BPL Certification Testing Laboratories

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Miscellaneous Links

ARRL and the Cable Industry
This article from the September 1, 1983 ARRL Letter describes the strong feelings between ARRL and the cable industry.  It is interesting to see the same words as are being used today, with claims that Amateur Radio is seeking a pristine radio environment and that mobile stations should just drive away from interference sources.  Fortunately, the cable industry grew away from that, and their work with ARRL to help prevent most cable interference helped make cable a success.

List of spectrum allocation in the US
This list shows the wide range of users in the spectrum between 2 and 80 MHz that BPL may use.

A map of the US shows the distribution of licensed Amateur Radio operators in the United States. To see the distribution of hams in any ZIP code, use the URL http://www.arrl.org/fcc/hamszip.html?zip=XXXXX, where XXXXX is the ZIP code for which you want to see a map of licensed Amateurs. For example, http://www.arrl.org/fcc/hamszip.html?zip=20110 shows the locations of Amateur Radio operators in Manassas, VA.

FCC ULS database lookup
This site provides information about FCC licensees in a geographical area. It can be used to identify other users in your area that may have interference concerns.

RF Field Strength Calculator
This calculator, written by VE3KL, calculates field strength from received signal levels and antenna gain.

Information on the 60-meter Amateur Band
Modifications to equipment
Test report on Amateur transceivers

BPL Interference Information -- What the Public Isn't Being Told
This brochure prepared by the Australian Citizens Radio Emergency Monitors outlines the various ways that BPL can interfere with licensed radio services.

What is Amateur Radio? Why is it a Community Resource?
This page offers links to dozens of ARRL articles about the valuable services that the Amateur Radio Service provides in major disasters. Organized by state, this list may help you counter the claim that Amateur Radio is "just a hobby." 

Importance for Emergency Communications
Amateur Radio is more than just a hobby. It is important in emergency communications on a regular basis, often providing the first and only communication into and out of an area when disaster strikes. Amateur Radio then continues to provide backup communications as things are getting back on line, and offloading a lot of the less-critical "health and welfare" traffic so the "real" communications that is partially restored can be used for critical communications of all types. Amateur Radio also provides valuable educational and social benefits, ranging from its work with shuttle astronauts and school children to the funding of scholarships for licensed Amateur Radio operators. 

Toast Net Speed Test
Another very good speed test URL. Has multiple sources and download packages so speeds under real-world condx can be seen. Tests upload and download independently.

Speed tests (1) (2)
These sites can be used to test speed and generate data for BPL testing

National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
Report of the Broadband Over Power Lines Task Force

NVS Shares HF Radio Program
The National Communications System (NCS), in its role of planning and preparing for national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP), has undertaken a number of initiatives to provide communications to support all hazards situations. One of these initiatives, developed through the combined efforts of the 23 NCS member organizations, is the SHAred RESources (SHARES) High Frequency (HF) Radio Program.

Frequencies used by the Red Cross (US)
In many systems, BPL uses frequencies in use by the Red Cross for its mobile or portable operation. At the levels used by BPL under Part 15, these radio communications systems cannot operate near BPL using this spectrum.

California CPUC report on broadband technologies
This February 1, 2005 report outlines all of the sundry ways that BPL is available in California. They include DSL; cable; satellite; wireless ISP; commercial wireless; wireless community networks; broadband over cellular telephone; fiber to the premises and BPL.

Investigation of the Interference Potential of PLC in the Far Field
Abstract (in English) of final report, 6/30/2003 Research Project 36/02 of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour (BMWA)

Japan Creates New BPL Study Group
This group will investigate techniques to reduce radio emissions; coexistence with radio users and other related topics.

Information about state regulations that may affect BPL
This page is located on the web page of Civitium, "a consulting firm founded to assist public and private organizations in the construction of Digital Cities."

BPL Calculator
This calculator is based on the proposed international CENELEC standard for BPL emissions. It shows that very strong noise levels are to be expected locally on any spectrum that BPL uses at this proposed emissions level.

RF Calculator
This more complex RF Field Strength and Receive Signal Level Calculator can be downloaded and run on Windows systems. It currently does not have separate documentation, but to savvy users, what is not intuitive is probably covered by pop-ups.

Top 22 U.S. ISPs by Subscriber: Q3 2006
1/1/2007 -- ISP Planet
The top 22 ISPs are listed. First Communications, involved in both DSL and in-premise BPL, is #22, with 0.1% of the total market share.  The report does not cite what percentage of their business is BPL, but they do not appear in the industry access BPL database, so their involvement is entirely within building.

Home PC Network.com
The site for do-it-yourself home networking for regular people that includes powerline networking links.