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Hams Complain about Powerline Broadband

Posted by michael on from the tinfoil-hats dept.

dwm writes "Think broadband over power lines (BPL) would be wonderful? There might be some collateral damage. The American Radio Relay League (your friendly neighborhood ham radio operators) have documented dramatic HF radio interference in areas where BPL is being tested (Check out the video of actual interference)."

9 of 597 comments (clear)

  1. Well... by mindsuck · · Score: 0, Troll

    They should just ditch those radios and move on to VoIP. ;)

    --
    --- I w00t, therefore I'm l33t.
  2. Right ON! by zapod4 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Way to go hams!! Lets sacrifice modern and accessable communication in favor of bouncing radio waves off the atmosphere!

  3. good riddens by JVert · · Score: 0, Troll

    ever since this "internet" thing came along I havn't found a use for using my license. Lets make an agreement that the powerline internet gets shut down on field day, cause thats kinda fun.

    *eyes widen*...But there hasn't been any link beetween powerline internet and 802.11 performance has there?

  4. *gasp* by hctimo787 · · Score: 0, Troll

    boofreakinghoo

    this is worse than coal train companies complaining about the DOT paving roads over railroad tracks.

  5. wait... by riotstarter · · Score: 0, Troll

    "Hams Complain about Powerline Broadband"
    All ten of them?

  6. Re:who cares? by Nathan+Ramella · · Score: 0, Troll
    Well, case in point.. The HAMs usually present themselves as being the last line of defense or communication, or something, I forget -- after a catastrophic event.

    Hey, that's fine. If something catastrophic occures and the phone lines (and power!) go out, you're back at the right hand of community service. All the girls who ran away to sidle up on the Broadband through Power hunks will realize the error in their ways and come slinking back in shame.

    Will this be like the movie where the stubborn general doesn't listen to the sensitive and intelligent scientist and tries to use force to solve the problem rather than playing a game of tic-tac-toe or having a skiing competition?

    Will the HAMs somehow arrange for the FCC or the PUC to end up with a custard pie in the collective faces to underscore how wrong they are, after they win the day?

    Just remember. Morse-Code over HAM radio won us the Independence Day Alien showdown. Without HAM we never could have coordinated! And Morse code! Don't forget Morse code!

    --
    http://www.remix.net/
  7. Re:Ham radio users by Directrix1 · · Score: 0, Troll

    No, but people do transmit data over it already. At least I hope there isn't any instances of tcp/ip over ham. Seeing as how radio is an unroutable beast. Now you can assign IPs to the endpoints and that would be good.

    --
    Occam's razor is the blind faith in the natural selection of least resistance and in universal oversimplification. -- EF
  8. Re:Harmful interference by stephanruby · · Score: 1, Troll

    The radio spectrum is an infinite spectrum and it really does bother me that some people don't understand that. Personally, I think the spectrum should be reallocated and the regulations should be rewritten from scratch every ten years.

  9. Where's the problem?? by r00zky · · Score: 1, Troll

    From posted comments we can infer:

    a) Ham is only useful in:
    - disasters
    - unpopulated areas w/o internet connectivity or cellphone coverage or satellite communication coverage

    b) The rest of uses of ham radio falls under the description of hobby.

    - When a disaster happens the first to go out is power, so no problem with interferences here.
    - The unpopulated areas which comply requisites of such isolation are unlikely to have power coverage!

    So, no problem! Benefits of broadband over power lines overweight by some orders of magnitude the ham radio usefulness.

    --
    I'm a chainsmokin' alcoholic sociopath, so-ci-o-path