You missed my point, if there were a lot more active hams on the HF shortwave
bands, then our combined voice would carry more weight and our fuller use of
the HF spectrum that we are allocated, would make bpl an unatractive option for
broadband use.
-- "Mike" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Let me get this straight...Ham interference is bad, but BPL interference is
good..... ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL
PROTECTED] ; [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 2:48
PMSubject: Re: [Swlfest] BPL- New Life or "Stick A Fork In It"
We should all go and get Extra Class ham licenses, put up 75ft towers and run a
lot of digital modes and AM so that the bpl is unuseable.
-- Curt Phillips W4CP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
NEW LIFE FOR BPL http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/cip/?p=453&nr=VDC
Stick a fork in it: a broadband over powerline post mortem<?xml:namespace
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081023-stick-a-fork-in-it-a-broadband-over-powerline-post-mortem.html
The full stories are at the links, there are excerpts below: NEW LIFE FOR BPL
For years, the broadband over powerline (BPL) sector has tried to gain a firm
footing. The idea is that a low level of broadband connectivity – somewhere
north of dialup and south of DSL and cable modems – can be provisioned through
the power system and in-home electrical wiring. The electrical industry would
gain both from broadband revenue and the closer monitoring, measurement and
control of power distribution. BPL never quite worked out. However, the
communications and power industries still see sparks when they are around each
other. Google has joined the Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition (DRSG), a
group that includes companies that make sophisticated metering and demand
control equipment. [snip]Perhaps BPL is not dead. IBM said that it is
partnering with International Broadband Electric Communications (IBEC) to
deploy the platform at electric cooperatives in the east. Much of the
electrical grid is comprised of rural cooperatives. BPL is particularly
enticing for these areas, which often lack broadband connectivity. BPL has
encountered disappointments and it may work this time because of better
technology – that, clearly, is where Big Blue comes in — and the rural focus.
Though even its most enthusiastic fan wouldn’t say that BPL has lived up to
expectations, there are some projects under way. For instance, the Midwest
Energy Cooperative, working under a grant from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, is deploying the technology in its 12-county Michigan, Indiana and
Ohio footprint, with services starting early next year. Stick a fork in it: a
broadband over powerline post mortem Broadband over powerline (BPL) has joined
the choir invisible, is pushing up the daisies, is an ex-broadband technology.
Smart grids, which don't require broadband speeds, are moving forward, however.
[snip]Broadband Reports picked up on a story from last week about Manassas,
Virginia's BPL network, which was one of the earliest markets, and which never
attracted more than several hundred subscribers. Local amateur radio operators
(hams) complained bitterly about early generations of BPL equipment, which they
alleged caused interference on licensed bands. (Hams use bands in which they've
been granted primary or secondary licenses, giving them priority over
unintentional emitters—almost everything that carries electricity is such—and
unlicensed uses, such as WiFi, where unlicensed users have access to the same
frequencies.) The Manassas operator, Comtek, tried to sell its network to
Smart Grid LLC earlier this year, but the deal didn't go through. The city
council opted to fund the network for the next couple of years to ease
customers off and test its own smart-grid applications.
[snip] Why did BPL implode? It's pretty clear that competition from newer
fiber-to-the-home and to the node networks (Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse, to
name two), as well as increased speeds now possible on DSL and cable systems
left BPL an expensive and unattractive option. The head of Current told me in
2006 that he could feed three channels of 30Mbps over powerlines from a given
substation. Substations serve from a few hundred people in rural areas to
20,000 in dense urban neighborhoods. An aggregate of 100Mbps for 20,000 sounds
paltry, but the technology allowed subdividing sections by installing data
isolators on the lines into smaller hunks. It's unclear whether that approach
worked in reality, as despite my efforts to get follow up information from
Current starting in December 2006, I never heard another peep about actual
performance, subscribers signed up, or any other metrics. The company's site
now focuses on smart-grid applications. [snip]Let's not mourn BPL's passing
too much. It was never even an also-ran technology, because it didn't run much.
Its tests and inroads will likely lead to large-scale smart-grid adoption. In
Texas, TXU-cum-Oncor purchased what Current deployed, and is perfectly happy to
push forward and reap the savings in that hot climate. Anywhere there's air
conditioning, smart grids will likely propser. FYI. 73,Curt Phillips
W4CPRaleigh, NC USA year.
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