BPL poses threat to Public saftey - Fire radio

[radioguy]

BPL stands for Broadband over power Lines. In short, the power companies want to offer data services over the elctric lines. The problem is this has been shown to cause immense amounts of interferance to radio frequencies below 50 mhz. If your department uses lowband, you definitly need to contact the FCC and your elected officials to voice your opposition to this!

Here is a link to a ham radio discussion board on this very topic, hams have been fighting this for some time and have shown without a doubt that widespread interference is caused by these transmissions.

http://www.qrz.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=3&t=46137

Plenty of infformation on BPL can also be found at at www.arrl.org and they have plenty of technical data and experts that you can talk to about this very issue.

[WTFD10]

Well you should be replacing that obsolete low band system with a 700 MHz digital trunked system anyways

[blancety]

If your 700 mhz trunk works like our 800 mhz truck......I'm not so sure I'd switch. Thanks for the info Radio guy, I'll check this out around here.

Dave

[WTFD10]

Dave I was being sarcastic.

The cell phone companies want us to move to 700 MHz because their systems cause interferance in the 800 band.

Now the power companies will have a simple solution to this, just buy a new radio system that you don't want or need and won't work nearly as well as lowband will in rural areas. Not to mention that most small departments could never afford a system with $5,000 portables and $7,000 mobiles.

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

Originally posted by WTFD10
Dave I was being sarcastic.

The cell phone companies want us to move to 700 MHz because their systems cause interferance in the 800 band.

Now the power companies will have a simple solution to this, just buy a new radio system that you don't want or need and won't work nearly as well as lowband will in rural areas. Not to mention that most small departments could never afford a system with $5,000 portables and $7,000 mobiles.

And we all know that the cell phone companies and the power companies will pay for new radio systems foe everyone...

[hwoods]

Stupid.............

Is there ANYTHING that these greedy people won't try for a buck? I'm all in favor of flat out GIVING UP the 800Mhz band, due to the limited range. Maybe it's time to head back to 33.xx and 46.xx and the hell with anything higher. Some progressive departments have addressed overcrowding on the radio system quite easily. Their people have been told to talk less, a lot less. The result is their channels are quieter and important messages are not delayed. I've seen a lot of Fires in 45 years, and not one was talked into going out, they all required water application. Stay Safe....

[blancety]

I've seen a lot of Fires in 45 years, and not one was talked into going out, they all required water application.

Amen Chief!

[Lewiston2FF]

I'm all in favor of flat out GIVING UP the 800Mhz band, due to the limited range. Maybe it's time to head back to 33.xx and 46.xx and the hell with anything higher.

Chief,
Would you go an talk to our county EOC? There has been a push to switch from our 46.xxx low band frequency to a higher band. Some companies in the county have begun the switch with a low band to high band crossover repeater, big time cost and I personally think it is not necessary. I know my company is not looking forward to scrapping the radios we have to switch to more expensive high band radios. I would think it would be cheaper to install new, or relocate exisiting repeaters to provide better coverage, but hey what do I know?

[nmfire]

Unfortunately, we are eventually not going to have a choice in the matter. Low band communications equipment is getting fewer and farther between. Parts are becoming scarce for older models. The band is full to begin with and the skip wreaks havoc, often even with a PL. Low band portables are usless in a building and have a very limited range even when outside. You can get vehicle cross-band repeaters but then you are just throwing a bandaid on an amputation. When that vehicle repeater repeater fails, all bets are off. This can be an eletronic problem, a mobile radio problem, or vehicle electrical problem. It will take out your mobile and portable communications at once. If you have a system with more than one on scene and the "last unit in" takeover isn't working on one of them, the whole system goes to hell.

People say VHF & UHF repeaters suck and that 800Mhz sucks. It doesn't suck. What sucks is the people designing the disfunctional system. If the city council wants to cut and trim the budget, it isn't going to work correctly. A well designed system that has adequate remote recievers, a high enough main transmitter, and a well placed backup transmitter will blow any low band system out of the water. You can use a portable and talk to anyone anywhere, even from in a building. And no one says you have to use the repeater. If you are on scene, you can switch to direct and bypass it. In fact, if you are on an interior attack, that is what you should be doing anyway.

I can go on forever about this. I just hate when people want to give up on a newer, better solution because their finance committee won't spend enough money on it. It gets played up to be the "save the world system" but they only spend enough money to make it sort of work in some places. This is people's lives they are cutting off when they cut out a reciever here and a tower there to save money.

I'll stop now.