Darkk
join:2003-10-03
Almont, MI
 ·Charter Pipeline
| I loved your well thought out and accurate post.
Nice Work!
One other aspect of BPL that I don't often hear mentioned is the effect it will have on the average radio *listener*.
These users cannot generate an on-air signal to cause any adaptive BPL technology to move off of a specific frequency. Just as a single couple talking in an empty restaurant causes little discernable noise, many people talking at once can raise that singularly weak noise level to a loud roar.
It is this cumulative effect as more and more BPL systems come online that should be of great concern. The overall noise floor will dramatically rise all across the country as these interfering signals propagate ionospherically. And the interference will be propagated world-wide.
I'd be willing to bet that the competing BPL systems might even begin to interfere with themselves.
Getting back to listeners...
Once the HF spectrum is polluted by BPL, private citizens will no longer have the ability to use inexpensive equipment to tune in to news and opinions from other countries around the globe via international shortwave broadcasts. The U.S. Government will have allowed an "Iron Curtain" to drop over the country, effectively cutting off individuals from the free and unencumbered infrastructure-free exchange of ideas and information.
Even the Soviet Union in the Cold War era was never able to implement a system which will be as effective at blocking the access to the HF spectrum as BPL will be.
Couple this with the disastrous changes the FCC is allowing in the AM band regarding IBOC transmissions (in-band on-channel digital, which is neither in-band, nor completely on-channel) and their wide bandwidth, interference-causing digital mode of operation, and you won't even be able to tune in a U.S. AM radio station from any appreciable distance.
The HF and radio spectrum is a priceless national treasure, one which should be guarded as vigorously as we protect clean air and water.
BPL simply can't work. It can't operate interference free. It may even begin to interfere with itself over time. And, it has no protection from licensed stations which have a legitimate need to operate in this spectrum for public safety. BPL won't affect just hams, it'll affect public safety, government and military, and private listeners too.
What we need are FCC appointees who actually have some engineering knowledge about the thing they are supposed to be implementing, regulating, and protecting.
The current state of affairs at the FCC and the ridiculous rulings coming out of the agency drive this point home far better than any words I might write.
Let's hope it isn't too late for common sense and good engineering to prevail. |
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That nails it
