March 2004 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[ARRL-ODV:10385] DSL Reports: Broadband Fool's Gold
by dick＠pobox.com 31 Mar '04

31 Mar '04

31 MAR, 2004 - 1705 CST I am an infrequent visitor to the DSL Reports website, so I found this time yesterday. It's a pretty good description of the technical and economic issues with BPL. 73 - Dick, W9GIG ========================================================================== Posted on DSL Reports at: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/41546 <http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/41546>Broadband Fool's Gold <http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/41546>Editorial: 'Great broadband hope' it's not... Written by Anthony Good, K3NG Broadband over power-lines (BPL) has been hailed as the "great broadband hope" by FCC commissioner Powell, who believes it will usher in a new age of competition. Others lean on world-wide trial failures as evidence the technology is doomed-for-obsolescence; during its run bringing plenty of trouble (and interference) to areas contemplating the option. BPL is a system that is being tested to provide broadband Internet service via power lines to power outlets in homes and is a last mile technology. The system uses radio frequencies that will radiate into the air and cause interference to several licensed communications services including Amateur Radio. The frequencies BPL uses in general is 1 to 80 megahertz (MHz). Of particular interest is the band of frequencies known as HF, which is 1 to 30 MHz . This part of the radio spectrum has very special properties not found elsewhere. With this band, one can communicate around the world with very minute power levels. This is due to the fact that radio waves in this band can bounce off the ionosphere multiple times to get to a faraway destination. Other portions of the radio spectrum, like that used by 802.11 wireless LANs, are essentially line-of-sight. This means that the signals cannot bend or bounce off the ionosphere, but they can only propagate like light in a straight line and shorter distances. The medium of BPL, the power line cable, unlike other broadband mediums such as copper twisted pair, fiber, and coaxial cable, is inherently unsuited for carrying the frequencies BPL uses. Power lines, twisted pair, and coaxial cable all act like natural low pass filters, meaning higher frequencies are attenuated more than lower frequencies when attempting to transmit them through the medium. The exact slope of the graph of attenuation depends on the specific construction of the material, but in general, twisted pair is suitable up to 100 MHz and coaxial cable can go up to about 3 GHz. Power lines are suitable for up to perhaps 350 kHz or so. The exact figure will vary and is unimportant for this discussion, but note that this is kilohertz, not megahertz or gigahertz. The medium of BPL is simply not suited for broadband data. The other property of the medium chosen for BPL is its radiating capability. Unlike all other broadband mediums, power lines are excellent radiators of the frequencies BPL uses. Copper twisted pair, coaxial cable, and fiber are all inherently non-radiating self-shielded mediums. Powerlines act like a natural antenna and lose the BPL signal out into the air. The resulting interference can vary from a noticeable noise to a deafening roar on radio equipment which drowns out all communications. BPL has been tested and deployed on a limited basis in other countries and was rejected in some places due to interference issues. BPL vendors may claim new technology and advances have now made it possible, but the fact is they cant change the laws of physics. High speed data must occupy a certain amount of bandwidth and power lines which were designed to operate at 60 hertz will radiate radio frequency energy that is applied to them. Only changing power line construction (i.e. coaxial cable) would eliminate this radiation. BPL proponents reject this as being too costly, but that would be the cost to make this a real viable technology. Users of the affected radio spectrum cannot be relocated, or at least not economically or in a timely manner. All of the services that use HF bands require the characteristics that only HF spectrum exhibits. There would also be huge international treaty implications with any relocation. Relocating government and military services alone would take years as the FCC would have to structure a migration plan. Chances are it would be ten years before this could be completed and its likely that power companies will have run fiber to the home or DSL and cable will finally be ubiquitous. Perhaps the largest issue to tackle though is where to move these services in what is an already overcrowded spectrum. If it was determined that relocation was the way to go, this would be very irresponsible as HF radio bands are a unique natural resource. No other radio spectrum can provide worldwide communications without any supporting infrastructure. The military (and Amateurs for that matter) have had satellites at their disposal for years, but HF is still in use as it provides unique capabilities that satellites just can't. Internet technologies such as email, streaming media, and instant messaging, or cell phones simply cannot take the place of the wireless infrastructure- free communications capabilities that HF provides. Destroying a large portion of wireless spectrum is not justifiable because it benefits more people. There are many examples of this in society where reallocation of a resource would benefit more people, but it would be detrimental long term to the people and the resource itself. Right now, Amateur frequency allocations belong to the people internationally and can be enjoyed in nearly every country by simply passing a test and getting licensed. Once they are given to a business interest, they cease to be the public's and can only be used as a customer of that business. BPL impacts other groups including government, military, shortwave, aviation, maritime communications, and CBers, so this would have national security and international implications as well. BPL has been linked in some rhetoric with increasing homeland security. BPL in fact takes spectrum away from government agencies directly tasked with protecting the country. To deploy BPL an up front investment must be made in BPL head end / injection point equipment and repeaters -- it's not as simple as FCC Commissioner Powell makes it sound, as if all power lines can immediately be easily lit up. There's going to be significant recurring costs in backhauling the IP traffic from the numerous BPL injection points serving an area. Neither DSL or Cable has this recurring cost or need for multiple network origination points. These costs unique to BPL make it even less attractive for deployment in rural areas that Cable or DSL as customer densities and revenue potential is lower. The scalability of BPL is questionable. Chunks of HF spectrum must be reused between repeater/injection point segments. With customer bandwidth requirements going up, over subscription ratios going down, systems will need to be segmented in a cellular fashion. This exacerbates the interference issue as more frequency chunks are in use in a given area. More avoidance of frequencies will be needed, making less spectrum available for use by BPL. The frequency chunks in use will need to be smaller to enable tighter frequency reuse, and the available bandwidth per injection point will get to a point where it won't be sufficient. BPL is also lacking on the regulatory front. It has no protection from interference from licensed wireless services. This means your BPL provider has no recourse if a licensed wireless station knocks out your BPL service regularly. If BPL interferes with a licensed wireless station, the BPL provider must cease to operate the system if the interference problem cannot be solved. While on the surface one would think that this would inherently protect wireless communications, it places a huge burden on such services to expend time and money identifying and seeking resolution to interference issues. With such a weak regulatory basis and a system that is immediately at odds with incumbent services, why would anyone want to depend on BPL to provide reliable broadband? The FCC recently released Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) 04-29 which attempts to both encourage BPL deployment and address interference concerns. The NPRM basically proposes a national database of BPL systems and some interference mitigation techniques. Neither solve the interference problem. The database hopefully will aid in identifying BPL systems operating in a given area so that interference complaints can be filed more quickly with BPL carriers. While in general this is a good idea, it does little for mobile operations as it's impractical for such operators to research ahead of time before travelling into an area to determine if interference-free operation is possible. The interference mitigation techniques the FCC is proposing comes down to moving interference around in the HF spectrum until no one complains. The problem with this is that it's very difficult to find open space in this spectrum that won't affect anyone. The NTIA alone has over 18,000 frequencies in use. BPL carriers will receive an interference complaint, reconfigure their system to use other frequencies, only to interfere with another service. As BPL systems need more spectrum to feed a growing number of customers, more cells, and an increased demand for bandwidth, this interference avoidance juggling act will become impossible. Radio Amateurs have been the most vocal in defending the radio spectrum, especially in Internet forums. Amateurs do not oppose broadband deployment, and in fact welcome it as most are born techies and use the Internet extensively. Some Amateur applications such as VHF repeater linking systems and position reporting systems actually use the Internet for connectivity and messaging. It is the ill effects of BPL on wireless spectrum which Amateurs vehemently oppose. In summary, power companies should be building for broadband dominance in the coming decades with viable technology such as fiber, not for the next year or two with doomed-for-obsolescence technology. Wireless spectrum should be used for wireless applications, not to accommodate a wired network that pollutes the spectrum. The risk to critical licensed communications services is too great, the technological and regulatory foundation of BPL is too weak, and when compared head-to-head with other technologies, BPL loses on both the business model and technical capability sides. BPL appears glittery, but in reality it's Broadband Fool's Gold. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anthony Good (<http://www.dslreports.com/profile/853568>RF_Engineer) is Director of Systems Engineering at a regional ISP and CLEC and is experienced in RF Engineering in Wireless ISPs (ISM/UNII), Cellular, MMDS/ITFS, licensed point-to-point microwave, and LPTV. He is an Amateur Radio operator and holds an FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License.

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[ARRL-ODV:10383] Re: Fwd: BPL
by Huntington Howard-CADV02 31 Mar '04

31 Mar '04

Seems like history is trying to repeat itself with BPL. Suck in investors to deploy lots of BPL and then discover it does not work and dump it. Howie, K9KM -----Original Message----- From: dick(a)pobox.com [mailto:dick@pobox.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 11:13 AM To: arrl-odv Cc: w1rfi(a)arrl.org; w3kd(a)aol.com Subject: [ARRL-ODV:10378] Fwd: BPL 31 MAR, 2004 - 1100 CST I've know about the extremely large quantity of "dark" fiber optic cable for years. I guess I'm one of the insiders mentioned in the book below as I sold my small stock holding before the bubble burst. Anyhow, for those of you who want to learn more, here is a copy of the email I received earlier today. Please keep in mind this story is primarily about trunk fiber optic cable as opposed to fiber optic cable to each home and business. But it's a start for an alternative to BPL. 73 - Dick, W9GIG ===================================================================== From: w9yz(a)webtv.net (Ron & Milly Williams) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 10:36:29 -0500 (EST) To: W9GIG(a)arrl.org Subject: BPL Message-ID: <9719-406AE57D-143(a)storefull-3291.bay.webtv.net> Content-Disposition: Inline Content-Type: Text/Plain; Charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit MIME-Version: 1.0 (WebTV) Return-Path: w9yz(a)webtv.net Dear Mr. Isely, I believe fiber optics is the place for transmission of data rather than powerlines. A recent book indicates there are vast amounts of unused fiber in existence. Short quotes: "...the world is crisscrossed with fiber that is unlikely to be used for decades... ...cables as thick as a full grown Python lie dormant across the oceans... ...about 80 million miles of optical fiber was installed in the USA in the six years between 1996 and 2001." Much of this was done by companies which by using publicity and tricky accounting sucked millions of investors into buying stock pressing the prices up. Then the insiders dumped their stock, making big profits, and let it die. The name of the book is BROADBANDITS by Om Malik Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc of Hoboken, NJ. ISBN 0-471-43405-1 Mr. Malik goes into detail on the history of this subject. Cable TV in the Indianapolis area has messed up some of our ham repeaters at times due to faulty amplifiers and leaky connectors. The thought of BPL in all neighborhoods suggests the end of ham radio, both from BPL signals raising the noise levels and BPL users receiving unwanted RF from hams and demanding that we be kicked off the air. Please forgive me if everyone already knows the above. If not possibly the book would provide useful information to you and others at ARRL in the efforts to prevent our power lines being used as antennas. 73, Ronald C. Williams, W9YZ Life Member ARRL. Licensed 54 years. Retired owner of Avatar Magnetics. Some of my transformer designs were carried in the parts lists of the power supply chapters of the ARRL handbooks 1984-2000.

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[ARRL-ODV:10382] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 31 Mar '04

31 Mar '04

IN-Newsletter Vol. 27, No.13 March 31, 2004 Upcoming Meeting April 24th in Newington, CT at 8:30am A & F Committee Meeting Development The W1AW Endowment campaign has reached $103,393 from 1397 donors. This does not include the multi-year pledges received for this effort. The average gift remains high at $74.01. The 2004 Defense Fund spillover from 2003 has now reached $63,097 from 886 donors. The average contribution is $71.21, well above the traditional average donation of $45. Plans for the spring solicitation to ARRL members are nearly complete and the mail should go out in mid-April. The semi-annual progress report for the CNCS grant will be submitted on time on March 31. Responses are coming in for the Donor Reception to be held on May 13 in Dayton at the Air Force Museum. The donor list for the Annual Report, for QST (June) and for the web is nearly complete. Media Relations By now, everyone is aware of the Wall Street Journal article on ham radio and BPL, which ran March 23. Jennifer spent a good deal of time responding to members who wrote to ARRL with their comments on the piece. Ham radio may get more publicity in the Wall Street Journal in the next couple of weeks. A reporter is working on a story about hobbyists and hobbies that have been negatively affected by the events of September 11, 2001. The reporter contacted HQ with the idea that ham radio has not seen any damaging effects, but he wanted that clarified. Jennifer was able to explain that it's been quite the opposite - Amateur Radio has only gained added support and recognition in the aftermath of 9-11. We will only get a very brief mention, but it's an important one to appear in a national publication. As reported on the Web news crawl, President Haynie was interviewed about the BPL issue on Art Bell's late-night radio show. Thanks go to Jim for participating, especially since the interview started at midnight Central time. Jennifer assisted a member who was asked to give a presentation at an IEEE forum on emergency wireless communications. The forum was held at the recent Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) convention n Atlanta. While the presentation focused primarily on the wireless industry, he worked in a PowerPoint presentation about ham radio emergency communications capabilities. He reports that his talk was well received. Jennifer followed up with a Christian Science Monitor reporter who has been gathering information and conducting interviews for a story on BPL and ham radio. Latest word is that the story may run on April 13, and should be available on-line. Production/Editorial Graphics for the new Spectrum Defense (BPL) project have been completed. The ARRLWeb banner was approved and sent to Tom Hogerty. Letters, reply cards and envelopes were finished as well. The graphics department produced attractive labels for the first batch of ARRL Video Series VCDs (the first of our new multimedia offerings solicited originally by F&ES). The VCDs were then duplicated and delivered to Bob Inderbitzen. The four VCD titles were produced by Bob Doherty, K1VV, and include a club's tour of Headquarters, a description of International Lighthouse Weekend, an inside look at a typical Simulated Emergency Test and an entertaining presentation on foxhunting. Bob Schetgen reports that QEX is wrapping up-the May/June issue will be released to the printer April 1. Rick Lindquist reports that The ARRL Letter, Vol 23, No 13, distributed to 67,274 members March 25 (Rick was out on vacation on the 26th). In addition to compiling the Letter and putting a few finishing touches on "Happenings" for May QST, Rick prepared news stories on the four Amateur Radio-related petitions for rule making the FCC put on public notice this week as well as these topics: ARRL's comments to NTIA Notice of Inquiry, FCC fine for alleged use of long-distance telephone on 2 meters and a PRB-1 bill in Missouri. He also edited The Amateur Amateur column for March and a couple of Web news briefs. With voiceover assistance from Jennifer Hagy, Rick voiced, edited and produced ARRL Audio News for Mar 26. Joel Hallas put the final touches on the May "Product Review" column before QST was released to the printer, and has submitted all articles for the May/June NCJ for composition and layout. Sales & Marketing Materials for ARRL's exhibit at Superfest were shipped out this week. Amateur Electronic Supply in Milwaukee, Wisconsin sponsors Superfest. This year's event is April 2nd and 3rd. Bob Inderbitzen has organized the exhibit, and a handful of local leadership have volunteered to help staff it including Central Division Director Dick Isely, W9GIG, Wisconsin Section Manager Don Michalski, W9IXG, and Assistant Director Richard E. Polivka, N6NKO. Two email solicitations were distributed to members who have voluntarily subscribed to receive news about ARRL products (about 47,000). The first was sent on Monday, and covered our quarterly "nag," soliciting for new QEX and NCJ subscriptions. Within the week following this campaign, 123 QEX and 22 NCJ subscriptions were received online. These returns track closely with similar campaigns conducted in the previous year. The second solicitation, distributed on Friday afternoon, introduced a handful of new publications, including APRS--Moving Hams on Radio and the Internet, ARRL's Vintage Radio, and ARRL's HF Digital Handbook--3rd edition. Nearly $10,000 in gross sales was received throughout the weekend following the emailing. 2004 ARRL Field Day T-shirts are now in stock and shipping. Field Day pins will be available April 9. Clubs and groups should collect orders from members now. New QST house ads were designed for a handful of new ARRL titles including the 2004-2005 editions of the ARRL Repeater Directory (coming May) and TravelPlus for Repeaters CD-ROM (debuting in Dayton). We are participating in planning that will expand the availability of the latest QST View viewing software, AView, to customers. Presently, the 1995-99 CD-ROM set is the only set that includes the latest viewer. Dan Wolfgang is increasingly handling support inquiries for the older viewer. We hope to use the opportunity to further promote QST View, encouraging customers to expand their existing collections by purchasing additional sets. QST View on CD-ROM is distributed in 12 sets and covers issues published from 1915-1999. The following new items are in stock and shipping: ARRL's HF Digital Handbook--3rd edition, http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=9159 APRS--Moving Hams on Radio and the Internet, http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=9167 ARRL's Vintage Radio, http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=9183 Radio Rescue, (c) 2000 by Lynne Barasch, http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=9217 Tower Climbing Safety & Rescue, (c) 2003, by ComTrain LLC (suggested for resale by NE Div. Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI), http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=9228 Membership Services Awards Branch WAS QSL Cards Checked 450 WAS Certs (Replacements) 2 WAS End. (50 QSLs ES/C) 1 WAC QSL Cards Checked 264 A-1 Op. Noms. 7 A-1 Op. Certs. 24 Extra Class Certs. 8 LTMA Inquiries 2 VUCC Backfill App. 1 Grids 50 VUCC Initial Apps. 2 Grids 241 VUCC End. Apps. 3 Grids 424 Awards Mailed 27 VHF Awards Manager Appt.: Sean Fleming, K8KHZ, Madison Heights, MI. Processing Status: Current or up to four weeks. For the coming week-WAS QSL card checking, Basic WAS awards for March, U.S. WAC awards, VUCC awards processing/mailing. Contest Branch Pins for the 2003 November Sweepstakes began processing out. Final changes for the 2003 SS CW article for QST were finished and revisions for the web done. Mailing of various certificates continued. The 2003 November Sweepstake Pins were received and shipping was started. The preliminary scores for the 2004 RTTY Roundup were received and are being reviewed with the checker and article author. Presentation for the 2004 Timonium, MD Hamboree was prepared. DXCC Branch For the week of: March 28, 2004 Beginning Cards 65,527 Cards Received 9,997 Cards Processed 19,688 Ending Cards 55,836 Applications Pending 444 Processing Time 3.8 Weeks Year-to-date (2004) Cards Received 97,701 Cards Returned 168,378 DXCC is currently mailing applications received on March 1, 2004. DXCC is currently entering cards received on March 9, 2004. QSL Bureau There is a delay of 8 days. This week 105 pounds of cards were received from members. Approximately 185 pounds of cards are waiting to be processed. Cards mailed as of 03/28/04: 308,175. Cards mailed on 03/26/04: 90,300. W1AW Joe processed new Qualifying Run certificates and speed endorsements. He also handled some email maintenance duties on the new DXCC Field Checkers "Internal" list. Scott worked on slow and fast code practice files for the latter part of the month of March and early April. He also handled some evening phone sales calls in the 5 PM to 8 PM time slot. Field & Educational Services At NVOAD's request, Rosalie drafted wording for their new national booklet on generalized support done by ham radio operators. She edited wording to update F&ES annual award information, and sent reminders to Directors for approvals we need for club affiliation. Thanks goes to Linda for helping Rosalie with ARISS QSL card handling, and new club affiliation paperwork. Gail Iannone sent 9 hamfest approval letters and 2 convention approval letters to the sponsoring committees confirming the Division Director's approval of the events as "ARRL-sanctioned." She also processed 3 label requests, 28 door prize orders, and sent 21 handouts packages for upcoming events. Amateur Radio Education & Technology Project Mark Spencer reports that grant applications have been forwarded to the Headquarters leadership for review before they are submitted to the Executive Committee for their approval. There were 6 Project and 2 Progress grants in this second round for Fiscal Year 2004. If approved as recommended, the dollar amount of $12,900 will exhaust this year's Project grant budget. An article detailing the TV Remote Decoder kit for schools is in the final stages of editing before being publicized. There have been a handful of requests for the kits so far. Mark has also begun prototyping a higher level curriculum and kit covering LC circuits and resonance. The curriculum will include connections to second year algebra concepts of graph analysis and curve fitting. CCE Jean Wolfgang attended Access classes for two days and has already found ways to incorporate what she learned into the CCE program. She responded to e-mails and phone calls pertaining to the new online Technician class course, and has found that several radio amateurs are willing to mentor students in this new class. Jean also prepared the weekly reimbursement check list and certificates. Regulatory Information John Hennessee reviewed the regulatory material for Chapter 1 of the ARRL Handbook, as well as several constitutions for pending club application for ARRL affiliation. John answered many regulatory questions, and assisted amateurs with local government zoning concerns in Brewster, MA (N1NAP), Walton Hills, OH (W8WH), Washoe County, NV (AE7I) and Peace Dale, RI (K1NW). He assisted amateurs with covenant restrictions in Monroe Township, NJ (N2CKE) and Seguin, TX (N5LLS). EmComm Grants Dan Miller's recent seminars at the Communications Academy in Seattle, WA, showed the following numbers: 76% of those in attendance (25 of 33 people submitted surveys) were ARRL members, 64% had no Citizens Corp involvement. 28% held a Technician License, 20% held a General license, and 40% were Amateur Extras. A total of 188 hours per month of volunteer EmComm activities was reported by 16 respondents, for an average of 11.75 hours per volunteer. Field Organization/Public Service Team Chuck Skolaut reviewed several audio tapes from OOs and forwarded them to Riley Hollingsworth at the FCC. One tape concerned a radio operator with an expired license, and several others documented activity on 75 meters and 20 meters in direct response to FCC monitoring requests. An ARRL monitoring stations noted interference caused by an intruder using teletype on 14298 kHz. The source is believed to be north east of Brussels. The Oregon SM candidate statements have been printed, and Leona Adams has made arrangements for the Mailroom staff to mail election ballots to Oregon Section members by April 1. Over 30 new Field Organization appointments have been entered during the week and initial supplies have been sent. Leona has also been recording section-related expenses into section budget records as they arrive. Steve Ewald assisted John Hennessee by relaying a message to Section Managers and State Government Liaisons in multi-section states. We are encouraging comments on the SGL Reflector about success stories and how these sections have worked well together on state legislative matters. Steve has also been encouraging Section Managers to discuss on their reflector how to recruit and keep top-notch Section Leaders. 73, Sincerely, Mark Wilson, K1RO Chief Operating Officer MW:lk Staff Absentee List Dave Sumner 4/2 Washington `` 4/12-4/21 IARU Reg.1 EC Meeting, & Vacation `` 4/27-5/6 Geneva, ITU working party 6E Meeting `` 5/12-5/16 Vacation Jennifer Hagy 4/8pm Education/Training `` 4/15pm Education/Training `` 4/22pm Education Training `` 4/29 Education Training Mark Spencer 3/30-4/5 NSTA Conference Joe Carcia 4/5 Vacation Robert Inderbitzen 4/1-4/2 AES Superfest Dennis Motschenbacher 4/22 Sales meeting GA `` 4/23-4/24 SVHFC Technical & Banquet Speaker `` 5/13-5/17 Vacation Deb Jahnke 4/15 Sales call-Baker & Taylor - NJ Kathy Capodicasa 4/15 Sales call-Baker & Taylor - NJ Scott Gee 4/8 Vacation Danny Sayad 4/15-4/19 Vacation Dan Miller 4/1-4/2 Vacation `` 4/5-4/8 National Hurricane Conference `` 4/12-4/14 Vacation `` 4/29-5/2 SJV Section Convention Stu Cohen 4/8-4/13 Vacation Joe Carcia 4/5 Vacation Scott Gee 4/8 Vacation

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[ARRL-ODV:10381] Re: Fwd: BPL
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 31 Mar '04

31 Mar '04

Courtesy of Coy Day's favorite constituent, Bill Smith, W5USM, I've learned about a pretty good article describing BPL at http://www.eei.org/magazine/editorial_content/nonav_stories/2004-03-01-Broa… published by the Edison Electric Institute. There's a sidebar near the end describing the four parts of a broadband network: the last mile, the ISPs, the middle mile, and the content providers. The "dark fiber" mentioned by Dick is the "middle mile." The article devotes five paragraphs to radio interference. We might quarrel with some of it, but it certainly puts anyone reading the article on notice that radio interference is a real issue. Dave K1ZZ

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[ARRL-ODV:10379] Re: BPL Leave-Behind
by dick＠pobox.com 31 Mar '04

31 Mar '04

31 MAR, 2004 - 1115 CST Hello Dave... I just opened your attached file and it has three pages, with the last one being blank except for the left hand page header. I assume this is a margin or line spacing problem that I can easily resolve. But before I tinker with the file, I want to make sure your file is really tow pages long. 73 - Dick, W9GIG

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[ARRL-ODV:10380] Re: BPL Leave-Behind
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 31 Mar '04

31 Mar '04

Yes, it's just two pages. We felt we had to make it fit on one sheet of paper. The file as I sent it is two pages, but I guess different versions of Word will format it slightly differently. There's a PDF version on the Web site. Dave -----Original Message----- From: dick(a)pobox.com [mailto:dick@pobox.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 12:20 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [ARRL-ODV:10379] Re: BPL Leave-Behind 31 MAR, 2004 - 1115 CST Hello Dave... I just opened your attached file and it has three pages, with the last one being blank except for the left hand page header. I assume this is a margin or line spacing problem that I can easily resolve. But before I tinker with the file, I want to make sure your file is really tow pages long. 73 - Dick, W9GIG

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[ARRL-ODV:10378] Fwd: BPL
by dick＠pobox.com 31 Mar '04

31 Mar '04

31 MAR, 2004 - 1100 CST I've know about the extremely large quantity of "dark" fiber optic cable for years. I guess I'm one of the insiders mentioned in the book below as I sold my small stock holding before the bubble burst. Anyhow, for those of you who want to learn more, here is a copy of the email I received earlier today. Please keep in mind this story is primarily about trunk fiber optic cable as opposed to fiber optic cable to each home and business. But it's a start for an alternative to BPL. 73 - Dick, W9GIG ===================================================================== From: w9yz(a)webtv.net (Ron & Milly Williams) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 10:36:29 -0500 (EST) To: W9GIG(a)arrl.org Subject: BPL Message-ID: <9719-406AE57D-143(a)storefull-3291.bay.webtv.net> Content-Disposition: Inline Content-Type: Text/Plain; Charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit MIME-Version: 1.0 (WebTV) Return-Path: w9yz(a)webtv.net Dear Mr. Isely, I believe fiber optics is the place for transmission of data rather than powerlines. A recent book indicates there are vast amounts of unused fiber in existence. Short quotes: "...the world is crisscrossed with fiber that is unlikely to be used for decades... ...cables as thick as a full grown Python lie dormant across the oceans... ...about 80 million miles of optical fiber was installed in the USA in the six years between 1996 and 2001." Much of this was done by companies which by using publicity and tricky accounting sucked millions of investors into buying stock pressing the prices up. Then the insiders dumped their stock, making big profits, and let it die. The name of the book is BROADBANDITS by Om Malik Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc of Hoboken, NJ. ISBN 0-471-43405-1 Mr. Malik goes into detail on the history of this subject. Cable TV in the Indianapolis area has messed up some of our ham repeaters at times due to faulty amplifiers and leaky connectors. The thought of BPL in all neighborhoods suggests the end of ham radio, both from BPL signals raising the noise levels and BPL users receiving unwanted RF from hams and demanding that we be kicked off the air. Please forgive me if everyone already knows the above. If not possibly the book would provide useful information to you and others at ARRL in the efforts to prevent our power lines being used as antennas. 73, Ronald C. Williams, W9YZ Life Member ARRL. Licensed 54 years. Retired owner of Avatar Magnetics. Some of my transformer designs were carried in the parts lists of the power supply chapters of the ARRL handbooks 1984-2000.

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[ARRL-ODV:10377] BPL leave-behind
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 31 Mar '04

31 Mar '04

For some time we have been grappling with the problem of how to explain our concerns about BPL to non-technical audiences in a clear, concise, unemotional manner. A collaborative effort has resulted in the attachment. I apologize for the size of the file, which is caused by the graphic, but that's an essential element of the piece. Thanks to Paul Rinaldo, David Pingree, and Derek Riker for their assistance; they deserve most of the credit. Dave K1ZZ <<BPL leave behind.doc>>

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[ARRL-ODV:10376] Re: Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 07:09:08 -0500
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 30 Mar '04

30 Mar '04

>I don't think there is much of >a question that we are PERCEIVED negatively by a majority of hams who have >no specific beef against the League. I don't know of any evidence to support that statement. Jim, look at the 2003 Readex survey summary and especially this sentence on page 16: "In order to reach out to the constituencies underserved by the organization, the needs of beginners and less sophisticated amateurs will need to be addressed." Further on you'll find that ARRL performance is not rated negatively -- but there is a large number who don't feel they know enough about ARRL performance in specific areas to rate it. If we target the dissidents -- who are a small but vocal minority, and many of whom remain members anyway -- we'll miss the boat. What we need is to reach the newer, younger, less committed amateurs. It's a problem that virtually every mature membership organization is facing, and it's really hard to solve because it involves generational, cultural shifts. Dave

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[ARRL-ODV:10375] Re: Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 07:09:08 -0500
by James Weaver 30 Mar '04

30 Mar '04

I do not question the assessment made of Tom's complaint about ARRL. On the other hand, I would not want us to become so shallow as to pass off all such complaints so readily. Remember, where there is fire, etc. I suggest for consideration that ARRL is a victim of a couple of transgressions. But, first, I readily admit that whenever anyone or any group does something, those who are reactionary thinkers often sit on the sidelines and take cheap shots at the doers. I don't think there is much of a question that we are PERCEIVED negatively by a majority of hams who have no specific beef against the League. These are members-lost at least temporarily, in that they are lost to our membership roll when we need them most and they need us most. Perception may be totally wrong, but, again, it may be totally correct. Most often it is based tenuously and partly on fact that has been twisted. Regardless, it is real and we ought to deal with it in a positive manner in an effort to reverse the negative impression. We are of sort a business. Whenever a responsible business is attacked with adverse publicity, it springs in to the offensive to defuse and reverse the attack. Those who are successful in defusing and reversing an attack end up winners. Giving free books and other similar perks to become members is not the way to defuse and reverse. Why don't we get together a little, appropriate shock and aw to establish a more favorable and correct attitude in the community? Incidentally, take a look at the list of benefits to ARRL members as shown on our Join or Renew membership page. Everything that is listed is true, but I do not believe we are putting our best foot forward even there. Well, I wore out another borrowed soap box, after all. Jim W. AMATEUR RADIO: The only fail-safe communications system in the world. ARRL: The reason Amateur Radio is! Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director, Great Lakes Division ARRL 5065 Bethany Rd., Mason, OH 45040-9660, Tel. 513-459-0142, E-mail k8je(a)arrl.org

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