Bible
Verse Psalms 1:1-6
(1) Blessed is the man who does not
walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of
sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. (2) But his
delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he
meditates day and night. (3) He is like a tree planted by
streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and
whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
(4) Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind
blows away. (5) Therefore the wicked will not stand in
the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the
righteous. (6) For the LORD watches over the way of the
righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Reaching the
World
There's a man in Denmark with a
100-foot radio tower in his backyard! Why? He's a ham
radio operator.
He is co-founder of a ham club with
some musically talented members.
Listen to some of their songs by
clicking on The Ham Band.
The music is similar to American
country music.
Don't forget to check out the music
video! Watch out VH1!
TO VISIT THIS SITE, GO HERE:
Field
Day 2004
UTILITY CUTS
SHORT BPL TRIAL THAT WAS TARGET OF AMATEUR COMPLAINTS
Alliant Energy has called an early
end to its broadband over power line (BPL) pilot project
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The "evaluation system" went live
March 30, and plans called for keeping it active until
August or September. Alliant shut it down June 25.
Ongoing, unresolved HF interference from the system to
retired engineer Jim Spencer, W0SR, and other amateurs
prompted the ARRL to file a complaint to the FCC on
Spencer's behalf demanding it be shut down and the
utility fined.
Alliant Energy's BPL Project Leader
Dan Hinz says the ARRL complaint "certainly was a factor"
in the utility's decision to pull the plug prematurely
but "not the overriding factor." The main reason, he
said, was that Alliant accomplished most of its
objectives ahead of schedule. The primary purpose of the
Cedar Rapids evaluation was to gain an understanding of
BPL technology and what issues might be involved in a
real-world deployment, Hinz explained. But, he added,
regulatory uncertainty and other unspecified technical
issues also factored into the choice to end the pilot
early.
Hinz said Alliant is "moshing the
data" to compile a written evaluation of the Cedar Rapids
pilot, but the company has no plans at this point to move
forward with BPL. Alliant did not partner with a
broadband services provider, and it has no other BPL test
systems in operation. The system used Amperion BPL
equipment.
According to Spencer, five fixed
Amateur Radio stations within proximity of the BPL
evaluation system and two mobile stations formally
reported BPL interference on HF. "The radio amateurs and
Alliant Energy cooperated by sharing interference
information," he said. "Alliant Energy turned the BPL
evaluation system off twice to allow collection of
extensive BPL frequency and signal level data--with and
without BPL." He said Alliant and Amperion tried various
"notching" schemes to rid amateur frequencies of the BPL
interference with only limited success.
The system included both overhead
and underground BPL links to feed 2.4 GHz wireless "hot
spots" for end user access. Hinz said the area's
topography presented some challenges, especially with the
wireless links. "I think in the end, we actually
over-challenged ourselves with this specific pilot
location," he said. And, despite "substantial progress"
in mitigating interference, Alliant decided at this point
that "it wasn't worth the extra effort" to resolve the
thornier technical issues, Hinz added.
As for any broader implications,
Hinz says he's always viewed BPL as a "strategic
deployment technology," not one a company could roll out
just anywhere and expect to be competitive with existing
broadband services such as cable and DSL. "At least
that's how we were looking at it," he said. "You have to
find the right areas with the right topography with the
right concentration of certain types of customers," he
said.
"It's never been in my mind that
BPL has to compete with the speeds of cable today," Hinz
added. "It has to compete with the speeds of cable and
the next best thing tomorrow as well, if it's going to be
usable well into the future." He hinted that Alliant
might want to take another look at BPL once the FCC has
put BPL rules and regulations into place, and the
technology has further evolved.
The ARRL's formal complaint to FCC
Enforcement Bureau Chief David H. Solomon called on the
Commission not only to close down Alliant's BPL field
trial system but to fine the utility $10,000 for
violating the Communications Act of 1934 and FCC Part 15
rules. Commenting on the termination of the Cedar Rapids
BPL trial, ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, pointed out that
Alliant had tried for more than 12 weeks to fix the
interference problem to a station 600 feet from its
installation.
"In the end," Sumner said, "the
interference was not eliminated except by shutting down
the BPL system. Could the case against BPL deployment be
any clearer?"
Spencer said he was happy with
Alliant's decision, and he was gracious in expressing
appreciation to the utility for working with him. "And
thanks also to the ARRL and the Cedar Rapids BPL Steering
Committee for their knowledge and efforts in making a
truly professional evaluation," he added.
Still outstanding are some chronic
power line noise problems Spencer has experienced.
For additional information, visit
the "Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) and Amateur Radio"
page on the ARRL Web site
<http://www.arrl.org/bpl>. To support the League's
efforts in this area, visit the ARRL's secure BPL Web
site
<https://www.arrl.org/forms/development/donations/bpl/>.
Have a
great month
July 2004
