Newington, CT, Aug 12, 2004

The Cincinnati area's Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) Amateur Radio team
won't ramp up its activities until Cinergy Corp rolls out its BPL system
over a broader area than that of typical BPL field trials to date. ARRL Ohio
Section Manager Joe Phillips, K8QOE, says the group--headed by Kirk Swallow,
W8QID--initially will study the impact of Cinergy's BPL deployment in two
neighborhoods--Hyde Park and Mount Lookout.

A typical BPL "extractor." The antenna attached to the box is for a 2.4 GHz
wireless local area network "hot spot" to make the broadband connection
available to subscribers.

"We're not all that geared up, because Cinergy has not established much of a
BPL footprint yet," Phillips explained. "We want to see what happens when
they do the buildout. That will be the definitive factor."

At this point, Phillips said, the team has seen no formal complaints of
interference--just "some reports." But when complaints do start showing up,
"I want ham radio to look credible," he emphasized. "Any interference
complaints will be valid." Phillips says the BPL team--a subcommittee of the
Greater Cincinnati Local Interference Committee--aims to gather solid
engineering data on any BPL interference cases.

"I have this recurring dream that one of these days we'll walk into Cinergy,
we'll have data they can't get from their BPL partners and they'll walk away
from it saying it's not worth it," Phillips said, noting that utilities are
"very PR conscious." An August 10 article in the Cincinnati Enquirer cites
"a flurry of concern among ham radio operators" and quotes Cinergy and its
partner Current Communications Group as saying that Amateur Radio operators'
interference fears "are unfounded."

That assertion flies in the face of the growing number of BPL-related
interference reports being tracked by ARRL.

Phillips, who's also mentioned in the Enquirer article, predicts the
"massive antenna" system that will result from Cinergy's planned widespread
deployment will raise the noise floor to undesirable levels. "We're not
interested in having them fix every little thing," he said, referring to the
sorts of "interference mitigation" techniques BPL providers have used to
date, such as notching of amateur frequencies. "We are interested in seeing
them do what FCC Part 15 rules require--not cause interference to licensed
spectrum users."

Phillips also praised the Cincinnati Enquirer for soliciting Amateur Radio's
perspective in the BPL controversy. "We don't have to seek it out," he said.
"We're now a permanent part of the debate."

The BPL rollout--the most extensive announced to date in the US--initially
will make broadband service available to some 8000 customers. ACcess
Broadband LLC--a joint venture formed by Cinergy Broadband and Current--also
is marketing BPL to municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives.
While Cinergy isn't saying publicly, it's estimated that 1000 or more
customers already have signed up for the service, which starts at $29.95 a
month.

Phillips said he's in the process of contacting all amateur licensees in the
affected neighborhoods--some five or six dozen in all--to enlist their
cooperation with the BPL team. He also says he's interested in knowing what
they might have received from ACcess Broadband in terms of solicitations. He
says the company has been using direct-mail advertising so far.

Cinergy eventually hopes to have up to 55,000 subscribers on board by the
end of its first year. Plans call for expanding BPL service to Northern
Kentucky and to the remainder of the utility's Southwest Ohio service area
next year.

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/08/12/3/?nc=1