NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 3, 2004--The ARRL has responded to a March 2 Wall Street Journal article, "The Web's New Outlet," that presented a one-sided, rosy picture of Broadband over Power Line while avoiding any mention of its interference potential. ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, has faxed a letter to the editor of the New York-based business and financial publication to point out some of BPL's shortcomings, which were largely missing from the WSJ report.

"Any listing of the pros and cons of using power lines to deliver broadband services must mention its major disadvantage: it pollutes the radio spectrum, interfering with nearby radio receivers," Sumner said. "The only known exception is a microwave system being developed by Corridor Systems of Santa Rosa, California."

Sumner pointed out that BPL involves sending wideband RF "over unshielded wires that were not designed for the purpose." Owing to the laws of physics, Sumner continued, these power lines function much like antennas, and BPL signals passing through wires in the vicinity can interfere with radio reception.

"The frequencies in question are used by public safety agencies, the military, aeronautical and maritime services, broadcasters, radio astronomers, radio amateurs, and others," Sumner noted. He said BPL system designers have had only limited success in resolving the interference issue by notching certain frequencies.

"Yet BPL implementation cannot go forward without solving it, because for very good and obvious reasons it is a violation of FCC regulations for a BPL system to cause radio interference," he went on. "If BPL causes interference--and it does--the BPL system must be shut down." Sumner included references to the ARRL's BPL Web page, which documents HF interference the League monitored at four BPL field test sites last fall. "In his letter, Sumner suggested that there are better choices than BPL, even from the standpoint of business and economics."

Continued @ ARRL.org