth the extra effort" to resolve the thornier technical issues, Hinz
added.

As for any broader implications, Hinz says he's always viewed BPL as a
"strategic deployment technology," not one a company could roll out just
anywhere and expect to be competitive with existing broadband services
such as cable and DSL. "At least that's how we were looking at it," he
said. "You have to find the right areas with the right topography with the
right concentration of certain types of customers," he said.

"It's never been in my mind that BPL has to compete with the speeds of
cable today," Hinz added. "It has to compete with the speeds of cable and
the next best thing tomorrow as well, if it's going to be usable well into
the future." He hinted that Alliant might want to take another look at BPL
once the FCC has put BPL rules and regulations into place, and the
technology has further evolved.

The ARRL's formal complaint to FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief David H.
Solomon called on the Commission not only to close down Alliant's BPL
field trial system but to fine the utility $10,000 for violating the
Communications Act of 1934 and FCC Part 15 rules. Commenting on the
termination of the Cedar Rapids BPL trial, ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ,
pointed out that Alliant had tried for more than 12 weeks to fix the
interference problem to a station 600 feet from its installation.

"In the end," Sumner said, "the interference was not eliminated except by
shutting down the BPL system. Could the case against BPL deployment be any
clearer?"

Spencer said he was happy with Alliant's decision, and he was gracious in
expressing appreciation to the utility for working with him. "And thanks
also to the ARRL and the Cedar Rapids BPL Steering Committee for their
knowledge and efforts in making a truly professional evaluation," he
added.

Still outstanding are some chronic power line noise problems Spencer has
experienced.

For additional information, visit the "Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) and
Amateur Radio" page on the ARRL Web site http://www.arrl.org/bpl. To
support the League's efforts in this area, visit the ARRL's secure BPL Web
site https://www.arrl.org/forms/development/donations/bpl/.

==UPLC COMMENT SHOWS BPL CAMPAIGN STARTING TO PAY OFF, HAYNIE SAYS

ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, says a remark the United Power Line
Council (UPLC) made recently about Amateur Radio shows that the League's
BPL message is getting through. In its reply comments on the FCC's BPL
Notice of Proposed Rule Making in ET Docket 04-37, the UPLC's Brett
Kilbourne claimed that members of the BPL industry are the real experts on
the technology, "not a misinformed set of armchair amateurs that still use
vacuum tube transmitters." A subsequent UPLC press release repeated the
swipe, drawing a storm of protest from the amateur community. Haynie said
this week that he took comfort rather than offense at the intended
affront.

"I thought that the comment was a good indicator that the work that the
League has been doing on multiple fronts is beginning to pay off," Haynie
said. The League's FCC filings, technical studies and information on BPL,
he said, have made it "very embarrassing" for the BPL industry to keep
insisting "that the emperor is wearing clothes," so it's resorted to name
calling instead.

Haynie said he remains puzzled that the BPL industry appears unwilling to
support its claims that "the risk of interference from BPL is
extraordinarily low, because it produces only minimal radio frequency
energy at a few points in the system," as the UPLC's press release
asserts. Any harmful interference that does occur, the UPLC claims, can be
"mitigated" using a variety of techniques, "including frequency notching
or frequency shifting."

"Just saying 'We said it's not going to interfere' is not going to cut
it," he said. Haynie challenged the BPL industry to sponsor independent,
professional engineering evaluations of the technology's interference
risk. "Let's see what they've got."

Haynie said that while he found the UPLC's "armchair amateurs" remark
amusing, its severe criticism of the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA) Phase 1 BPL report and comments in the
proceeding raised his eyebrows a bit. In its press release, the UPLC said
"NTIA's recommendations and ARRL's naysaying are misguided" and that the
UPLC has "forcefully replied" to interference concerns.

"For Mr Kilbourne to come out and say they [NTIA] don't know what they're
talking about, he might as well shoot himself in the foot," Haynie said,
pointing out that the White House, which is promoting BPL, is putting a
lot weight on the NTIA's recommendations.

In its comments, the UPLC said the NTIA's approach was "fundamentally at
odds with the Part 15 rules" and "unjustified" by BPL's interference
potential.

In response to the criticism leveled from the amateur community, the UPLC
declared its "support for Amateur Radio remains unabated," but expressed
concern for "uninformed armchair quarterbacking by a small number of
amateurs." The UPLC also said it has "sought to work with ARRL," citing
its offer to help resolve "a complaint in Cedar Rapids, Iowa." Alliant
Energy prematurely shut down its BPL pilot system in Cedar Rapids June 25.
Interference complaints from amateurs were a factor in the utility's
decision.