Re:But I thought... (Score 2, Informative)

Think about it--powerlines are everywhere, and the hams use power to run their transmitters, and more importantly, their receivers. It doesn't take much for an interfering signal to get from the power cord to the antenna terminal. Sure, hams can up the power on their home rigs, but what about their portable and mobile equipment that has proved so important in providing communications during natural disasters, weather emergencies, and yes, even in in NY and DC on 9/11? The ham frequencies to which BPL causes interference are nicely nestled between AM and TV, so the average person isn't likely to experience the interference directly--which is what the FCC and the power companies are counting on. Nevertheless, low-power interference radiating even a short distance from power lines can render these frequencies useless for many (if not most) amateur operations. I've been an active ham for many years, and I can tell you the FCC has almost never been much help when it comes to interference TO amateur operations, but come out in force if someone complains about interference FROM an amateur station. It looks like we are going to be losing our only means of emergency long-distance communications that doesn't depend on an intact infrastructure. This is very significant in any major emergency. True, during a hurricane the power lines will likely be down, so there won't be any interference, but it's going to be difficult to encourage newcomers to get into a hobby that doesn't work 99.9% of the time. That's my .02 worth.