the following article appeared in today's Wall Street Journal. Perhaps the
suits in Newington believed their own BS. Not a single mention of the
interference issues and a whopping endorsement by the FCC's chief engineer.

The Web's New Outlet
Utilities Plan to Send Internet Service
Over Electric Lines, Challenging
Cable Modems and DSL
By KEN BROWN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL


In an age when consumers can choose from 500 TV channels and nearly a dozen
phone companies, most who want high-speed Internet access have at best two
choices: the local phone company or their cable operator.

Now, another choice may be emerging. Giving new meaning to the phrase "plug
and play," a big Midwestern utility is joining with a start-up to offer
high-speed Internet access over power lines. The service promises lower
prices and more convenience: Consumers can tap into the Internet anywhere
they have an electrical outlet in their house.

The new service, announced Tuesday, comes from Cinergy Corp., a
Cincinnati-based utility, and Current Communications, a private company
controlled by the Berkman family, which made millions on wireless ventures
and counts John Malone's Liberty Media Corp. as an investor. All told, the
three are putting $70 million into the venture.

The idea of using power lines to send Internet signals to homes has been
around for years. It is based on the fact that electricity travels at a far
lower frequency than the Internet signal, so the two generally don't
interfere. But earlier efforts were disappointments, mostly due to the cost
of the equipment needed and technical issues.

Two years ago, a pivotal breakthrough occurred when the industry improved
the speed and lowered the price of the modem that plugs into wall sockets to
bring the Internet into the home, thanks to advances in semiconductor chips.

The new modem is based on an industry standard called HomePlug, and costs
about $30 wholesale. Cinergy will be handing out the modems to customers
free of charge. "The modem being there is what drove us to launch this
business," says William Berkman, co-founder of Current Communications.

Another technical issue has been how to get the Internet signal through the
transformers that step the power down from medium voltage, which runs along
the street, to low voltage, which goes into homes. Current Communications
says it has solved that problem with a "bridge" that skips the transformer,
allowing the signal to go through uninterrupted. It won't say what the
bridge costs.

Top officials at the Federal Communications Commission support such
power-line services because they could expand the availability of
high-speed, or broadband, Internet access and give consumers more choice of
providers, perhaps lowering prices. Last month the agency issued proposed
rules for broadband over power lines.

"Is the technology ready for prime time? The answer is yes," says Ed Thomas,
the FCC's chief engineer. "The second part of the question is, is the
business ready for prime time? The answer is you have to wait and see."

The issue is whether customers will sign up for the service, either by
stepping up from dial-up connections or switching from DSL or cable. On the
positive side, the power line service is easy to use -- plug in the modem
and run a wire to your computer and you're online. But there has been little
switching by consumers so far from one broadband service to another, and the
growth of broadband has been slowing.

Matt Davis, an analyst with Yankee Group, a Boston-based technology
consulting firm, says power-line broadband services lack key features of
cable and DSL offerings, such as bundled packages of phone, TV and Internet
access. He adds that more than 80% of American households can get high-speed
access and that figure will rise to 90% in the next few years. "People
continue to say that broadband is unavailable in a lot of places, but that's
just not true," Mr. Davis says.

Mr. Berkman says his group has already had discussions about bundling its
services, and plans to offer Internet phone service and either video on
demand or videogames by the third quarter of this year. He adds that in many
places that theoretically can get high-speed access the quality is poor.
Cinergy and Current, which tested their offering on 100 homes in the
Cincinnati area, say they will target areas where broadband connections are
spotty and hope to sign up 20% of homes they pass.

GETTING CONNECTED



Cable modems dominate high-speed Internet access, but some utility companies
hope to break into the market by providing broadband connections over their
power lines.

Average Cost per Month U.S. Subscribers
(in millions) Growth 2004
(estimate) Pros and Cons
Cable $35-40 15.7 29% Fastest but most expensive
DSL $30-35 6.6 41% Slower but cheaper, especially when bundled with
phone services
Power Lines $30-40 N.A. N.A. Fastest for the price, can connect anywhere
there's a plug; service is unproven in wide use.
Dial-Up $15-22 39.5 -9% Cheap, but slow and not always on.

Sources: Morgan Stanley; Current Communications



In addition, the partners say they believe they have some cost advantages
over DSL service and cable modems, in part because they don't have to send a
technician to a customer's house to start service. Instead, customers are
simply given the modems, which look like big cellphone chargers. If
customers want to work in another room, they plug the adapter into an outlet
there. Wireless adapters that broadcast a Wi-Fi signal are also available.

"Now it's up to us to prove the economics," Mr. Berkman says.

This effort appears to be the largest rollout of such power communications
to date. Cinergy will start with two neighborhoods in the Cincinnati area
and hopes to offer the service to 60,000 of its 1.5 million electricity
customers by the end of the year.

The two companies have a second venture to bring high-speed Internet access
to 24 million customers elsewhere served by smaller municipal and
cooperatively owned power companies, often in rural areas where cable and
DSL are not available.

The executives say their service will beat high-speed cable and phone
connections on price, convenience and speed. Current and Cinergy plan to
sell their service for $29.95 to $39.95 a month, depending on the connection
speed. Cable connections typically go for $35 to $40 a month, while DSL
lines are $30 to $35, with discounts for bundled services. Most dial-up
connections range from $15 to $22 a month.

"We believe we are now the last-mile solution," says Bill Grealis, executive
vice president of Cinergy and president of Cinergy Broadband Inc., speaking
of the issue of getting high-speed lines to homes. "We are cheaper and
faster than DSL or cable."

Several other companies also are in trials of power-line Internet service
involving dozens to hundreds of homes and hope to begin commercial service
in the next year. The systems have an added benefit for utilities: They can
alert them to power outages by monitoring the lines, and can read electric
meters automatically and let the utilities manage the use of power during
peak demand periods.

These power-line services, if they take off, could be a boon to Internet
service providers such as EarthLink Inc. and long-distance companies such as
AT&T Corp., both of which are desperate to get direct connections into
consumers' homes rather than relying on lines owned by local-phone or cable
companies. AT&T demonstrated a voice-over-Internet phone service using power
lines at an analysts meeting last week.

This is the second effort by the Berkman family, which made millions as an
early investor in cellphone systems, to provide an alternate broadband
service. The family, led by Myles Berkman and two sons, William and David,
started Teligent Inc., a once high-flying company that hoped to use
high-speed wireless connections to provide broadband services to businesses.

The family sold its stake in Teligent as part of a deal to sell its company,
the Associated Group, to Mr. Malone's Liberty Media for $3 billion in 1999.
Teligent collapsed two years later after it tried to expand too quickly.

With that in mind, Mr. Berkman has focused on keeping costs low and will
roll out the power-line service slowly. "Looking at the lessons we learned
in the whole telecom boom and bust, we have to be conservative and drive the
cash flow," he says of the investment. "We don't do this often, we do this
every five or 10 years."

Write to Ken Brown at 1

Mr. Berkman says his group has already had discussions about bundling its
services, and plans to offer Internet phone service and either video on
demand or videogames by the third quarter of this year. He adds that in
many
places that theoretically can get high-speed access the quality is poor.
Cinergy and Current, which tested their offering on 100 homes in the
Cincinnati area, say they will target areas where broadband connections
are
spotty and hope to sign up 20% of homes they pass.
==============================
Wonder if there are any radio amateurs (hams) in the Cincinetti area where
the system was 'tested'
And if so ,whether they have reported any interference resulting from BPL. I
am sure ARRL will be happy to hear from them.

Let's wait and see.

Here in the UK ,it has gone quiet re PLT = Power Line Transmission (BPL).
In rural areas where telephone exhanges have not as yet been prepared for
ADSL ,people can register their interest in ADSL on the Web.
As soon as a trigger level ,set by British Telecom, has been reached ,
broadband facilities will be installed.
In my telephone area (covering a maximum of 1000 phone connections) the
trigger level is 150 ,whereas to date only 51 have
registered...................So I might enjoy broadband comms during 'after
life' ).
However the 'absence of PLT ' (a blessing) will most definitely make me
stick with ham radio.

Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH

Frank Dinger wrote:
Mr. Berkman says his group has already had discussions about bundling its
services, and plans to offer Internet phone service and either video on
demand or videogames by the third quarter of this year. He adds that in

many

places that theoretically can get high-speed access the quality is poor.
Cinergy and Current, which tested their offering on 100 homes in the
Cincinnati area, say they will target areas where broadband connections

are

spotty and hope to sign up 20% of homes they pass.

==============================
Wonder if there are any radio amateurs (hams) in the Cincinetti area where
the system was 'tested'
And if so ,whether they have reported any interference resulting from BPL. I
am sure ARRL will be happy to hear from them.

Let's wait and see.

Here in the UK ,it has gone quiet re PLT = Power Line Transmission (BPL).
In rural areas where telephone exhanges have not as yet been prepared for
ADSL ,people can register their interest in ADSL on the Web.
As soon as a trigger level ,set by British Telecom, has been reached ,
broadband facilities will be installed.
In my telephone area (covering a maximum of 1000 phone connections) the
trigger level is 150 ,whereas to date only 51 have
registered...................So I might enjoy broadband comms during 'after
life' ).
However the 'absence of PLT ' (a blessing) will most definitely make me
stick with ham radio.

Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH



OK Hams in Cincy. When you can't hear anything because the band is full
of BPL crap fire up your linears and rotate your beams toward the noise,
then call CQ all night. The BPL people will find their internet not
working because of the 'QRM' and there ain't a thing they can legally do
about it! When the customers demand their money back maybe the power
companies will call the experiment a failure.

OK Hams in Cincy. When you can't hear anything because the band is full
of BPL crap fire up your linears and rotate your beams toward the noise,
then call CQ all night. The BPL people will find their internet not
working because of the 'QRM' and there ain't a thing they can legally do
about it!

Yeah, but...

Remember, this is a country where the majority
rules, and laws can be changed. Hams are a
minority.

This is a very serious issue, and could spell the
end of our hobby. I sincerely hope not.

73, John - K6QQ

OK Hams in Cincy. When you can't hear anything because the band is full
of BPL crap fire up your linears and rotate your beams toward the noise,
then call CQ all night. The BPL people will find their internet not
working because of the 'QRM' and there ain't a thing they can legally do
about it!

Yeah, but...

Remember, this is a country where the majority
rules, and laws can be changed. Hams are a
minority.

This is a very serious issue, and could spell the
end of our hobby. I sincerely hope not.

73, John - K6QQ

OK Hams in Cincy. When you can't hear anything because the band is full
of BPL crap fire up your linears and rotate your beams toward the noise,
then call CQ all night. The BPL people will find their internet not
working because of the 'QRM' and there ain't a thing they can legally do
about it! When the customers demand their money back maybe the power
companies will call the experiment a failure.

My reaction (below) to the "QRM solution" (quoted above) was previously
posted on QRZ.net.

This is not a suggested course of action.


The power companies know all about the Part 15 rules. They will never
attempt to prosecute you or harass you via the FCC or Federal Courts.

You WILL find yourself in a LOCAL court room, before a LOCAL judge, and
a LOCAL District Attorney. You will be prosecuted as a “Public
Nuisance" under the same laws used to protect the public from dogs
running at large, kids who squeel their car tires, and people who leave
piles of garbage laying about.

The judge will likely issue a "cease and desist" order. If you ignore
it, and fire up your rig anew, the LOCAL sherriff will be ordered to
take possesion of your equipment and probably take down your antennas
(at your expence), as well.

You can appeal these actions ... and you will very likely win your case
on appeal. But, only after two or more years of gut wrenching
legalistics and an expenditure reaching the $100,000 range ... probably
several hunderd thousand dollars. Each and every ham like you, will
likely have to fight this same battle, over, and over again ... for
himself, by himself, in each and every jurisdiction. The ARRL doesn't
have the money or staff to help you.

If you think its not possible, ask the guys from New York, who were
prosecuted under the "scanner laws", if their rigs have been returned to
them, yet. They won their cases.

You're going to get BPL, in one form or another. The reasons have
nothing to do with an advance in technology. They have everything to do
with MONEY and POLITICS. You're going to get BPL. And, quite frankly,
you deserve it.

The FCC, The US Congress, The US Court systems ... are the very best
that MONEY can buy. The Commissioners of the FCC are NOT technologists
.... they are bookkeepres, accountants, would-be/failed politicians (or,
their sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters), and lobbyists. They are
NOT your "friends-in-high-places". They've been bought and paid for.
They "take the king's coin, and do his bidding".

Why? You, Amateur Radio as a group, are mostly old, mostly fat, selfish,
lazy ....and, you don't VOTE regularly and knowledgeably. When you do
vote, it is on issues having little to do with your own self interest,
your community, or your hobby.

At present, the FCC records some 900,000 licences for the Amateur
service. Of these, at least 15% are dead people. That leaves about
800,000 "living" hams. Of those, less than 20 % vote regularly. So,
you have a total influence with the US Congress of aproximately 160,000
votes .... scattered across 450 odd districts. Not much for political
"Clout".

You are selfish. Your promote your hobby as an exclusionary fraternity.
You are NOT, at this date, an inclusive, accepting, welcoming union
of like minded and interested individuals. Rather, you link your hobby
to additional exclusionary protocols ... religious belief (I throw
"morse" and Christianity in the same pot), sexual orientation (or just
gender), language, race, and social origin. If you doubt me, you
haven't been listening to much of the chatter on 20 and 75 meter SSB.
On my local 2 meter repeater, there are "extras" who won't even chat
with a "no-code tech" or "queer CB'er". Heaven help you if they hear
you practicing your Spanish with someone from Cuba.

What the hobby needs to force a repeal/reconsideration of BPL is an
infussion of about 10 million kids each of whom has 2 parents and 4
grand-parents ... all of voting age. 60 million votes ... thats CLOUT!

But, given the history of such things as 'Incentive Licensing", the
"Save Eleven" fiasco, and the religious "Rite of Morse", there is little
chance of seeing any such infusion before the entire hobby is history.

You are going to get BPL!

In short, don't invest in a new Icom rig, or that fantastiic Orion.
Instead, buy fishing gear ... find a new hobby, 'cuz this one is all but
dead.

Harv Nelson, AI9NL
Washburn, WI

On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 09:16:59 -0600, Harv nelson stood up and said:

The power companies know all about the Part 15 rules. They will never
attempt to prosecute you or harass you via the FCC or Federal Courts.

You WILL find yourself in a LOCAL court room, before a LOCAL judge, and
a LOCAL District Attorney. You will be prosecuted as a ?Public
Nuisance" under the same laws used to protect the public from dogs
running at large, kids who squeel their car tires, and people who leave
piles of garbage laying about.

The judge will likely issue a "cease and desist" order. If you ignore
it, and fire up your rig anew, the LOCAL sherriff will be ordered to
take possesion of your equipment and probably take down your antennas
(at your expence), as well.

You can appeal these actions ... and you will very likely win your case
on appeal. But, only after two or more years of gut wrenching
legalistics and an expenditure reaching the $100,000 range ... probably
several hunderd thousand dollars. Each and every ham like you, will
likely have to fight this same battle, over, and over again ... for
himself, by himself, in each and every jurisdiction. The ARRL doesn't
have the money or staff to help you.

If you think its not possible, ask the guys from New York, who were
prosecuted under the "scanner laws", if their rigs have been returned to
them, yet. They won their cases.

You're going to get BPL, in one form or another. The reasons have
nothing to do with an advance in technology. They have everything to do
with MONEY and POLITICS. You're going to get BPL. And, quite frankly,
you deserve it.

The FCC, The US Congress, The US Court systems ... are the very best
that MONEY can buy. The Commissioners of the FCC are NOT technologists
... they are bookkeepres, accountants, would-be/failed politicians (or,
their sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters), and lobbyists. They are
NOT your "friends-in-high-places". They've been bought and paid for.
They "take the king's coin, and do his bidding".

Why? You, Amateur Radio as a group, are mostly old, mostly fat, selfish,
lazy ....and, you don't VOTE regularly and knowledgeably. When you do
vote, it is on issues having little to do with your own self interest,
your community, or your hobby.

At present, the FCC records some 900,000 licences for the Amateur
service. Of these, at least 15% are dead people. That leaves about
800,000 "living" hams. Of those, less than 20 % vote regularly. So,
you have a total influence with the US Congress of aproximately 160,000
votes .... scattered across 450 odd districts. Not much for political
"Clout".

You are selfish. Your promote your hobby as an exclusionary fraternity.
You are NOT, at this date, an inclusive, accepting, welcoming union
of like minded and interested individuals. Rather, you link your hobby
to additional exclusionary protocols ... religious belief (I throw
"morse" and Christianity in the same pot), sexual orientation (or just
gender), language, race, and social origin. If you doubt me, you
haven't been listening to much of the chatter on 20 and 75 meter SSB.
On my local 2 meter repeater, there are "extras" who won't even chat
with a "no-code tech" or "queer CB'er". Heaven help you if they hear
you practicing your Spanish with someone from Cuba.

What the hobby needs to force a repeal/reconsideration of BPL is an
infussion of about 10 million kids each of whom has 2 parents and 4
grand-parents ... all of voting age. 60 million votes ... thats CLOUT!

But, given the history of such things as 'Incentive Licensing", the
"Save Eleven" fiasco, and the religious "Rite of Morse", there is little
chance of seeing any such infusion before the entire hobby is history.

You are going to get BPL!

In short, don't invest in a new Icom rig, or that fantastiic Orion.
Instead, buy fishing gear ... find a new hobby, 'cuz this one is all but
dead.

Harv Nelson, AI9NL
Washburn, WI

Hammer, meet the head of nail. Nice job.

On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 09:16:59 -0600, Harv nelson stood up and said:

The power companies know all about the Part 15 rules. They will never
attempt to prosecute you or harass you via the FCC or Federal Courts.

You WILL find yourself in a LOCAL court room, before a LOCAL judge, and
a LOCAL District Attorney. You will be prosecuted as a ?Public
Nuisance" under the same laws used to protect the public from dogs
running at large, kids who squeel their car tires, and people who leave
piles of garbage laying about.

The judge will likely issue a "cease and desist" order. If you ignore
it, and fire up your rig anew, the LOCAL sherriff will be ordered to
take possesion of your equipment and probably take down your antennas
(at your expence), as well.

You can appeal these actions ... and you will very likely win your case
on appeal. But, only after two or more years of gut wrenching
legalistics and an expenditure reaching the $100,000 range ... probably
several hunderd thousand dollars. Each and every ham like you, will
likely have to fight this same battle, over, and over again ... for
himself, by himself, in each and every jurisdiction. The ARRL doesn't
have the money or staff to help you.

If you think its not possible, ask the guys from New York, who were
prosecuted under the "scanner laws", if their rigs have been returned to
them, yet. They won their cases.

You're going to get BPL, in one form or another. The reasons have
nothing to do with an advance in technology. They have everything to do
with MONEY and POLITICS. You're going to get BPL. And, quite frankly,
you deserve it.

The FCC, The US Congress, The US Court systems ... are the very best
that MONEY can buy. The Commissioners of the FCC are NOT technologists
... they are bookkeepres, accountants, would-be/failed politicians (or,
their sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters), and lobbyists. They are
NOT your "friends-in-high-places". They've been bought and paid for.
They "take the king's coin, and do his bidding".

Why? You, Amateur Radio as a group, are mostly old, mostly fat, selfish,
lazy ....and, you don't VOTE regularly and knowledgeably. When you do
vote, it is on issues having little to do with your own self interest,
your community, or your hobby.

At present, the FCC records some 900,000 licences for the Amateur
service. Of these, at least 15% are dead people. That leaves about
800,000 "living" hams. Of those, less than 20 % vote regularly. So,
you have a total influence with the US Congress of aproximately 160,000
votes .... scattered across 450 odd districts. Not much for political
"Clout".

You are selfish. Your promote your hobby as an exclusionary fraternity.
You are NOT, at this date, an inclusive, accepting, welcoming union
of like minded and interested individuals. Rather, you link your hobby
to additional exclusionary protocols ... religious belief (I throw
"morse" and Christianity in the same pot), sexual orientation (or just
gender), language, race, and social origin. If you doubt me, you
haven't been listening to much of the chatter on 20 and 75 meter SSB.
On my local 2 meter repeater, there are "extras" who won't even chat
with a "no-code tech" or "queer CB'er". Heaven help you if they hear
you practicing your Spanish with someone from Cuba.

What the hobby needs to force a repeal/reconsideration of BPL is an
infussion of about 10 million kids each of whom has 2 parents and 4
grand-parents ... all of voting age. 60 million votes ... thats CLOUT!

But, given the history of such things as 'Incentive Licensing", the
"Save Eleven" fiasco, and the religious "Rite of Morse", there is little
chance of seeing any such infusion before the entire hobby is history.

You are going to get BPL!

In short, don't invest in a new Icom rig, or that fantastiic Orion.
Instead, buy fishing gear ... find a new hobby, 'cuz this one is all but
dead.

Harv Nelson, AI9NL
Washburn, WI

Hammer, meet the head of nail. Nice job.

Harv nelson wrote:

OK Hams in Cincy. When you can't hear anything because the band is
full of BPL crap fire up your linears and rotate your beams toward the
noise, then call CQ all night. The BPL people will find their
internet not working because of the 'QRM' and there ain't a thing they
can legally do about it! When the customers demand their money back
maybe the power companies will call the experiment a failure.


My reaction (below) to the "QRM solution" (quoted above) was previously
posted on QRZ.net.

This is not a suggested course of action.

The FCC regulations do require us to use the minimum amount of power to
get the job done. Is trying to overcome QRN a good reason to switch to
high power? I think the FCC regs would support that. I'm sure that if
we just operate as we normally do, perhaps switch to high power if
necessary (but still remain within the law as far as all requirements
apply) we are not anymore a Public Nuisance than we ever were. It's
like the guy who moved next door to an airport and then complains about
the noise. He KNEW the airport was there. Same here, the BPL providers
KNEW about part 15, they just have to live with it.

The power companies know all about the Part 15 rules. They will never
attempt to prosecute you or harass you via the FCC or Federal Courts.

You WILL find yourself in a LOCAL court room, before a LOCAL judge, and
a LOCAL District Attorney. You will be prosecuted as a “Public
Nuisance" under the same laws used to protect the public from dogs
running at large, kids who squeel their car tires, and people who leave
piles of garbage laying about.

The judge will likely issue a "cease and desist" order. If you ignore
it, and fire up your rig anew, the LOCAL sherriff will be ordered to
take possesion of your equipment and probably take down your antennas
(at your expence), as well.

A good attorney would point out that federal law trumps local law.
There is probably enough prior cases dealing with TVI to act as such a
defense.

You can appeal these actions ... and you will very likely win your case
on appeal. But, only after two or more years of gut wrenching
legalistics and an expenditure reaching the $100,000 range ... probably
several hunderd thousand dollars. Each and every ham like you, will
likely have to fight this same battle, over, and over again ... for
himself, by himself, in each and every jurisdiction. The ARRL doesn't
have the money or staff to help you.

If you think its not possible, ask the guys from New York, who were
prosecuted under the "scanner laws", if their rigs have been returned to
them, yet. They won their cases.

As for the rest of your comments, I suppose you have made up your mind
and have burned your license, framed the ashes, and sold your radio gear
to the CB'er next door. I think there IS hope for the hobby, attitudes
about Morse are changing, the old farts in the ARRL being replaced by
younger blood. I personally think SOME way of keeping CW from totally
disapearing is needed, just to keep the diversity alive. It IS time for
a CW free HF license with mainline privilages. Keep the Extra class cw
bands exclusive, we can afford setting aside 25khz on several bands for
this. Keep some segments of all bands reserved for CW and other 'narrow
bandwith' modes, according to their usage. The ARRL's new band plans at
least sound like a start toward making ham radio more accessable to
everyone. BUT some sort of work IS needed to get a license, or we will
be left with nothing but the kaos that CB became. (If you don't put
some effort into getting yourself license, will you have enough pride in
it to respect it?)

As for BPL, I think in a decade it will be nothing but a memory, killed
off by better technology. Some of the power companies that are getting
into the broadband business are doing so by opening up their own
networks (which are fiber and rf based) to their end customers. The
term BPL in this case refers NOT to the method of delivery, but to the
provider. The power companies use a network to control power loading
transfering data between distribution points.

You're going to get BPL, in one form or another. The reasons have
nothing to do with an advance in technology. They have everything to do
with MONEY and POLITICS. You're going to get BPL. And, quite frankly,
you deserve it.

The FCC, The US Congress, The US Court systems ... are the very best
that MONEY can buy. The Commissioners of the FCC are NOT technologists
... they are bookkeepres, accountants, would-be/failed politicians (or,
their sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters), and lobbyists. They are
NOT your "friends-in-high-places". They've been bought and paid for.
They "take the king's coin, and do his bidding".

Why? You, Amateur Radio as a group, are mostly old, mostly fat, selfish,
lazy ....and, you don't VOTE regularly and knowledgeably. When you do
vote, it is on issues having little to do with your own self interest,
your community, or your hobby.

At present, the FCC records some 900,000 licences for the Amateur
service. Of these, at least 15% are dead people. That leaves about
800,000 "living" hams. Of those, less than 20 % vote regularly. So,
you have a total influence with the US Congress of aproximately 160,000
votes .... scattered across 450 odd districts. Not much for political
"Clout".

You are selfish. Your promote your hobby as an exclusionary fraternity.
You are NOT, at this date, an inclusive, accepting, welcoming union of
like minded and interested individuals. Rather, you link your hobby to
additional exclusionary protocols ... religious belief (I throw "morse"
and Christianity in the same pot), sexual orientation (or just gender),
language, race, and social origin. If you doubt me, you haven't been
listening to much of the chatter on 20 and 75 meter SSB. On my local 2
meter repeater, there are "extras" who won't even chat with a "no-code
tech" or "queer CB'er". Heaven help you if they hear you practicing
your Spanish with someone from Cuba.

What the hobby needs to force a repeal/reconsideration of BPL is an
infussion of about 10 million kids each of whom has 2 parents and 4
grand-parents ... all of voting age. 60 million votes ... thats CLOUT!

But, given the history of such things as 'Incentive Licensing", the
"Save Eleven" fiasco, and the religious "Rite of Morse", there is little
chance of seeing any such infusion before the entire hobby is history.

You are going to get BPL!

In short, don't invest in a new Icom rig, or that fantastiic Orion.
Instead, buy fishing gear ... find a new hobby, 'cuz this one is all but
dead.

Harv Nelson, AI9NL
Washburn, WI

On Sat, 06 Mar 2004 19:15:02 +0000, Ken Scharf stood up and said:

As for the rest of your comments, I suppose you have made up your mind
and have burned your license, framed the ashes, and sold your radio gear
to the CB'er next door.

I think you missed the point of his post. It is an editorial on the
state of the hobby and I think it drives home the current attitudes many
(no all, of course) hams have towards the proposed changes the ARRL are
supporting. It's really human nature; many people are resistant to
change for variety of reasons and sometimes it takes a long, hard look
in the mirror to see how silly this resistance is. The point being, if
one insists on "living in the past", then their is no future. This
applies to everything, not just amateur radio.

And I don't think the original poster has burned his license. He's
probably doing more than you or I to save the hobby by shoving the
egocentrism that many hams exhibit right back in their face. And for
the record, I don't think the ARRL went far enough in their
recommendations. I believe their should only be two licenses: a
beginners with VHF/UHF access and limited HF access, and a "general"
license with full privileges and no CW required. Before you (or anybody
else) flame me for this, note that I do know CW. The only reason I
learned it was to get HF privileges. I maybe had 3 or 4 QSOs using CW
but it's not for me. I find other digital modes like PSK31 to be more
fun. But that's just me.