[RFI] CQ-BPL

[Jim Brown]

On Fri, 30 Jan 2004 10:42:50 -0800, Cortland Richmond wrote:

>Visitors to some of New York hotels might want to take a rig along, as they
>are putting in-house BPL systems in place. Be prepared to find other
>lodging, though!

I don't find this series of suggestions all that bad. While I don't
condone deliberate interference, the practitioners and users of BPL
need to learn as early as possible that it is quite vulnerable to
interference from licensed users of the spectrum. I live in a Chicago
residential neighborhood, with neighboring houses 40 ft from my
antennas, and see operating at moderate power (100 watts and below)
both as being a good neighbor and avoiding unpleasantness.  I also feel
that using more power than that takes much of the fun out of the hobby.


On the other hand, when neighbors adopt a practice that makes them bad
neighbors, even unwittingly, and they are unwilling to modify their bad
behavior, I feel entirely justified in using the full terms of my
license to enjoy my hobby. It might be fun to work some contests and do
some DX chasing with a full gallon for a change. If there was ever a
justification for using our full licensed power, the existence of BPL
in one's neighborhood is about as good as I can think of, and about the
only one that would motivate me to buy an amplifier.

It would also be a pretty good reason for throwing one of those super
compact 100 watt mobile rigs and a low profile portable antenna into
your luggage the next time you visit the Big Apple. It might be fun
working some DX on 20 from a NY hotel room with a wire dropped out the
window!

Jim Brown K9YC