Hank Oredson wrote:
It seems pretty clear to me that it will happen - 150,000 hams
are outnumbered by more than 100:1 by those who want broadband
delivered to the doorstep.


You make the assumption that BPL will actually deliver broadband!
It is one of the stupidest proposals I've seen.

That, and most of the people who are willing to pay the price for
broadband already have it.

It's my understanding that BPL has already failed financially in Germany
and early plans for deployment in the U.K. seem to have slowed down
substantially. I'm of the sense that both cable and DSL are far more
common in the U.S. than in Europe - that if BPL couldn't make a go of it
in Europe where comparatively few consumers already have a competing
technology, then it's even less likely to work (financially) in the U.S.
where the competition does have a solid head start.

My fear...

is that the power companies really aren't all that interested in
providing broadband internet. They're tired of being cited for leaky
insulators and want to get the Part 15 limits raised so they don't have
to bother fixing them.

================================================== =======================
I note with interest they're talking about using frequencies as high as
80MHz. All three major TV network affiliates here are on low-band VHF
channels 2, 4, and 5. An S6 signal in the 54-82MHz band will cause
harmful interference to all three stations. And the digital TV
conversion won't solve the problem - the CBS station's digital
assignment is 56 which means they're going to be back on channel 5 -
76-82MHz - at the end of transition. Judging from how ATSC digital TV
deals with impulse noise, I suspect an S6 BPL signal in TV channel 5
will make digital reception on that channel impossible.

Channels 2, 4, and 5 are used for major stations in Boston, NYC,
Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, Dallas, and many
other smaller cities. National Association of Broadcasters vs. the
electric power industry. Could be an interesting battle.

(I wonder what an S6 BPL signal at 49MHz would do to a baby monitor?)
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com