I just received word a few days ago that Alliant Energy is planning a trial
of BPL in an undisclosed part of Cedar Rapids, IA, sometime this year. No
specific dates available, but within the next 3 months. The plan appears
to be using the 13.8 kV lines to carry the data to various neighborhoods,
and then use 2.4 GHz WLAN servers to connect between the HV lines and
subscribers. The person who passed along this info is retired from the
power company and is an active ham, although he does not live in or near
Cedar Rapids. He mentioned that he has been invited to assist with
interference monitoring.
I will keep this group posted as things develop on this issue. I myself do
not live in Cedar Rapids, either, but I work here and there are a LOT of
hams in and around the city. Collins Radio Club has two active ham shacks
located here, as well. The only problem is that in my 4 years of living
around here and attending meetings of the local radio clubs, more than half
of the local hams, on average, are NOT active! Many listen, but never
transmit. And a lot of them don't even do the listening. So, it is
difficult to predict what sort of fallout may come from this trial. On the
other hand, the local FEMA and ARES groups are very active, and they do use
HF for intra-state nets related to emergency and homeland defense purposes.
It could get interesting.
73, Dale
WA9ENA
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