[RFI] Solar Panel RFI Awareness At Dayton

[Cortland Richmond]

I was an EMI  Engineer at Alcatel USA when we got a good contract (heh) to provide NJ Bell's ADSL entry, and it was "interesting". Summoned to their lab, they were complaining our line-cards took down their systems -- and I figured how they could make that happen. On that hunch, I carried a  loop antenna and a cheap 'scope I'd found (both of them) cheaply at a Hamfest --  and it was a good thing I did too.

Every time the system lost function, the RF on the 'Scope was strong ("s-t-r-o-n-g!"), and and then I told them that problem would go away of they move the customer ADSL receivers away from the test systems.  Then... it worked.

Nobody made money, though. The NJ Union wanted part of the profits... and *everyone* lost out when Bell NJ dumped the whole idea...

Alcatel had built a large building to test all new telco equipment, but when NJ Bell  jumped, so did Alcatel USA's funding -- and I got just my military retirement in N. Cal  until I got a  job doing aviation EMC in Grand Rapids, MI.




Cortland
KA5S
 
-----Original Message-----
From: EDWARDS, EDDIE J 
Sent: Jun 1, 2022 10:13 AM
To: 'Tony' , Rfi List 
Subject: Re: [RFI] Solar Panel RFI Awareness At Dayton
 
Tony,
 
I was able to convince my division manager at the utility I work for to stay away from BPL after they ran a BPL trial that failed to operate without massive RFI and I caught the consultant lying about it.
 
I simply pointed out to him that the new technology coming along at the time, WiFi, was going to obsolete BPL very soon. I stated "who is going to want to plug their laptop into an AC outlet and be tethered to it when they can walk freely around their home with wireless WiFi covering the entire home?"
 
He cancelled the second phase of the project after I pointed that out even dropping the BPL option from the Advanced Meter Reading project as well knowing wireless was the future.
 
73, de ed -K0iL
 
-----Original Message-----
From: RFI On Behalf Of Tony
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2022 3:57 PM
To: Rfi List
Subject: Re: [RFI] Solar Panel RFI Awareness At Dayton
 
Ed:
 
It's obvious that the ARRL has a lot more influence on countering threats to ham radio than one would imagine. I remember the BPL issue and I have no doubt that we'd be dealing with horrendous noise if it wasn't for the leagues efforts. I just hope the same holds true for solar given the growing number of installations.
 
I'm sure your relationships with the utilities and device manufacturers goes back many years and that begs the question: what happens when Ed Hare retires? Is there someone in the wings with the same credentials?
 
Tony -K2MO
 
 
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