Access BPL poses a threat for all radio amateurs working HF through
incidental RF radiation on HF and low VHF. That is national and will
affect the majority of radio amateurs and other citizens making up
about 96 percent of the USA population, those who live in urban and
suburban residential areas.

Radio amateurs have several choices, all free, no obligations to do
anything -

1. Do nothing, let someone else do the talking...such as the ARRL.

2. Make your comments known directly to the FCC on NPRM
04-29 via the ECFS. Do it doubly, on that and on ET Docket
04-37; 04-37 has the first document as the NPRM itself.

3. Sit in here and bitch and whine and snarl at others and make
noises about "big money intrests" and "we are all doomed" and
other excuses for not doing anything.

The FCC does NOT run any BPL system. It can't unless there is
Congressional legislation made that allows them to that. Right now,
all the FCC can do is to establish INCIDENTAL RF RADIATION
limits on Access BPL systems. The FCC can regulate that and
does so now on many electronic devices.

NPRM 04-29 as proposed does NOT allow any incidental RF
radiation beyond that already established in Part 15, Title 47 C.F.R.
If you don't know what that means, you can get a free download of
Part 15 from the GPO link on the FCC website. If you don't know
what that means, ask someone who does for an education in the
subject. Whether realizing it or not, everyone is living with those
Part 15 incidental RF radiation limits right now.

The FCC cannot do anything against any Access BPL system
except regulate that incidental RF. The FCC can't stop a system
from being installed, can't halt planning, or anything else. What
you CAN do is make sure the Part 15 limits REMAIN AS THEY
ARE. LOWER the limits for less HF noise if you can...but know
what you are talking about when you request that.

Nobody is going to stop BPL. It is there. It can be there. What
CAN be done is to demand stringent measurement and enforcement
rules on incidental RF radiation. Make it tough enough to force the
Access BPL proponents to spend money and effort on PROOF of
PERFORMANCE of the eventual huge antenna array of an
installed Access BPL system. You can force the enactment of
regulations that might make BPL proponents think twice about
installing one.

No Access BPL system is running KiloWatts of power into those
power lines. It iis relatively low level. But, the enormous length
and breadth of the electric power distribution network already there
can be a gigantic antenna larger than any that has existed in radio
at any time. While those power lines work fine at 60 cycles, every
discontinuity in those lines, every amplifier along the way, every
coupling device, is a potential point-source for incidental RF radiation
from about 4 to 80 MHz. All those potential radiation points will add
to the HF and low VHF RF radiation. In an area of 50,000 population
there may be 10,000 possibilities for incidental RF radiation, not just
in the Access BPL equipment but every single power line splice and
change in wire spacing. All of those things ADD RF noise power to
the interference field stretching to many square miles.

It is the task of the FCC to HOLD DOWN the incidental RF radiation
levels and KEEP them down. You have to tell them that.

The ARRL can't do it alone. They are only one special interest group
competing with MANY special interest groups, most of whom are
Access BPL proponents. The FCC does listen to CITIZENS. It must
since that is the law. The FCC WILL "listen" to you via the ECFS
as a CITIZEN of the USA.

You aren't going to win many points babbling pseudo-patriotic stuff
about "amateur radio vital to Homeland Security and for emergencies."
The FCC knows damn well that hams are basically hobbyists having
fun with radios. They've known that for a long time. Don't kid yourself
differently or to others. We are all CITIZENS. All citizens are vital to
this nation. ALL deserve to be heard. Make yourself heard and
you WILL be listened to.

Your choice on what to do. I've made my Comment to the FCC on
NPRM 04-29. Will any of you do the same?

LHA