ACA (Australian Communications Authority) reply to VK7 (Tasmanian Amateur (Ham) Radio Operators) concerns on BPL/PLC trial in Hobart, Tasmania by Aurora Energy.

The following e-mail is reproduced with permission of Justin Giles-Clark VK7TW.

----Original Message-----
From: Justin Giles-Clark <********@*********.com.au>
Sent: Thursday, 13 May 2004 11:51 PM
To: "Hartwig, Geoff" <**********@****.gov.au>
Subject: BPL Trial in Hobart

Greetings Geoff,

Members from the Southern Branch of the Tasmanian Division of the Wireless Institute of Australia met with Piero Peroni and Adrian Wild from Aurora Energy to discuss their trial of BPL/PLC in the Hobart CBD and Piero passed on your contact details.

At the meeting a presentation about the trial was given by Piero and Adrian and after the presentation we were able to have an open, frank and positive discussion where we expressed our concern about BPL technology and Aurora expressed their reasons for trialling the technology. Aurora was happy to keep us informed about developments, futures trials, etc.

We also expressed our disappointment in the limited underground trial and they acknowledged these limitations and that this trial is not the decision maker for their BPL business case. They outlined during the presentation that they are also investigating wireless technologies and fibre optics as strategies for delivering the last mile of broadband to consumer and have not made their mind up on any of them as yet.

We were fortunate to have Barry McCann from the Coast Radio Hobart in attendance. Barry runs the HF marine frequency (2, 4, 6, 8 MHz) emergency monitoring station down here in Tassie. He expressed his concern about interference and the possible raising of the noise floor with the wider introduction of BPL.

They passed on some helpful presentations from an international conference they recently attended on PLC as well as the presentation they gave. We also gave them an audible demonstration of the interference from a portable HF receiver.

We are hoping to try and arrange a meeting with the Mitsubishi engineers to further discuss the technology and what it's capability and configurability is in relation to notching out particular frequencies and Piero steered us in your direction to see if we could be involved in some way when the engineers return?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

----------------------------------------
73 de VK7TW Justin Giles-Clark
Southern Branch President
Tasmanian Division of the
Wireless Institute of Australia
http://www.wia.org.au/vk7/

And now the reply from the ACA!!!!!!!!!


From: "Hartwig, Geoff" <**********@****.gov.au>
To: Justin Giles-Clark <********@*********.com.au>
Subject: RE: BPL Trial in Hobart
Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 16:38:27 +1000

Justin

Thank you for your enquiry regarding the broadband power line (BPL) trial in Hobart and your request to become involved in this trial. I must apologise for the delay in responding.

Before addressing your specific request, I wish to first raise the following matters regarding the BPL issue.

It is widely recognised that broadband is emerging to provide a unifying platform for three converging sectors: computing, communications and broadcasting. Many countries are increasingly recognised the significant role broadband access will play in promoting economic, social and cultural developments.

In this regard, BPL is an emerging technology that has potential to play a significant role in improving broadband access to the general public. Additionally, the availability of the technology may also prompt the electricity distribution industry to enter the Australian telecommunications broadband market and contribute to the expansion of the national broadband network.

Much debate about BPL has focused on the extent of possible interference this technology may cause MF/HF radiocommunications services. There are widely differing views on the likely extent of interference. Study programs are currently underway in the European Union and United States to better understand the electromagnetic emission characteristics of BPL systems and their likely interaction with MF/HF radio reception. Such knowledge will assist in developing strategies to minimise interference to existing radiocommunications services.

However the results of overseas studies may not be applicable to the Australian situation because of possible differences in both the electricity distribution systems and the MF/HF environment. There is a need for a BPL studying in the Australian context. In this regard, the ACA is working towards organising a study.

In line with overseas activities, local power utilities are investigating the potential of BPL technology. At this stage, there are no firm plans to commercially deploy BPL technology in Australia.

In the mean time, the challenge for the ACA is to establish regulatory arrangements that do not unnecessarily block deployments but at the same time provide reasonable measures to adequately protect radiocommunications reception.

The ACA's strategy for managing BPL services is in its formative stages and will be largely governed by regional and international developments. I would like to assure you that in the development of BPL regulatory arrangements, the amateur fraternity and other stakeholders will be consulted.

With respect to the Hobart trial, the ACA attended as invited guests of Aurora and there are no plans by this organisation to examine the frequency notching capability of the Mitsubishi equipment at this trial. The ACA is conscious that Aurora is running to a tight schedule and the ACA would not wish to impose interruptions.

As mentioned previously, the ACA is working towards a BPL study which would, amongst other matters, include frequency notching.

If you require additional information, please contact me.

Regards

Geoff Hartwig

Webmasters Comments (in Italics)

Please Note: The following is NOT a personal attack on the writer from the ACA but rather a comment on current Australian government policy on BPL (Broadband over Power Lines) and its effects on HF (Shortwave) radio reception!

I like the part about "It is widely recognised that broadband is emerging to provide a unifying platform for three converging sectors: computing, communications and broadcasting. Many countries are increasingly recognised the significant role broadband access will play in promoting economic, social and cultural developments."

Government spin doctoring at it's worst. What the e-mail really means to say is "We want people to Download Porn, Pirated DVD's, Pirated Software and Pirated Music quicker!!", and don't forget the Broadband targeted e-mail spam which have 1 megabyte sized messages for your reading pleasure! What else is BPL used for? If you claim "Video Conferencing" or "Medical Consultations" these have been going on for years via coaxial cable; fibre optic and satellite well before BPL was dreamed up by some idiot who could not care less that HF (Shortwave) radio reception would be ruined!

If you don't believe HF (Shortwave) radio reception will be ruined, please listen to these actual BPL samples, please click here, here, here, here, here, here, here or for the Hobart BPL test here!! (114 Kb wav).

As far as broadcasting is concerned, you have to be joking! I can buy a $AUD200 portable HF (Shortwave) radio receiver and listen to international broadcasts for FREE in the evening, listening in my arm chair. Just who will guarantee that in the future; you will not need a password and credit card to listen to Internet broadcasts.

With a computer you have to buy one that's capable of handling broadband ($AUD1500- $2000+); subscribe to a Broadband service (the $AUD29.95 monthly plans do not have the download capacity for Broadcasting) so you are looking at $AUD50 a month or more; then to top if off you have to worry if your download limit is reached so you''ll either be cut off or your speed cut back to 28.8 Kb. Remember download limits include everything including your e-mails (including spam) and viewing Web Pages.

And of course how can we not forget the infamous Internet "slow-downs" when there is a spam-run or a virus attack on many popular web sites!

And this one "In this regard, BPL is an emerging technology that has potential to play a significant role in improving broadband access to the general public. Additionally, the availability of the technology may also prompt the electricity distribution industry to enter the Australian telecommunications broadband market and contribute to the expansion of the national broadband network."

CRAP!!! I'll translate this bureaucratic double-speak! No one has ever asked me if I ever wanted BPL nor has any one asked me if I want the Power Companies to supply the Internet when they should be supplying power. Just who is really driving this BPL push, certainly not anyone that I know requires broadband via the power lines!!!!

I believe BPL is being pushed to people who have little idea of computers and the Internet. They are sold BPL solely on the aspect of its fast speed, when all they REALLY want to do is look for information on the Internet.

A 56Kb dial-up connection via the telephone line is perfectly adequate for this and certainly much cheaper. They do not realise that a permanent BPL connection is more likely to be "hacked" than a dial-up as it's "IP" address does not change.

I am not a computer luddite and have computing qualifications, I've had a computer since 1984 and I've been on-line since 1992. At first using Fidonet (an e-mail and file download system that was popular before the Internet took hold) with a 2400 Kb modem, and then in 1995 I started to use a 14400 Modem.

In 1997 I went to a 28.8 Kb modem which I am still using now, this modem works perfectly and I can download files, e-mail messages and view usenet newsgroups as well as browse the World Wide Web at a good speed.

The Internet does not require a fast connection of broadband (especially via BPL) to be enjoyed. For example one of the most popular sites in Australia is the Bureau of Meteorology. This site does not require a broadband connection to be viewed successfully.

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