BPL Facts

[n0ov]

Lots of posts concerning BPL. (BPL is going to do this, may do that.)

Power companies have deployed BPL in several test scenerios. Some markets are actually selling services and acquiring customers.

Question. Has anyone have any actual experiences to report? (Postive or negative)

To quote a favorite old time commercial, "Where's the beef?"

[kc2irv]

I certainly do. I live on the border of jersey and PA (I live in jersey and can hit pa if I throw a rick hard enough....literally!http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif and PPL (the power company in PA) Has begun using it and it has been a menace on HF! I have an 20 over S-9 noise floor of static and garbage that never was there until the very day they had begun testing. sometimes it comes and goes but it is there most of the time and there is really nothing you can do about it. I have tried different rigs and played with all the filtering combonations I can think of it it lessons it by a few db but not enough to really matter. I hope to god it JCP&L doesn't start using it, then I won't even be able to hear the guy next door. The only mode I can really use is CW since that tone seems to punch thru the garbage very well.

thats just my experience with it, I wonder if anyone else has had the same problems

Joe
Kc2irv

[w8ob]

Just curious if you have complained to anyone about the Qrm? Are you able to make a .wav recording of this noise? What band of frequencies does the QRM persist at? Thanks

[ka5s]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (kc2irv @ Mar. 05 2004,15:35)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">enough....literally!http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif and PPL (the power company in PA) Has begun using it and it has been a menace on HF! I have an 20 over S-9 noise floor of static and garbage #that never was there until the very day they[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Joe,

I suggest you make up a electronic form and send an on-line RFI complaint to the FCC every day, for every band on which BPL prevents you from receiving other stations. Incluide the words &quot;harmful interference;&quot; they are in the radio regulations describing a prohibited behavior, and are supposed to trigger regulatory intervention.

Calling CQ when you can't hear anyone on frequency might interfere with other amateurs who aren't being jammed at their QTH's. CQ on a known net frequency would certainly get a bunch of folks mad at you and is probably illegal. But it is a secondary effect that illustrates another way BPL can cause harmful interfence beyond its service area.

Note that I am not a lawyer and this contains no legal advice.

Cortland

[W1RFI]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (kc2irv @ Mar. 04 2004,16:35)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I certainly do. I live on the border of jersey and PA (I live in jersey and can hit pa if I throw a rick hard enough....literally!http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif and PPL (the power company in PA) Has begun using it and it has been a menace on HF! I have an 20 over S-9 noise floor of static and garbage #that never was there until the very day they had begun testing. sometimes it comes and goes but it is there most of the time and there is really nothing you can do about it. [/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Based on what you report, I would first suspect something other than BPL. BPL interference appears to be localized to about a mile or so from the radiating line. None of the systems that are in place in nearby Allentown, PA environs have enough users that is possible for you to be hearing S9+ level signals.

While it is important that BPL interference cases be reported, to the utility, the FCC and copies to ARRL so the staff can summarize them for a number of related purposes, it is equally important that what is reported as BPL interference actually is. #A few examples of crying wolf will be turned around to discredit the real reports that are starting to increase as these systems come on line.

For information on how to report BPL, see:

http://www.arrl.org/~ehare/bpl/complaints.doc

See also the sidebar to an ARRL article, below.

If you can send me a .wav file of your interference, I can help identify its source.

73,
Ed Hare, W1RFI@arrl.org

The many flavors of BPL: BPL comes in several different varieties. Examples of how they sound are found on ARRL video recordings of interference in four BPL field test sites, available on the ARRL Web site. First, you're only likely to hear a BPL signal if there's a BPL field test or system in operation in your area. BPL signals occupy continuous blocks of spectrum, but they will sound somewhat different than power-line noise, which often will have a strong 120-Hz component and generally are stronger on the lower bands, growing progressively weaker as one moves higher in frequency. BPL signals can be &quot;noiselike,&quot; but with no significant 120-Hz component, or they can appear as a series of very close-spaced carrriers--about 1 kHz apart. The carriers can be modulated, often sounding something like a telephone ring. The closed-space characteristic is a signature. Birdies every 15 kHz, for example, are not from BPL, although they could be from a nearby computer, switching-mode power supply or harmonics from a TV set's horizontal oscillator. BPL occupies considerable spectrum, but not in the same manner that power-line noise does. The onset of BPL vs frequency will be somewhat abrupt, perhaps inaudible or weak at 4.5 MHz, but increasing rapidly in signal strength by the time you get to 4.6 MHz, just as an example. The same effect is seen in reverse at the upper end of the spectrum in use. Some BPL systems use HomePlug modems, which notch most amateur bands. In those systems, WWV might be affected on 10 MHz, but by the time you get to 10.1, the noise is reduced, only to pick up again outside the amateur band. This will be the case for each amateur band (except 60 meters).

[ka5s]

An aggressive deployment could put BPL on wiring right next door to you. If they've gone petal to the metal on it, I suspect that what is some short ways off in PA will show up in NJ quite readily. Of course, as Ed says, it may NOT be BPL -- but I think that in the regulatory climate we now face, where the absence of complaints is taken as proof of the absence of problems, we need to be filing interference reports regardless of source.

For another reason, note the posts elsewhere on 50 inch Class A plasma TV's sold to residential customers.

Cortland

And, My computers internal modem seems to radiate strong, wideband noise in the 2-4.5 Mhz range-it sounds like strong white noise accross that frequency range, apparently using the phone cord as it's antenna.