BPL in the news

[Richard Barth]

An extract from the "Microwaves and RF" email update of 26 May...

***************
A Few More Words About BPL Pollution

Earlier this month, the Microwaves & RF UPDATE addressed an issue that
is of obvious concern and importance to many RF engineers, notably
amateur-radio operators: broadband powerline (BPL) communications.
Proposed by industry as a viable solution for broadband communications
services, and so far blessed (conditionally) by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC), BPL makes use of existing power-line
infrastructure to transmit signals carrying high-data-rate information.

The response to that newsletter item has been so overwhelming (and
almost 100-percent against BPL), that I apologize to all those
readers/writers who I may not have been able to respond to personally
with a return note. Your interest as readers has made it clear that a
larger, more-comprehensive report on BPL is in order, and will be
presented in either the July or August issue of the parent publication
Microwaves & RF. Plans are being made to visit with the ARRL as part of
this report, and the story will highlight the negative aspects of BPL as
well as some encouraging details from a recent Motorola launch (see the
news below). Watch your mailbox!

JACK BROWNE
Technical Director



Richard Barth *** W3HWN at ARRL.NET *** Silver Spring, MD