This is the Power Line Communications Association's response to the Wall
Street Journal article on BPL.
It comes from the PLCA website:
http://www.plca.net/newsandevents.wsjresponse.htm
Eric W3DQ
Washington, DC
------
Letters to the Editor
Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, New York 10281
RE: In this Power Play, High-Wire Act Riles Ham Radio Fans
By Ken Brown page A-16
March 30, 2004
Dear Editor:
While Ken Brown did an excellent job in his article In this Power Play,
High-Wire Act Riles Ham Radio Fans I must take issue with the lack of
balance and facts. Sure it portrayed the mass concern and frustration
that exists among well-intentioned ham radio operators, but our industry
has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in exhaustive research and
testing to eliminate any such claims. Let me say that had the author
called upon our industry association we would have told him there is
simply zero empirical evidence that power line communications causes
harmful interference with ham radio frequencies. There are four major
reasons: (1) The extremely low power frequency used for this new
technology has been carefully tested and developed to avoid such
outcomes; (2) The length of any signal is very short, between 600 and 800
feet; (3) The system is not always âonâ as it runs only when needed, and
when it does it does so with small, very lower power packets of data; (4)
In the event of some form of anomaly, BPL systems can have their signals
notched as to eliminate any interfering signal.
Perhaps the greatest testament to our confidence in power line
communications or BPL is our willingness to place our money where our
mouth is -- in that we have never opposed any FCC rule that clearly
states that anyone causing harmful radio interference must fix the
problem or cease operations. We are simply that confident. It would be a
great disservice, however unintentional, to go against all known science
and common sense without turning to actual, real-life situations. We
firmly believe that the public will greatly benefit from greater choices
in broadband deployments, electric utilities will also realize some
exceptional internal grid monitoring and other tools benefiting the
public, and ham operators will continue to operate as if we didnât exist.
This is no high wire act -- it is simply a technology ready for prime-time.
Sincerely yours,
Alan R. Shark
President & CEO
Power Line Communications Association
______________________________________________________________________
Power Line Communications Association
200 N. Glebe Road, Suite 1000
Arlington, VA 22203
(Direct) 202-835-7814
arshark@amtausa.org
www.plca.net
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