Mt Beauty BPL Emission Measurement Report released

The Wireless Institute of Australia has performed field strength measurements on the Mt Beauty BPL trial using the WIA's new interference measuring kit.

Measurements were taken outside the home of Ian Paul VK3LJJ, and at other locations in the BPL trial area.

The measurement results show very high levels of RF emission from the BPL enabled power lines, between approximately 33 and 49 dB above the expected ambient noise conditions.

We did some calculations to determine the expected level of interference in S-units using a dipole antenna. We calculated the interference level at between S9+10dB and S9+20dB.

Stations experiencing this level of interference would be prevented from transmitting, as they would be unable to determine if the frequency was in use by another station, as required under the terms of their licence.

The BPL interference we measured will mask all but the very strongest of HF radio communication signals on 40, 30, 20, and 15 meters at various locations within the trial area.

The WIA report has been forwarded to ACMA and the Standards Australia working group on BPL.

The full measurement report is published on the WIA website at www.wia.org.au

Phil Wait, VK2DKN
for the WIA.

Source: Wireless Institute of Australia

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