The downside of Broadband over powerlines

[John Walsh]

http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2003/06/19/2/?nc=1

Power lines used as conductors for RF signals at HF and low band VHF create the potential for interference from radiated emissions.

[firephoto]

Yeah I ran across this the other day and didn't know what to think really. I have my amateur license and have cruised around the hf bands in the past and to say that it's a "quiet" chunk of spectrum is an outright lie. Before I moved to where I am now there wasn't too much in the way of rf noise but here there's just a ton of junk making a fairly high noise level on anything lower than 30mHz. I would guess most of it is power related and coming from the fruit packing plant that's nearby and with some propery (required?) installed equipment the noise wouldn't be so bad but beings it's a business I don't see that happening unless it makes someone some $$ in the process.
With all the computers and other electronic things and cars even there seems to be a lot of "noise" floating about that didn't exist 25 years ago. Part 15 devices aren't suppose to cause interference to other devices but how often do you thing someone reports a problem and then even if they do what gets done about it?
I haven't read much on the technical aspect of PLC but if it is using the power lines as a form of large ladder line to transmitt the rf then in theory it shouldn't interfere much except for the places that make some arcing noise anyway I suppose (bad/dirty insulators), or where it has to change to a different transmission method.

To me it seems like a good method for delivery of broadband when it's combined with wireless AP's in areas that don't have FTTH and only have a fiber backbone (like here).

[waydwolf]

Broadcasted RF that interferes, bad.
Closed circuit RF that stays put, good.

That is the short form attitude the FCC has. This is of course because of a number of issues not the least of which is sharing limited spectrum space fairly. In cable, leakage checks are done often, and the FCC doesn't hesitate to do flyovers of systems and nail operators for leakage.

Now the power company? How often do they need to deal with the FCC for 60Hz? They're in for a rude awakening if they think the regulation they already deal with is something. The FCC is a whole other animal.

And of course, this is the power company we're talking about. We're talking a first concern of not getting turned into a crispy critter, not minimizing interfering emissions when it comes to their work methods. Customer service? You mean that pre-recorded message that tells you power will be restored within a three year window? Not as much exaggeration there as you might think either.