BPL in the Alabama Section

Here we are in the “Heart of Dixie” where the majority of its residents live in rural areas enjoying the life style that it offers. Amateur radio abounds in the rural south as the hobby has seemed to have lost it’s mystique in the large metropolitan areas of the northeast and west cost.

One of the reasons  I feel for  the decline of our hobby in the metropolitan areas appears to be the advent of the Internet , inexpensive cost of computers (less than a HF radio system) and the availability of reasonably priced broadband internet connections.  One of the latest industry polls has shown that 32 per cent of all household in the USA now have broadband services installed to include DSL, cable television or satellite.

A concerted effort by the FCC to stimulate technical innovation within the broadband services industry in the rural areas of America is underway. This has been facilitated by the FCC entertaining industries latest attempt to utilize the electrical power distribution system to deliver broadband data services. (High speed Internet connection). The US power grid is far reaching and indispensable to our way of life today in the USA. Oh I shouldn’t forget that the technical guidelines for this equipment and the service fall under FCC Part 15 regulations as we know it today which also guides wireless network devices and wireless internet service providers.

This method is not new however, the Nortel Company (Canada) teamed with a British utility company (United Utilities) in 1997. It failed due to its inability to suppress   radiation levels which created interference in the HF spectrum. In a quote from a magazine article “the system caused lamp post to radiate the interfering signals”. Needless to say the system was removed, end of story. Why wasn’t it re-engineered to minimize or eliminate this interference? Cost is the issue. The industry is searching for a method that requires minimal (cheap) or no infrastructure (cables, satellites, wireless etc) cost to them in-order to deliver there service to the less densely populated rural areas at a reasonable cost to the rural residents. True there is a large rural population however it is geographically spread out which equates to higher infrastructure cost to the industry which equates to higher end user (you) cost which would not make it economically available to the majority of rural dwellers. The FCC stated its reasons for entertaining industries development of BPL as 1) providing affordable broadband services to rural residents 2) stimulate the economy through the industry deployment of these systems.

How does all this affect the amateur radio operators? There’s a very good chance of interference at some frequencies within our HF spectrum to include the 6 meter band. Also the fact that amateur radio operators could interfere with the BPL system. Great just what we need eh! 21^st century TVI. The ARRL has penned quite a few articles on the subject as of late to include a letter to the Whitehouse requesting ceasing implementation of this technology.

Now let’s get close to home. There is a developmental trial system installed in the Cullman, AL area which to my knowledge is still operating. It is being developed by a company from Huntsville, AL ( IBEC Inc) in cooperation with Cullman Electric Company .It is using the HomePlug Power line technology which has been available for sometime to consumers who don’t want to run networking cable or wireless networks. HomePlug Power line use of the homes electrical wiring to connect computers in a network configuration within a home or office. IBEC has released a white paper report of there own that supposedly demonstrates the interference levels are of no worry to amateur radio HF operators. This is similar to field test the ARRL has conducted in various location in the USA   however no amateur representatives call signs or names are mentioned in this report yet at the end of the report there is a statement that this information will be given if requested. Not very forthcoming if you ask me. The IBEC trail system is installed in a new housing development similar to a gated community about one mile from the substation where the equipment is located. It also professes in the report that it has satisfied local amateur radio operators apprehension. At the Birmingham hamfest I talked at length with a Cullman amateur who is very active in the Cullman area. He also enlightened me about an amateur who resides in this community but was away for the winter when the system was installed. I will keep you informed of what I find out from this resident amateur radio operator ASAP.

Instead of me listing all the test details in this short report please take the time to go to the ARRL website which has gathered all pertinent information pro and con on this issue.  This info can be found at;   www.arrl.org/tis/info/html/plc/#other . This is an extremely complete and all encompassing collection of info and website links with not only USA info but international and developing industries. In other words you can get the BIG PICTURE in a short period of time on this complex issue. To me it was like reading a good book I couldn’t get off the net till I finished browsing all the links. Oh well I am a self professed NERD……….

I will be dropping other articles in the near future on the ARRL AL Section website. Hope this will encourage the AL Section population to read, study and educate ourselves as I believe it’s one of our few actions which will help us survive in this technology hungry frequency spectrum grabbing world we live in today.

73’s     Tim Wininger

            Alabama Section Technical Coordinator

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