"Dan/W4NTI" w4nti@get rid of this mindspring.com wrote in message
hlink.net...

big clip

You know very well, or you should, that the ARRL send it a very
comprehensive report on that subject. Both the initial comments and the
latest round.

The ARRL is the best, and only, organization that can do a thing to help
us
against BPL at this time. Its all we have. And I think they are doing a
fine job.

The FCC is staffed with a bunch of pro business lawyers. THAT IS THE
PROBLEM. They don't have a clue of what they are doing.

If you want to change the thinking at the FCC. Then writting your
congressman is the ONLY way to do it. Since the congress controls their
purse strings.

The only other alternative would be to take it to court. Make use of the
green peace bunch to sue for the destruction of a natural resource, the
HF
spectrum. etc.. Any port in a storm.

Dan/W4NTI




I agree that the ARRl is doing a decent job on this issue.

My fears regarding BPL go along these lines:

1) Business wants it. This means that the Republicans, in general, are for
it. It certainly means the FCC Powers-That-Be are for it.

2) Providing broadband access to as many as possible, as cheaply as
possible, is an issue that appels to Liberals. This means, in genral, that
the Democrats are for it.

3) The ARRL has a fairly small percentage (what is it, about 33%?) of
registered U.S. hams as members. This reduces its effectiveness.

4) I doubt that many politicians see BPL as a make-or-break issue for their
ham constiuants. That is, how many hams would vote for (or against) someone
based on votes relating to BPL? How much money (soft and hard dollars) would
increase (decrease) solely based on votes on BPL? If my assumption is true,
then the ham community's voice is further reduced in effectiveness.

5) The power companies have done a fine job of defining the issue in a way
beneficial to themselves: Which is more important: Cheap, widespread access
to broadband or a hobby playground for hams? To tell the truth, if that
were the issue, I would support BPL.

6) The ham community's voice, weak enough already, is further reduced by
fights over secondary issues. As is: BPL is good because it will serve the
No-Coders right. I don't think the power companies could say it better.

To win this issue, we need to try to redefine the issue. We need to be
saying:

Cheap Broadband for everyone is EXTREMELY important and we will do nothing
to stop it. Here is how to best achieve this......

BPL, in addition to interfering with long time and important users of the HF
spectrum, suffers from the following technical problems which makes it
ineffective as a broadband solution ....

Paul AB0SI