Member - John (Vic) posted:

Willem as much as I would love to get my NGT, you are correct it has been on hold for quite a few months now because of this issue.
I still follow the info on BPL hence how I came across the site mentioned above.
If BPL is $hit canned then I will buy a HF, if it comes to be then another boat anchor I don't need.
Also as I posted once before on here a certain very well known person here in Melb who has been in the HF and other radio business for more than 30 years told me face to face that in all good conscience he could not sell me a HF radio knowing what he now knows about BPL.
He is pretty convinced that it will come and the problems will be sorted out.

The Victorian Police are moving to a complete digital system within the next 2 years I believe and the other emergency services will follow suit.

The problem is that there is an alternative in sat services and digital systems HF is being regarded as old technology.
Also the fact that BPL will be a greater benefit to the majority by increasing competition etc makes it easy to see which way the political argument will go.

The site listed has more info and reports on BPL than anything else I have found, hence I thought it would be of interest to others as you can plainly see the technology does work, maybe not as good as they hoped but you know what happens when you throw enough money at something and there is a hell of a lot of money potentially backing this.

Member - John (Vic) posted:

Sorry forgot to add, my understanding is that commercial aircraft use HF when 300 to 600 Km's of the coast until then they are under VHF coverage.
BPL interference apparently radiates out to about 300 km's from the power lines so it is thought to be of little concern to commercial aircraft at this stage.
By the way they are also going to a digital sat system in aircraft I believe.

Willem posted:

When it was first brought to my attention by the way of VKS737 and this forum I ventured to say it will never happen. I will probably have to eat my words and my hat(ifI had promised that..hahaha). New technology will keep on going forward in leaps and bounds and no matter what representations we make to government they will cave in to Big Business as the latter run the world and not minor governments(like our own). Did you know that the GDP of Orange County, which incorporates the City of Los Angeles is bigger than the whole of Australias GDP?

I will use my old HF till it goes off the air. I am sure an alternative communications network is lurking on the horizon. Luckily I bought my Satphone at the right time for the right money from the right shop :o)

Willem posted:

Hahahaha....Good one on the Nissan, Bonz. Maybe I can use my old Codan HF 6924 set for a lunch box if I take the wireless bit out.

Member - John (Vic) posted:

RFDS receive less than .1 % of call now by HF, virtually all calls received by Sat or land line phones, they will turn of their HF system shortly as you will be able to get VKS to phone them for you if you have a problem.

School of the Air is almost all Broadband Sat linked now, those not on it will be shortly as part of Telstra commitment to the bush.

Police and other emergency services will be sat based or digital.

Aircraft sat based or digital.

There are only 3500 registered amateur licenses in Australia for HF.

Do you really think that 3500 verses 1.5 million potential BPL users will swing it to protecting HF ?

Refund ??? somehow I don't think so, It's called buyer beware, sorry to say.

Member - John (Vic) posted:

If the USA have done it do you really think we won't.
Consider who has more pull with the politicians, Poor old you with your HF or AGL, Powercor, Origin etc who gave each party $X million dollars in support.

Mad Dog (Victoria) posted:

The USA authorities aren't stupid John. They have no intention of allowing the slaughter of the valuable HF spectrum, existing users are still offered protection. There is no change to the complaint resolution procedure. The bottom line is yes BPL has been approved without the wholesale slaughter of HF users.

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/10/28/100/?nc=1

Mad Dog (Victoria) posted:

By the way John the potential for interference in Oz is far greater than it is in the USA because we use unbalanced power lines as opposed to the balanced system the USA users. The Oz authorities are of course aware of this.

Member - John (Vic) posted:

David I don't disagree with your comments about the spread of technology etc.
I don't disagree with your comments about HF being an antiquated and perhaps outdated technology. Although you should consider that just because it is old does not mean it does not do the job it was designed for. And do it well for the majority for that fact.

I do disagree as to your comments about a small group of selfish HF users.
These people are tax payers and Australians and deserve some consideration by our government in respects of society based decisions.

They only want to protect what has been available to society for a long time.
In all probability the decision will go against them but they should at least be entitled to be heard and considered before they are run over.

The same argument could be applied that 4wds don't belong in the city because we are raising the risk to the majority of city society by being on the road. (For whatever reason)
So would you stand by and let the government change the rules at this point to stop you driving your 4wd in the city ?

David Au posted:

John Vic, hey I don't disagree with you either, but majority benefit rules. I spend a lot of time in the bush, and have just returned, and the majority of the smaller rural properties only have 19.2kbps. The benefits ADSL and voice over IP will bring the rural sector is massive. Unfortunately in life across the board, there is never gain without pain to some sector of the community. One persons loss is always somebody else's gain. I am just glad I sold my HF system when I did, as I am normally a loser when it comes to technology changes.
I *LOVED* my old analogue bag phone and the advantages it gave me - technology moved on and we all had to dump them.

Mad Dog (Victoria) posted:

I can't see any power company spending millions of dollars running BPL out to rural communites for the little return they will receive, yes BPL is very very expensive and the lies they tell to get their way and what they do will be very different. If BPL ever get off the ground it will be for high populated areas only.