I received some responses to my message last week. Here they are for your perusal.

 

The topic was getting a baseline noise level at your normal bands and frequencies that you use…

 

First from Cliff, W7CGA:

Hello Todd,

 

     Thanks for sending along that note regarding the BPL speech by Dave Sumner and the links to audio files.  I don't have ISP service in my house but I'll go by the Library and access the URLs you listed in your note to listen to the interviews and comments.

 

     I agree that we hams need to establish a baseline for noise.

Neither Avista nor the BPL provider is going to do this ... it isn't their job.  It's up to us to demonstrate that BPL is interference.

And, as I told Dave Heyamoto at the October meeting, a lot of hams are hams in name only.  They never get on the air. So, if noise is generated they'll never know it.  And if Avista says "we're running a pilot program in neighborhood 'xxxyyyzzz' then 50 hams will jump out of the bushes and claim they're being interfered with, even if they don't ever turn on their HF gear (assuming they have some and an antenna).  My gut feel is that out of total population base of 600,000 hams we'd be lucky to find 25% who actually are active and get on the air.

 

     It's interesting that IdaCorp hasn't gotten any complaints from their BPL pilot.  Obviously, there aren't any hams listening or the program has been implemented in the boonies.  The squeaky wheel gets the oil and there's no need for oil wherever IdaCorp has this program running.

 

     Thank you for keeping on top of this thing.  I'm certainly glad we have a guy like you who has the interest in following this thing.

 

  73,  Cliff Appel, W7CGA,  Electric City, WA

 

 

This from David, WB6JFH:

 

Hi Todd, 

       Here is the information that we talked about last week over the air.  I want to thank you for being the inside man for us on this issue.

       Date:12-7-04
       Rig:  FT900       Mode: upper sideband
       Ant.  G5RV up 37 feet

       Freq.(MHz)       S Meter readings            Notes

             1.8               <1
             2.0               <1
             3.5                 1
             4.0                 1
             7.0               <1                very weak signal
             7.3                 5                short wave  station
             10.15            0
             14.0                 0                very weak signal
             14.35               0
              21.0                0                band is dead
              21.45              0                  "     "    "
              28.0                0                       "     "    "
              30.0                0                            "     "    "

       Note:  Most S meters are not well calibrated so these readings are relative to my particular radio, however this will give me a base line measurement that I can use when Avista starts it's pilot program.  I also have a service monitor and software that I used to make automated measurements with.  However, this will work for all HF operators.

 

So there you have two of the responses I’ve received. Hope that the information helps you to understand what we need to do and why. Right now the Avista committee is visiting IdaCorp/IdaComm in Boise and getting a better understanding of what’s involved in preparing for a deployment.

 

I still need to know of any of your pet NET’s that I might be able to participate in to give news updates and answer questions.

 

Thanks for your responses David and Cliff! It’s really appreciated!

 

73,

Todd Cady, K7PKT