The information below arrived just arrived in the middle of the The ARRL
Letter, Vol. 23, No. 28. It contains exactly the information I suggested
be disseminated. Since not everyone gets these, or remembers what's in
them, having a section of the new anti-BPL web site that lists each of
these teams the BPL sites they are monitoring would facilitate
communication between the teams, as well as enabling the broader amateur
community to stay abreast of the effort.
73,
Dave, AA6YQ
==>OHIO ARRL SECTION MANAGER ANNOUNCES BPL TEAM ORGANIZATION
Amateur Radio operators in the Cincinnati area are organizing a
Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) team to monitor a planned BPL
deployment. In announcing the move, ARRL Ohio Section Manager Joe
Phillips, K8QOE, says the group will study the effects of a BPL rollout
in two neighborhoods by utility Cinergy Corp. The new group, consisting
of a half dozen engineering professionals and some 20 others, will
operate as a subcommittee of the Greater Cincinnati Local Interference
Committee (LIC). Kirk Swallow, W8QID, will head the BPL/LIC effort.
"Kirk has been operations manager for several electronics cellular and
satellite firms," said Phillips, "and his experience with directing
professional engineers makes him well qualified to handle this
assignment." Phillips says the Greater Cincinnati LIC has a long and
successful record of handling repeater interference problems. "This BPL
problem, however, represents new and special challenges in interfering
with the spectrum," he added.
In March, articles in The Wall Street Journal and the Cincinnati
Enquirer announced the BPL rollout by Cinergy and its BPL partner
Current Technologies. Cinergy and Current said they hoped to offer the
service to between 60,000 and 1.5 million Cincinnati-area customers by
year's end and eventually to some 24 million potential customers
elsewhere who are served by smaller utilities. Cinergy has been charging
$40 a month for BPL service, but Philips says many current subscribers
are utility employees who get the service at no cost.
The new BPL/LIC team will work with Phillips and ARRL Great Lakes
Division Director Jim Weaver, K8JE, to serve as a clearing house for BPL
suggestions, comments and information from the Amateur Radio community.
"We in Cincinnati are getting lots of calls and notes from all sections
of the US, as this city has the biggest BPL offering from the largest
utility," Phillips noted. The team also will cooperate with the ARRL
Laboratory to monitor and investigate BPL in the affected area using
"the highest professional standards," Phillips said.
Phillips said being able to produce "credible" technical data and
information is key to any effort to convince Cinergy of BPL's harmful
interference potential and that the technology won't boost the company's
bottom line. Several technical companies in the area already have
offered the BPL/LIC team the use of state-of-the-art spectrum
measurement equipment, he said.
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