Dear Sirs,
I was pleased to see the front page article ("In This Power Play, High-Wire
Act Riles Ham-Radio Fans", March 23, 2004) in the Wall Street Journal about
radio amateurs, the American Radio Relay League ("the League") and the fight
against Broadband over Power Lines ("BPL"). The issue of radio interference
from
BPL is deserving of more attention than it has received to date, and the
Journal is to be commended for sending a reporter out to confirm with his own
ears
that the interference claims are genuine.
However, the article did not take the logical step of extrapolating from this
small test bed to a general deployment of BPL, with resulting widespread
interference. What happens then? Will the BPL systems really be shut down, as
the
FCC rules require? The answer to this question is important not just to us
radio "hams", but to other users of radio communications: police, fire,
emergency, civilian (e.g., Red Cross), aircraft and the military.
Radio amateurs love technology, and understand it better than most. The ARRL
and individual radio amateurs have tried hard to raise a very legitimate
concern, early enough that future problems can be avoided. In return they
deserve
better than to be stereotyped inaccurately as a bunch of aging codgers standing
in the way of progress.
Regards,
George I. Wagner
Amateur Extra Class License, K5KG
Licensed by the FCC since 1957
Sarasota, Florida
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