One huge reason, powerlines are not constant impedance to RF. Nor are they balanced. This is like trying to pump natural gas down the water lines. Pipe, right? What's the problem?
It is never going to ever work as well as balanced transmission lines, let alone coax or fiber. And it is going to leak so much that the American Red Cross in Afghanistan will be able to detect the static on their HF rigs. This has been proven time and time again. You can get BPL to work over a short range (like a mile) if it is running on a three phase line and the line is very balanced. Once it hits a cap bank, regulator, transposition, transformer or anything, you have to terminate the signal and figure a way to bypass the obstruction. Once you put it on a single phase line you might as well go back to the old G-Line concept (another oddity that ultimately failed). Really BPL is nothing more than G-Line. As long as you don't care about vomiting all over the RF spectrum you can do whatever you want. I actually do listen to AM radio. I want to listen to short-wave and ham if I decide to do so. A half baked idea like HV bpl has no place in ruining valuable spectrum that is absolutely necessary in the event of an emergency. ----- Original Message ----- From: "RickG" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org> Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2008 2:41 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] IBM backs BPL >I disagree. I personally saw BPL work and work very well. As far as > setting up a bunch of dragonwaves, you must have line of sight. As far > as range, whats the point? Ethernet is only rated at 100 meters and it > is widely used. BPL's range is much farther than that. It's all > realitive. The powergrid is already setup & ready to go, why not use > it? Shouldnt we utilize any and all resources to their fullest > potential? To do otherwise is wasteful. > > BTW: BPL is more widely used and accepted in many other countries > abroad. Several of our potential vendors were non-US. They couldnt > figure out the hold up is here in the states. > > -RickG > > On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 4:21 PM, Chuck McCown - 3 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: >> BPL on HV was and is a stupid idea. HV infrastructure was not built with >> the idea of being a transmission line for RF. To get any kind if speed >> you >> have to use lots of power, even then it is very very short range. You >> might >> as well set up a whole bunch of dragonwaves in a drop and insert system. >> It >> would be cheaper and work better. >> >> The idea of using natural gas distribution lines as circular waveguides >> is a >> much more viable technology. But you don't see that getting deployed >> either. >> >> BPL on HV is a lab experiment that caught the eye of Michael Powell and >> got >> talked about. Nothing more. On the secondary side it is nothing more >> than >> homeplug. That is viable and deployed and does just fine. >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "RickG" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org> >> Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2008 1:32 PM >> Subject: Re: [WISPA] IBM backs BPL >> >> >>> To clarify, by "real interference" I meant they are no worse than >>> anything else we deal with. Like any RF transmission, there are >>> emmisions, but those can be dealt with just like the way we (WISP's) >>> deal with them. The ARRL made a mountain out of molehill and it was >>> all political as far as I'm concened. They used the BPL as a scapegoat >>> to try and get the electric companies to fix the interference hams >>> receive from aging electrical insulators which causes all kinds of >>> noise. >>> I personally saw a perfect example of the bias against BPL >>> interference. A parade of hams came to our pilot test site and claimed >>> we were interferering with them then & there. The funny part: We had >>> the system turned off! We showed it to them and they were totally >>> embarrased and speechless. When we turned the system back on, they >>> admitted that the noise was no worse than when it was off. We has >>> spectrum analyzers to prove it. There are some hardliners out there >>> that would not give up. To make their point they would drive their >>> vehicles (equipped with ham radio and whip antenna) within a few feet >>> and directly under the powerline and guess what? Give me break. >>> Basically, except for a few viable installations still running, BPL >>> was killed in it's infancy. Too bad. >>> -RickG >>> >>> On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 1:04 AM, Jonathan Schmidt >>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>>> "You are correct, electric companies saw huge benefits for internal use >>>> but the real reason it did not move forward was because electric >>>> companies >>>> are conservative by nature and they didnt like the heat coming from the >>>> ARRL over interference issues, which btw were not real." >>>> >>>> The interference is real. The ARRL is real and very conservative. >>>> And, >>>> any conductor carrying RF that isn't a proper, geometrically arranged >>>> transmission line, properly terminated in the proper impedance, will >>>> radiate and radiate most of its RF energy. Where do you think that >>>> goes? >>>> And, where do stubs dissipate their RF?...into the 4th dimension? >>>> >>>> Were it not for careful oversight of the spectrum, we would be back in >>>> the >>>> stone ages with AM and FM and TV because of interference. Police and >>>> fire >>>> radios would be hit and miss. Our licensed and unlicensed spectrum >>>> would >>>> be a mess. >>>> >>>> Blasting the HF spectrum into random lengths of conductors and stubs at >>>> watts of power has proved to be nasty. It isn't just the ARRL...the >>>> courts have decided that. >>>> >>>> It isn't just RF on the power lines, either. You can hear DSL >>>> interference in neighborhoods with overhead telephone wiring on poles >>>> when >>>> you try to listen to local AM stations at night when they are forced to >>>> drop their power. The political influence of the Telcos to force >>>> through >>>> their agenda may be followed by that of the electric companies but it >>>> won't be to our advantage. >>>> >>>> They have the right of way, the poles, and the money. Stringing a >>>> fiber >>>> along the poles along with the wiring would seem to be a far better and >>>> long term strategy than to pretend that wires are wires and that 60Hz >>>> is >>>> the same as 600,000Hz and the ground return and distribution are >>>> compatible architectures. >>>> >>>> The entire concept is pseudo-science, appealing to those who are easily >>>> fooled into thinking wishes become true because it sorta makes sense. >>>> >>>> Jonathan Schmidt >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>>> WISPA Wants You! Join today! >>>> http://signup.wispa.org/ >>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>>> >>>> WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org >>>> >>>> Subscribe/Unsubscribe: >>>> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >>>> >>>> Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ >>>> >>> >>> >>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> WISPA Wants You! Join today! >>> http://signup.wispa.org/ >>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> >>> WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org >>> >>> Subscribe/Unsubscribe: >>> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >>> >>> Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ >>> >> >> >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> WISPA Wants You! Join today! >> http://signup.wispa.org/ >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org >> >> Subscribe/Unsubscribe: >> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >> >> Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ >> > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! 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