[RFI] PLCA Response to WSJ Article

[Dale J.]

"  zero empirical evidence that power line communications causes 
harmful interference with ham radio frequencies."

What about the ARRL tests, that's empirical evidence.

Dale, K9VUJ

On Apr 16, 2004, at 12:53, Eric Rosenberg wrote:

> 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 “on” 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 didn’t 
> 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 at amtausa.org
> www.plca.net
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