On May 23, 2005,
Motorola, during the
United Telecom Council’s "Telecom 2005" Expo in Long Beach, California, announced the introduction of
a wireless to low-voltage Broadband Over Powerline (BPL) solution, Powerline LV (Low Voltage).
Broadband over Power Line World spoke today with Dave Sumner, CEO of
ARRL—the national association for AMATEUR RADIO, about this new BPL product and what it might mean for amateur radio operators.
Mr. Sumner has repeatedly told
Broadband over Power Line World that the ARRL is not opposed to BPL as such, but is opposed to allowing BPL radio frequency interference to impede the activities of FCC-licensed amateur radio operators.
According to Sumner, the efforts by Motorola, in cooperation with the ARRL and various of its members, to develop, from the ground up, a BPL system that doesn't hinder amateur radio operations has paid off in the form of its Powerline LV platform.
The Motorola Powerline LV system works by combining wireless delivery, using Motorola's Motorola’s
Canopy™ Broadband Internet Platform, to individual utility poles outside homes and businesses, with the final delivery of that access into users' computers via the
HomePlug® standard by way of the low-power utility lines running from these poles into buildings, rather than, as in "legacy" BPL systems, using the medium-voltage (MV) lines running through neighborhoods to deliver Internet connectivity to the poles.
It's the use of these MV lines to carry the Internet signal using short wave frequencies, according to Sumner, that generates the radio frequency interference amateur radio operators find so annoying.
In the interview, Sumner said that he thought this Canopy-HomePlug hybrid system would support, and even improve the reliability of, utilitys' efforts to more closely monitor and control the operations of their power grids, while also allowing them to provide end user Internet connectivity.
Among other points made in that interview, ARRL CEO Sumner thanked U.S Representative Mike Ross (D-AR) for his work in introducing
House Resolution 230, which recommends to the Federal Communications Commission that it re-study and re-think its standards for protecting amateur and public safety radio frequencies from BPL radio frequency interference.
You can listen to today's conversation with ARRL CEO Dave Sumner, in its entirety, by clicking
here.
To access an article on the ARRL web site welcoming the advent of the Powerline LV system from Motorola, click on the title of that article:
"Hams Encouraged by NEW Motorola BPL Technology."
