[TowerTalk] BPL.... very important point missed

[Bob Nielsen]

On Thu, Jan 08, 2004 at 07:08:23PM -0000, Jim Jarvis wrote:
> 
> I appologize for piling on, here...but it hadn't occured to me
> that BPL would enable power companies to automate their meter 
> reading.  A digital back-channel, if you will.  

Does anyone have details on how the power companies handle their remote
meter reading?  Obviously the bandwidth requirements are not very high,
particularly outside the time-of-use scenario.  My power company (Puget
Sound Energy) switched out the meter over a year ago to one which would
give them the ability to remotely read it, but provided no information
on the method used.  I pick up a lot of <S9 birdies, but no hint of
broadband noise similar to that of the BPL audio clips on the ARRL web
site (I suspect the birdies are from computers and other digital
devices in the neighborhood).

Bob, N7XY
Bainbridge Island, WA