Well said, Rob. The main thing is to stick with the facts. We
have a very good case to make. The BPL proponents DO
NOT. That is why they have had to resort to making up
phony-bologna science to support their otherwise
unsupportable position. In their bologna world, unshielded
wires don't radiate, line sources are point sources, and all
claims of interference are "unsupported". It's apparent from
the NPRM that the commissioners are drinking the same
cool-aid. Sending in comments probably won't change that.
It will, however, create in the public record, a body of irrefutable
evidence that the commissioners were put on notice that what
they and their BPL buddies were up to was contrary to sound
science and engineering. This could prove useful when this
BPL fiasco starts to blow up in their faces, which I believe is
a very likely outcome.
What we don't want to do is give the BPL lobby ammunition
to use against us. One commenter (the publisher of
a prominent amateur radio magazine - not ARRL) tried to
argue that BPL deployment could be a RF exposure public
health risk. In my opinion this is one of the things David
Sumner had in mind when he admonished people to make
"thoughtful, considered" comments. BPL modems run a total
RF power of at most a few hundred milliwatts. We can run
1500 watts!!! IMHO, this was not a good argument to make
(kind of like the pot calling the kettle black).
There are a multitude of valid criticisms concerns with BPL
technology, so there is no need to grasp at straws. Like Rob
suggests, pick an area where you are knowledgeable and
concentrate on that. If you're not sure about the validity of
your arguments, ask a friend or perhaps some folks on the
reflector to review your comments before you submit them.
Finally all kidding about ham protests at Hara arena aside,
writing the president and your elected representatives is
an excellent idea (I need to do this). There is information
on the ARRL website about doing just that:
http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/cta/
73 de Mike, W4EF.......................................
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob Atkinson, K5UJ" <k5uj@hotmail.com>
To: <rfi@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 4:17 PM
Subject: [RFI] BPL Protest Opportunity? Give up? NO!
> Hi Cliff,
>
> <<<That's why I didn't post a comment.
> I was afraid I would get flamed because someone didn't approve of my
> comment or it wasn't "thoughtful" enough for some self appointed
> "expert". I did write to both my senators, my congressman, and my
president.
> Those letters are private and at least I won't have to listen to some
> crabby old so and so with nothing better to
> than criticize me for what I said in a comment to the FCC.
> BPL has become the best thing since code vrs no code for the crowd that
> lives to bitch and complain.>>>
>
> I took "thoughtful and reasoned" to mean avoiding profanity, name calling
> and unsupported blanket statements. Avoid: "You idiots have done it this
> time. BPL is a disaster waiting to happen. Your's truly, Joe Ham" But
at
> the same time, whatever you write doesn't have to be the most profound,
> brilliant prose anyone has ever seen either. Just calmly say what you
think
> in plain language writing about what you know about. For example, I
> described my own situation, with my horiz. loop being near enough to a
power
> line traversing my yard, to be certain to pick up RFI. Why is this
> important? Because taken collectively, this together with other comments
> builds mounting evidence that among other things, the FCC's assumptions
> about amateur radio stations, that they can orient their antennas to
> minimize interference pickup, is flawed. You don't have to weigh in with
a
> tome that covers every single aspect of the NPRM as if you are the only
one
> writing. Keep thinking that your comment, no matter how small, will add
> something to the entire body of comments that will be taken as a whole.
If
> someone tells you you wrote something dumb tell them to <insert colorful
> phrase here>. Tnx for writing elected officials--my next task!
>
> 73,
> Rob/K5UJ
>
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