On 6/21/05, Paul M Foster <paulf@quillandmouse.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 21, 2005 at 09:53:15AM -0600, Chuck Hast wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> >
> > If you want to get your hands on a project that will not only be fun but
> > a benefit to our communities in the event of a disaster, then jump in
> > and give us a hand.
>
> Not to open a can of worms, but what's up with Florida Power's broadband
> over power lines? Last I heard, this played havoc with radio. Are they
> still planning to widely implement this? (Your comment about disasters
> made me think of this. If this scheme messes with radio, it seems like
> it would wreck the usefulness of shortwave in emergencies.)
Yes the amateur community has fought it because they did testing (most all
amateur radio ops want broadband but not at the loss of spectrum due to
poor engineering practices) and the test were very negative in the areas
where they were piloting BPL. Motorola has a solution on the horizon
that may be a better solution to it and one that the amateur radio communit
appears to think is a better solution. MRT magazine carried it this month.
Basicly what they do is put a Motorola Canopy radio at the block transformer
and put the BPL only on he 220v feed to the homes, so you are not trying to
push high power BPL out over primaries at long distances and need to push
watts of power into the lines. So far it appears to be a much cleaner solution.
What no one has thought about is that there is a lot of equipment that still
uses HF and in the event of a disaster it is one of the few modes that can
be relied on to get you out of the disaster area into a area where the operators
are not pressured by what ever took place.
I am not sure how much of the BPL gear would get turned off in a disaster
particularly if they use it for SCADA as they are talking about, they certainly
are not going to turn it of if it is the route out to the remote controls and
sensors. Indeed it is such a can of worms...
-- Chuck Hast To paraphrase my flight instructor; "the only dumb question is the one you DID NOT ask resulting in my going out and having to identify your bits and pieces in the midst of torn and twisted metal."----------------------------------------------------------------------- This list is provided as an unmoderated internet service by Networked Knowledge Systems (NKS). Views and opinions expressed in messages posted are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NKS or any of its employees.
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