We have no hidden agenda and certainly are not pushing controversial advocacy causes such as is done by Americans for Tax Reform, Planned Parenthood, Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, and the Sierra Club. When Computing Unplugged is in contact with Ed Hare W1RFI, he can probably advise the magazine on specific details; also, Al Pitts W1AGP <apitts@arrl.org>;, the ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager can provide even more details on how the ARRL's main thrust is toward education and ham radio advancement rather than politics. [An interview with Pitts is in this issue. -- Ed.]

This might be a strategic weakness in the ARRL's business plan: we ham radio operators do not do extensive lobbying and are not politically connected. If we were to do more lobbying and had more political influence, we probably would not now have to worry about BPL and I would not be writing this article. BPL would be history. Further, there are only two junior congressmen who happen to have their ham radio licenses. Their effectiveness on behalf of ham radio is yet untested. The ARRL is certainly not in the same league as the National Rifle Association nor, to mention an extreme, the energy industry, in terms of political influence and lobbying capability.

And, no, I have never personally heard BPL interference on HF nor VHF. I do not need nor wish to do so (I have heard the recordings; it sounds like a continuous lightning static burst on top of whatever might have been underneath). I have not traveled to those locations where it has been installed because, fortunately, such systems are still uncommon and my trails did not cross them. The technical data, documentation, and recordings secured by the ARRL and other non-ARRL data sources (including NTIA before it was suppressed by the White House) demonstrating the interference is solid scientific electrical research information and is more than adequate for me. I have never seen a nuclear detonation either, but just because I have not seen one does not mean that such a detonation does not exist and that the potential dangers of nuclear weapons are exaggerated.

These multi-thousand dollar "old 20th-century technology" ham radio "toys" so casually dismissed in the Computing Unplugged article are, in fact, state-of-the-art solid state micro-processed computer- and menu-driven technologies capable of high-speed multi-tasked operations sophisticated to the degree to make an average desktop PC seem like an abacus and digital TV seem like a Daguerreotype picture.

I reference, as one example PACTOR-III digitally processed communications. I use it for Winlink 2000 email which links with Internet nodes around the world, among other utilizations, so that I have email service in remote locations such as Labrador where the Internet is mostly still at the dialup level. This same technology is used by world-class sailors at sea)in which an SCS PTC-IIex modem outclasses even a T-1 connection by doing it wirelessly over great distances with considerably smaller and less expensive equipment at often greater speeds under the most adverse conditions.