"Ryan, KC8PMX" wrote in message ...
Fortunately Charter around here is somewhat ameanable (sp.?) to repairing
their systems, but it is a challenge still. Consumers Energy around here is
next to impossible to deal with though.

As Carl points out, burying the distribution doesn't solve the BPL
problem. The whole idea is to deliver the BPL signal to every outlet
in your house - and your garage, and your neighbors' houses, and the
street lights...

I am still a strong proponent to
buried power lines as opposed to powerlines on poles.

There are pros and cons to aerial vs. underground utilities.

Except in dense areas like the downtowns of cities where the cost of
duct lines is comparable to that of poles, the installation cost of
aerial is much lower.

Although immune to most weather problems, buried utilities are subject
to flooding. They are also not immune to lightning.

Buried electric power distribution is less efficient than aerial. This
effect increases with voltage and distance, too. Burying the drop from
the road to your house isn't an efficiency problem, but burying miles
of medium and high voltage stuff *is*.

The net effect of burying a significant part of the aerial network
would be to require the construction of many new generating facilities
(and their pollution, etc.) to make up for the losses of the
underground network. A real triple whammy - higher first cost of the
line, lots of new plants to build and pay for, and higher overall
operating cost.

And buried lines make our antennas stick out that much more ;-)

73 de Jim, N2EY