Your name has been put in the BCC field to prevent it from being harvested by spammers. If you would like to be removed from the list, reply to this email. If you know of others that would be interested in being on the list, please reply with their email addresses. I will add them to my distribution list.

 

Welcome, members of KARS (Kootenai Amateur Radio Society) to the list.

 

Greetings everyone!

 

The September Hamfest is going to be here before we know it, get your vacation time in and start begging the XYL’s for a bigger allowance. I was asked by Betsy-N7WRQ to consider doing a session/talk on BPL at this coming Hamfest and I’m undecided as of yet. I may try to get a representative or two from Avista to brave the crowds and come to talk. I believe it would be in their best interests to come see us. I’ll work on it. I don’t personally have the time to become an expert on BPL, but I can emcee an open forum chat about BPL, the Pilot and Avista’s role.

 

Avista told me that they have a little more work to do and variables to settle and then they will be ready to have another meeting with the amateurs in their service territory. It will most likely be at the Avista building in Spokane, and if they do get things moving on the Pilot it should be before the Hamfest.

 

They really liked the strong showing that we gave them at the first meeting, but I really think that we didn’t truly show up in enough numbers to knock their socks off. We need 200 amateurs or more. There’s enough parking, there’s enough room. I will give you as much advance notice as humanly possible. I would like as many people that are able to attend. Heck, bring your families!

 

Now that I have a distribution list that reaches Idaho, Washington and a bit of Montana I believe I may be able to get the word out faster.

 

From the main http://www.arrl.org web page there is a link to the BPL information page. Even if you are not a member, please visit the ARRL’s site and read what they have on BPL. Become enlightened!

 

******IMPORTANT****** This is something you can all do right now!

I believe that it would be a really nice thing to write a letter to our congresswoman. I’m not going to suggest a form letter or anything like that, just write an email to Cathy and let her know what you think.

 

Please.

 

Below is what she sent to me. I sent her a lengthy message last month. Please send me your resultant email response so I can post it to everyone in order to see if her form letter changes. Keep a copy of what you sent.

 

I believe that the part that stuck in my craw was, “also has the potentials to extend the reach of broadband to a greater number of Americans. I understand that BPL is less expensive to deploy than the cable and telephone companies' broadband offerings, and it does not require upgrades to the actual electric grid.”

 

BPL will not be a solution for rural areas; it’s just not cost effective enough to send out BPL repeater units every mile to keep the signal strong enough to give Farmer Brown the ability to cruise the web. They will probably end up utilizing BPL within the same reach as DSL and Cable. The money is in the population density. The costs are in getting nodes set up, repeaters and the backhaul.

 

Backhaul is the way that you get information from the users back to the internet or Internet Service Provider servers. One backhaul can service multiple users but the backhaul is costly. Your choice: wireless or fiber. Backhaul is critical to the speed of the connection available to the user.

 

Just a simple email will be enough, but we have to send more than 10. Please? Read her email reply below. We do have other congress folk to write to, and this is for Washington. Idaho, please consider sending a message to your congressfolk.

 

(I did say the magic word didn’t I?)

 

Todd Cady, K7PKT

As of June 14^th of 2005, I became a General Ticket holder. Now it’s personal!

 

-----Original Message-----
From: McMorris, Rep. Cathy [mailto:[email protected]]
 To: [email protected]
Subject: Message from Congresswoman Cathy McMorris

 

Dear Friend:

Thank you for contacting my office regarding the issue of Broadband over Powerlines (BPL). It is an honor to represent the people of Eastern Washington, and I appreciate you sharing your thoughts with me.

On May 13, 2005 Congressman Mike Ross (D-AR) introduced H. Res. 230, to express the sense of the House of Representatives that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should reconsider and revise rules governing broadband over powerline (BPL) systems. The resolution was referred to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.

One of my top priorities in Congress is to help grow our economy and create jobs. One way to accomplish that goal is to make sure we have a robust communication infrastructure and that broadband is made available in all parts of the country. Furthermore, as we witnessed on 911 and with the evolving threats around the world, it is imperative that we have interoperable systems in place to respond quickly to emergencies.

With increased use and emphasis of the Internet and increasing demand for broadband services, electric utilities began exploring ways to turn a previously internal communications capability into a commercially viable, consumer service - Broadband over Powerlines.

BPL has the potential to play a significant role in increasing the competitive landscape of the communications industry, but also has the potentials to extend the reach of broadband to a greater number of Americans. I understand that BPL is less expensive to deploy than the cable and telephone companies' broadband offerings, and it does not require upgrades to the actual electric grid.

However, I know that there are concerns that BPL could interfere with licensed radio spectrum such as amateur radio, government and emergency response frequencies.  It is my understanding that the FCC is continuing to investigate the matter, and will likely have an impact on BPL, one related to the applicability of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) on new services and the other the regulatory classification of services enabled by the Internet Protocol.

Your thoughts and insights are well noted, especially at a time when Congress is looking to address the technological advancements that have occurred in telecommunications. It is imperative that portions of the 1996 Telecommunications Act be revised in order to meet the changes taking place in the evolving marketplace.

Thank you for contacting me. I invite you to visit my website at www.mcmorris.house.gov for additional information. Please do not hesitate to contact my office in the future.

 

 

Best Wishes,

Cathy McMorris
Member of Congress

CMC/cmp

Confirmation # 1109839

I cannot guarantee the integrity of the text of this letter if it was not sent to you directly from my Congressional Email Account: Rep. Cathy McMorris.  If you have any questions about the validity of this message, please email me at: [email protected] or call my Washington, DC office at: 202-225-2006.  If you would like to be removed from my email update list, please email me your name and address to: [email protected] and type "REMOVE" in the subject line.