25 MAR, 2004 - 1900 CST Another 9-Land ham sent me this message earlier to day. Mr. Philip Hunt, CEE, (and amateur radio operator?) of Surrey, England has taken the WSJ to serious task. I thought you all would enjoy reading his letter. 73 - Dick, W9GIG ========================================================================= FOR Attn; THE MANAGING EDITOR, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Dear Editor, Here in England we have virtually grown up with the doctrine that the WSJ is to be considered as 'America's Number One' ---- trusted and respected as having an integrity and style much as our own top Newspapers such as 'The Times' and Financial Times. Imagine my disappointment therefore on coming across such a piece of third-rate hack reporting as was presented under the by-line of your 'Staff Reporter' Ken Brown in WSJ edition of Tuesday March 23, 2004 Page A1. I am sure Mr Brown is an otherwise competent writer. This must have been one of his less brilliant days. Graced with a 'headline' that one would have thought could only have been dreamed up by a cub reporter on the lowliest provincial rag trying his luck, this piece of incomparable prose must have slid past the Subs on a day when there was absolutely nothing of worth in the world to report .....other than a further drop in George W's popularity ! Purporting to comment on the mounting reaction against BPL by communicators and Amateur Radio operators, the article is not only badly written, it is insulting, scurrilous in suggestion, and confusing in technical fact. It is insulting in the fairytale picture it presents and in a style which even a toddler would find 'sick-making --- Quote , Rick Lindquist drove ..... ignoring the snow swirling round his car and twirling the dial on the ham radio mounted on the side of his dashboard...... (Rick Lindquist is an internationally known and respected staff member of the American Amateur Radio Relay League; a body respected for its high standards and role-model examples followed by tens of thousands of Amateur operators worldwide ----- your reporter's cozy little scene-setting depicts him driving in a highly dangerous and irresponsible manner) I would doubt that. Other remarks -----"the nation's vocal but shrinking population of ham-radio operators or "hams" as they call themselves" They don't ! ----- and their numbers are certainly NOT shrinking I assure you, either parochially in America or in any other country in the World. I would suggest that the word 'ham' is far more applicable to your reporter's writing skills than to the hundreds of thousands of government licensed Radio Amateurs that he seeks to degrade to the level of unlicensed truckies and CB' ers. The ARRL is what its name implies. It is a Relay League, self policing, and setting standards for the passing or relaying of messages, generally as an exercise of self improvement and experiment, set against the possibilty of emergency public safety communications to aid Police, Fire, and other emergerncy services in time of National or local emergencies, ----- a function in which its members have proved their worth many hundreds of times in the past to the gratitude of the community at large.-------- and members do not , to my knowledge, 'twiddle the dials of their radios while driving in built-up suburban areas in swirling snow' when they should no doubt be keeping a sharp eye on the road. This sort of fairy-tale writing is regrettable in the columns of a respected newspaper of the standing of the WSJ. The facts regarding BPL are clear. Greedy profit motives on the part of big business are seeking to ride rough-shod over the interests of a less powerful but equally worthy section of the community. BPL (Broadband data) is by its very nature raw binary digital switching, and as any schoolboy physics student will be pleased to tell you is , like all square-wave switching, super rich in powerful and obtrusive harmonics. Fine , if carried on properly designed balanced coaxial lines, matched and shielded according to accepted communication engineering techniques, but put such data on open power distribution lines , of themselves noisy, and in some rural areas 'economically' maintained, and you are effectively coupling random NOISE to one gigantic open antenna system, by default far more effective than anything dreamed up by "ET" in his efforts to 'phone home ! SETI afficinados may well suddenly have remarkable success in the form of messages telling us to "Turn that damned racket DOWN" ! And it won't be just radio amateurs who will be affected. The spectrum taken up by this stuff is broad. Wait until the Police ,Fire, Ambulances (and a host of other services' ) communication managers latch on to the increased foul up, not to mention the airlines, satcom operators and NASA looking for micro--watt signals from space. How would you like to be in a 747 making an emergency landing somewhere into the JFK, La Guardia, Newark Intl. complex, in rapidly deteriorating weather with your ILS aerials looking directly into the mess of wide spectrum noise emanating from ten thousand chat-room contacts in the downtown Bronx. Queens, and Brooklyn areas ? Frankly, I'd just as soon stay home. I suggest the WSJ investigates further. Don't listen to vested interest. Listen to those who communicate for love of the game (Amo = I love. thus Amateur) Oh! . and do send a good reporter !. You are after all the Wall Street Journal. Regards Philip Hunt. Chartered Electrical Engineer, Professional (and Amateur) Communicator Surrey, England.