'Hams' worry they'll encounter interference

Note: The following column, by Jeff Pieters, was published in the Rochester Post-Bulletin on Monday, May 10, 2004.

Monday, May 10, 2004

JEFF PIETERS COLUMN

Amateur radio operators across the country are signaling distress over potential interference from an emerging technology -- Internet-enabled electrical power lines.

Their worries will be put to the test in Rochester this summer.

Rochester Public Utilities and a private firm, Hiawatha Broadband Communications Inc. of Winona, will test broadband over power line (BPL) technology in a limited part of RPU's service area starting July 1.

BPL promises high-speed Internet, telephone and cable television service to households and businesses using electrical distribution lines. You could literally log on to the Internet through the electrical outlet in your wall.

The ramifications of that have a lot of people -- from consumers to those who would seek to profit from the technology -- excited.

But amateur broadcasters, or "hams," as they like to be called, are uneasy. That's because power lines, unlike cable or telephone lines, are not shielded. Because of that, transmissions could wind up floating through the air on frequencies used by hams -- or by aviators, emergency responders or citizens band (CB) radio, hams say.

BPL systems are designed to operate in the 2- to 80-megahertz frequency range, or just between the AM and FM bands. Hams operate in three frequency ranges, including one range between 1.8 and 30 megahertz, where leaking BPL transmissions would conflict.

There are about 250,000 amateur radio operators in the United States, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, and slightly more than 400 of them in the Rochester area, said Chuck Gysi, a member of the Rochester Amateur Radio Club.

When RPU and Hiawatha begin their testing, in a 10-block area near Golden Hill starting July 1, hams from the area and around the country will be watching, Gysi said.

"There are very much a lot of eyes on Rochester right now," he said.

For one thing, because RPU -- a municipal utility -- has clearer obligations to the public than a privately held utility, observers expect more-than-typical cooperation and transparency in the testing process. Gysi said his group hasn't found another municipal utility moving on plans to test a BPL system.

Julie Moenck, an RPU spokeswoman, said a municipal utility in Manassas, Va., has already implemented a similar system. RPU General Manager Larry Koshire visited it in February, and "they are not having any concerns," Moenck said.

Gysi said RPU has promised his group full cooperation.

"They've assured us time and time again that if it causes interference, they will not continue with it," he said. "We're certainly hopeful that we can work harmoniously."

While no broadcaster lives within the testing area, some local hams have taken mobile equipment into the area to get information on the radio interference that already exists there, Gysi said.

Hams realize the financial investment at stake for the utility and the private company, Gysi said, and don't want to raise objections over faulty assumptions.

The rise of the global Internet has made amateur radio something of an anachronism -- though it was, in effect, an earlier worldwide "Internet." There is a certain irony about the hobby being threatened by an unwanted byproduct of the technology supplanting it. An image that comes to mind is that of an SUV splashing past a slow-moving horse-drawn cart.

But don't be too quick to write off amateur radio. If catastrophe strikes and electric and telephone services are lost, it might very well be a ham with a generator who is the first to call for help.

Marking its mark

That copper finish on the new Rochester Art Center is supposed to weather, becoming green with age.

That's happening faster than expected on the art center, so I was wondering: Is there a Botox for buildings?

Really, though, there's no harm if the copper finish oxidizes faster, though it does point out something interesting about downtown Rochester's air quality -- it's worse than the building's designers expected, said Hal Henderson, a local architect who oversaw the project.

Neighborhood re-leaf

"NeighborWoods Rochester," a public effort to plant 150 new streetside trees, catalog the city's arboreal inventory and create a perpetual forest fund, kicks off on Wednesday.

Organizers, which include the Rochester Neighborhood Resource Center, Rochester Public Utilities and the city's Committee on Urban Design and Environment, are seeking volunteer "citizen foresters" and donors to aid the project, which is associated with the city's sesquicentennial.

Already, about $25,000 of a $62,500 fund-raising goal has been achieved.

The rally event starts at 1:30 p.m. at RCTC's Heinz Center Auditorium. To reserve a place, call Sharon Tuntland at 288-0067.

Jeffrey Pieters is the Rochester city government reporter. You can contact him at 285-7748.

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